What We’re Keeping An Eye on This Summer – 2023 GA Sunset

As you may have heard, Google is sunsetting Universal Analytics next year. If you’re using the previous version of Google Analytics, you have until the end of June 2023 to transition to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). So if you’ve been holding off migrating to GA4, then it’s time to start planning and learning the ins and outs of the new version of Google Analytics.

So what makes GA4 unique?

• Firebase Analytics

The first is Firebase Analytics. Firebase is a suite of products for developing mobile apps that Google acquired back in 2014. Firebase Analytics uses something called the “event-driven data model” to better describe behavior and measure user engagement.

• Google Signals

The second technology that GA4 is built on top of is Google Signals. You’ve probably heard about Google Signals before because this is the identity software that uses Google accounts to recognize logged-in users.

• The Global Site Tag

Finally, Google Analytics 4 is also built on top of the global site tag. The benefit of this technology is that it allows you to make changes in the user interface that actually change the code that is deployed to your website.

Here are some important questions you might be asking:

• What happens after June 2023?

Your Universal Analytics properties will stop processing data into reports starting July 1, 2023. Only historical data prior to that date will be available.

• What happens to data in Universal Analytics?

Google has said you will be able to access your historical data for at least six months after Universal Analytics stops processing data. This means you have until the end of December 2023 to download any historical data and insights. After this time, you won’t be able to access any of your reports in Universal Analytics. We can help you with this by extracting and storing your data for you via our ETL / data aggregation & automation tool – Conversionomics.

• Can I upgrade Universal Analytics to GA4?

Unfortunately, you can’t simply upgrade your Universal Analytics property to a GA4 property. Instead, you need to set up a new GA4 property in parallel to your existing Universal Analytics property.

• What’s the difference between Universal Analytics and GA4?

• How do I set up and configure GA4?

You can set up GA4 by following Google’s instructions here. If you’re interested, our Analytics Implementation team can also implement GA4 to ensure a seamless migration from UA. Below is more information on the varying options.

If you are interested in having our team support your GA4 implementation, please let us know!

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