If you own a website for your business, you’ve likely played around with Google Analytics. You know it’s a fantastic (and free) tool to learn a ton of information about your potential customers. You also understand that you can make important decisions based on that data to grow your business better. If you’re like us at Uyo Digital Marketing, you might even feel lost if you couldn’t have access to your precious data.
Now, here’s the rub. Google announced earlier this year that they would be sunsetting Universal Analytics (UA) to make way for their brand-new iteration of the platform, Google Analytics 4 (GA4). So, that precious data- as we know it- will be going away.
Cue the thunder, lightning, and melodramatic “Nooo” as you shout at the sky! That’s how many people felt when they heard the announcement, but in actuality, it’s not as bad as all that.
In fact, the move could prove to be a significant improvement to how you collect and interpret the data from your website. But, it does mean learning and understanding a whole new system. And, of course, as a business owner, you’re naturally curious how this will affect how you do business.
Luckily, you’ve got the team at Uyo Digital Marketing to help you every step of the way. Let’s chat about what’s changed with Google Analytics 4, how you can set up your new account, and how you can use this new platform to improve your business.
While many simply refer to it as “Google Analytics,” the current iteration we’ve all come to know and love is technically called “Universal Analytics.” This is the iteration being replaced. According to Google, as of July 1, 2023, all Universal Analytics accounts will no longer pull in any new data from any sources. However, you’ll still have access to previous data until December 31, 2023.
If we start now, we’ll have ample time to set up Google Analytics 4, learn how to use it, and save any historical data from Universal Analytics. So while everyone will need to make the change eventually, we encourage you to set up this new account as soon as possible. Then, not only will you be able to reap the benefits early, but you will not feel pressed and stressed on the matter when next summer rolls around.
Setting up ahead of time also means you can have both UA and GA4 pulling in data from your website simultaneously. You can still run your current business processes and gradually change them as you learn.
Google has always made small tweaks to its products and algorithms to ensure its users receive the most benefits. But Google Analytics 4 is changing the game. Here are the most significant changes we’ll have to wrap our minds around:
Changing how we think about our website’s metrics will take some getting used to for everyone. However, there are a lot of added upgrades to this GA4 version, including:
What is particularly exciting about GA4’s event-based tracking and improved reporting is that you can track any kind of data you want. For example, are you curious about what actions people take before making a purchase? Done. Perhaps you want to see where people are dropping off on a particular campaign you’re running on your website? Sorted. Maybe you are interested in filtering traffic by your target demographic? You got it.
After dipping our toes into the GA4 water ourselves over the past several months, the Uyo Digital Marketing team is excited about all the benefits. We are confident you’ll also come to love Google Analytics 4 and all it offers.
Setting up your Google Analytics 4 account is relatively simple. Here are the steps:
Once you’ve created your new GA4 account, you’ll need to add a short piece of code to your website so it can pull the data from your website. In the information below, we’re referencing a WordPress website, so Step 5 will likely look slightly different if you use a different platform.
Once you’ve created your Google Analytics 4 account and connected it to your website, spend some time exploring the new dashboard and its many features. Google also has a ton of videos and how-tos to help your transition be a successful one.
And, of course, the team at Uyo Digital Marketing is happy to help you if you run into any snags. Additionally, our SEO Boss Academy is an excellent solution if you want to learn how to implement proven SEO strategies and analyze the metrics you see in your Google Analytics 4 reports. Or, let’s chat directly if you’d prefer to outsource your digital marketing.
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