What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is Google's analytics tool and the most widely used in the world. It allows data to be collected from users' browsing on a website and applications. zalo phone number data This helps to know visitors in detail: their demographic data, how they arrive, which pages they visit, how long they stay, etc.
This valuable information, through different metrics, helps you measure the performance of your digital strategies and optimize them . Among its main advantages, it stands out that its free version is very complete and that it can be integrated with other Google services such as Search Console or Ads. You already know what Google Analytics is for, now we explain all the changes.
Web analytics
Goodbye Universal Analytics, hello Google Analytics 4
Until October 2020, there was only the Universal Analytics or GA3 property. But this changed with the appearance of a new version, Google Analytics 4 (GA4). An update of the tool that represents a major change in the way of measuring. For the moment, both properties can be maintained, in order to become familiar with the new generation.
However, as of July 2023, UA has stopped processing data and only Analytics 4 does. And Universal Analytics ownership will be permanently removed on July 1, 2024. In short, Universal Analytics is going away, so it is highly recommended that you finish setting up GA4, if you haven't already.
Main changes of the new generation
The new version mainly involves these changes:
In UA, metrics are based on sessions and page views, while GA4 uses event-based data , which allows interactions to be measured more effectively.
GA4 focuses on user privacy and data protection, incorporating cookie-free measurement methods.
Collect data from both websites and mobile apps to better track the customer journey.
G4 incorporates predictive features to understand user behavior and the likelihood that they will convert, abandon or return.
What steps should you follow to use GA4?
If you are using Analytics you will have already received several notifications recommending you migrate to Google Analytics 4. These are the steps you should follow:
1. Check what property you are using
If you created your property after 2020, it is likely to be GA4. On the other hand, if you are using Universal Analytics, when you enter the tool you will see a blue notice above , indicating that “Universal Analytics will stop processing new data in standard properties as of July 1, 2023.” You can also check the property ID; if it is UA-XXXXXXXXX-1 it is Universal Analytics, while the ID of the new version only has numbers.
2. Export your UA property data
If you're using the old property, the tool offers a Setup Wizard that will help you migrate from Universal Analytics to GA4 . From there, you can create a data stream, implement measurement tagging on your website, and migrate configuration settings. Additionally, with the Goal Migration Tool, you can automatically import goals from UA and set up conversions as conversion events. This is a good time to analyze which events are most important and what we are really interested in measuring.
In case you have advertising campaigns, you need to link your new property to Google Ads. You will need to make sure that they are using conversion actions coming from GA4 and not Universal. You will also need to link your account to Google Search Console.
