All You Need to Know About the GA4 Migration

You may have heard about Universal Analytics being replaced by Google Analytics 4. It changes how your business’s websites and apps collate data, so it’s worth looking into how the GA4 migration could affect you and what steps you need to take.

It’s a little confusing so we’ve put together a guide to help you understand what’s going on:

What is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 or GA4 is a new platform that will be in place by July 2023. It’s a data analysis tool that tracks data of websites and apps to better understand your customer’s journey.

Why is Universal Analytics going away?

According to Google, UA has become obsolete as it was built with desktop traffic in mind and more easily observable cookie data. Users typically use mobiles now, and data protection has become tighter, so a new platform needs to reflect this.

What are the benefits of GA4?

Efforts have gone into creating a new version of Analytics that better matches the current ecosystem. In addition to collating data from users in a more efficient way, it’ll also reflect the data from websites versus apps more easily.

When is GA4 coming into effect?

1 July, 2023. Your Universal Analytics reports will still be available to you for a short time, but it will no longer be processing data here.

What does this mean for me and my business?

The migration from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 means that if you don’t make the move then your website will no longer collate data from your traffic. This will mean that you won’t be able to make important data-based decisions for your business and marketing strategy.

What do I need to do?

If you are on UA then you will need to shift over to GA4 by the start of July to enable data to continue to be collated. 

How do I migrate from UA to GA4?

Here’s how:

1. Firstly, if you have more than one website and/or app, then you may need to consider the account structure before you begin. Click here for more information about this.
2. Create a GA4 property on your account. You will continue to have access to the UA property, but after the migration you will see your data displayed on the GA4 property. 
3. Collect website and app data.
4. Turn on Google signals.
5. Set up conversions using the migration tool, or manually.
6. Add users using the migration tool, or manually.

Continue on for advertisers:

1. Link to Google Ads.
2. Migrate audiences/set up new audiences.
3. Validate your conversions.
4. Import conversions to Google Ads.
5. Add analytics audiences to a campaign or ad group.

[Source: Google Support]