Attention Website Owners: Upgrade to Google Analytics 4 Before July 1st!
Effective July 1st, 2023, a significant change is taking place in the world of website analytics. Google Analytics is bidding farewell to Universal Analytics and ushering in a new era with Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This transition is not merely an upgrade, but a mandatory shift for website owners who wish to continue tracking and analysing their website's performance using Google's powerful tools.
In today's ever-evolving digital landscape, gaining a deep understanding of your website visitors, their behaviours, and their journey through your site has become paramount in making informed business decisions and optimising your marketing strategies, including your social media marketing strategies. GA4 presents a multitude of advantages, including enhanced customer journey tracking, improved user engagement analysis, simplified event setup, and more comprehensive reporting capabilities.
In this article, we will explore the impending retirement of Universal Analytics and delve into the vital details you need to know about migrating your website analytics to GA4. Whether you are a website owner or rely on Google ads for your marketing campaigns, this upgrade is nothing short of essential to unlock invaluable insights derived from your website data. Let's navigate through the necessary steps to seamlessly transition to GA4 and ensure you stay ahead in the world of data-driven decision-making.
Check if your website has been migrated to GA4
If you have a website as part of your online presence, you’ll most likely have a Google Analytics Tag on the website that tracks valuable data such as how many people visit your website, the pages they visit, the geographical location of the user as well as how they reached your website (for example, through a Google search or via a social media page).
The tag feeds data to Google Analytics where you can access a wealth of reporting on data from your website. Google Analytics has been upgraded to GA4, with the old Universal Analytics version no longer functioning from 1 July.
From March this year, Google began creating GA4 properties (a property is a website or app linked to an account) for existing accounts. You will need to check your account and see if you have already been upgraded to GA4 by Google. You can easily do this by:
Logging in to Google Analytics with your Google account
Clicking on your account to the right of the Analytics logo
Clicking on your property (website) and checking the number of the property
If the property has a UA prefix it will need to be upgraded to GA4
If the property has a 9-digit number without the UA prefix it has been moved to GA4
Simple steps to migrate your account to GA4
If your properties have not been migrated to GA4, you can use the GA4 Setup Assistant to migrate before 1 July and ensure you have a basic setup in place.
You can do this by:
Logging in to Google Analytics with your Google account
Clicking on the Admin button on the bottom left of the Google Analytics home screen
In the Property section (shown in the middle of the screen), click on ‘GA4 Setup Assistant’.
You should be able to see a red ‘Not connected’ flag near the top of the screen.
Click on ‘Get Started’
In the pop-up window, tick ‘Enable data collection using existing analytics.js and gtag.js tags.’
Click ‘Create property’
You should now see a green ‘Connected’ at the top of the screen.
Connect your GA4 account to your website
Now you’ll need to connect GA4 to your website to collect data. You can do this by installing a GA4 tag on your website or adding it to your Tag Manager (Google Tag Manager holds all of your tags, such as the Google Tag and Facebook Pixel, and installs just one tag on the website on behalf of all tags). You can remove the UA tag from your website or tag manager after 1 July.
The steps to add the GA4 tag to your website are:
Login to Google Analytics with your Google account
Click on the Admin button on the bottom left of the Google Analytics home screen
In the Property section (shown in the middle of the screen), click on ‘Setup Assistant’.
Click on Data Collection
Click the arrow on ‘Collect website and app data’
Click on manage data streams
Click on ‘Web’
Enter the URL for your website eg. shirleygraysocial.com.au
Under ‘Stream Name’ – give the website your name eg. Shirley Gray Social Website
Enhanced measurement – ensure the blue tick is on
Click on ‘Create stream’
Click on the copy symbol next to the Measurement ID number
Paste the Measurement ID number (this it the GA4 tag number) into your website following the instructions for your particular website software
You can update your property settings in the future, but this will get you started and ensure you are connected in time for the 1 July deadline.
Accessing past data on GA4
You will be able to access your UA data for 6 months after 1 July.
GA4 has a default setting to hold your data for 2 months. I encourage you to change this to a maximum period of 14 months. You can do this by:
Logging in to Google Analytics with your Google account
Clicking on your account to the right of the Analytics logo
Clicking the property
Click ‘Data settings’
In ‘Data Retention’ change the period from 2 months to 14 months.
Getting assistance
If you use a website developer or other third-party provider for your website it’s a good time to check in with them to ensure your website is connected to GA4 and confirm the reports you will receive under the new system.
Conclusion
In conclusion, upgrading to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) before July 1st is essential for website owners who want to continue to receive valuable data from their websites and apps and use it to inform their marketing strategies including their social media marketing strategies. With GA4, you'll gain access to a range of new features and improvements that will improve how you track and analyse your website's performance. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily migrate your account to GA4, connect it to your website, and start collecting valuable data. Don't miss out on the opportunity to make informed business decisions and optimise your marketing efforts. Upgrade to GA4 today and harness the full potential of your website data.