How to Get Ready For GA4

After many years of good and loyal service, Google Analytics Universal (UA) is about to bow out, to be replaced by Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Indeed, the old version will become obsolete on July 1st 2023. Don’t panic, we explain everything in this blog post! 

Google Analytics, in brief

Google Analytics is the most used web performance analysis tool in the world. Currently, there are more than 10 million sites using Google Analytics and they will have to switch to the new version before July 2023. 

Google Analytics measures the traffic on your site, but also collects and analyzes the data of your website’s visitors, allowing you to know your audience better and therefore to create the most relevant digital marketing strategy. 

Why this change? 

GA4 is in line with the changes Google is implementing to protect its users’ data. GA4 goes hand in hand with the end of third-party cookies. For example, one of the important changes in the new version is that the IP addresses of those who visit your website will no longer be recorded and stored. 

That’s all well and good, but what will GA4 bring? 

First of all, GA4 will be more user-centric than the previous version. Among its advantages, we can find simultaneous web and mobile tracking, but also the appearance of the measurement of the engagement rate instead of the bounce rate, automatic tracking, a better understanding of the customer journey, but also simplified use. 

GA4 will allow for simpler data analysis that will collect data on events such as a purchase made by a customer, a content share, an item added to the cart, etc. It will also allow more privacy, as we mentioned earlier, and a multiplication of data sources, as it is now possible to integrate Youtube and Google Ads directly into Google Analytics 4. 

Don’t wait any longer! 

We advise you to switch to GA4 as soon as possible because this new version will not allow you to transfer your previous data, so the sooner you are on GA4, the sooner you will build up a database. GA4 is available now, so don’t wait any longer. 

What about my old data? 

As far as your old data is concerned, you will not be able to migrate it to GA4. However it seems that Google will leave your old dashboards at your disposal for some time, normally 6 months after the launch of GA4, i.e. December 2023. You will be able to download and keep your previous data and reports. Again, we advise you not to wait! It would be a shame to lose everything. 

To conclude, we advise you to switch to GA4 as soon as possible so that you can build a solid database. Before migrating to the new version, don’t forget to download your data from the old version so that you don’t lose anything. Google now considers GA4 as the reference tool, so it is important that you are also up to date and can work with the best. 

Not sure how it works? We’re here to help! Book an exploratory meeting or contact our team to get the most out of your marketing!