Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – a next-generation analytics tool

What is Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and why should you be interested in it right now? If you’re currently using Google Analytics to track visitor data on your website, or if you’re interested in measuring visitor behavior and the success of your marketing, you should read this blog post. Here, we’ll outline the key points about the latest version of Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is a free tool designed to measure and analyze the number, quality and behavior of website visitors.

Universal Analytics’ days are numbered

On 16 March 2022, Google announced that the current version of Analytics (Google Analytics 3), i.e. Universal Analytics (UA), will no longer collect new data in standard measurement suites from 1 July 2023. After this date, the data will remain accessible for approximately six months, after which it will no longer be possible to log in to Universal Analytics properties. For paid Analytics 360 properties, the grace period is slightly longer. Google is therefore replacing Universal Analytics entirely with the new Google Analytics 4 measurement suite.

Google recently announced that, from April 2023, it will begin automatically migrating accounts from UA to GA4 for those accounts that do not opt out of the migration. Google will also start automatically migrating Universal Analytics configurations to existing GA4 properties, unless you opt out. Google therefore recommends that you manually migrate your Universal Analytics settings to GA4 before the automatic update, to ensure the quality of your data. You can read more here about how to opt out of automatic updates if, for example, you have already made the migration yourself and do not want Google to transfer any old configurations to your new property.

Unfortunately, it is still not possible to transfer data collected previously to the new property (version). If you wish to keep this data for yourself in any way, you will need to save it elsewhere during 2023. So, it’s now, so to speak, the eleventh hour to switch to the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4) so that you don’t lose any more data.

How does Google Analytics 4 differ from Universal Analytics?

When Universal Analytics was launched in 2012, smartphone usage was not yet what it is today; people were still browsing the web mainly on computers. Universal Analytics is a product of that era, with a measurement logic based on tracking individual sessions using cookies. Nowadays, the customer journey is considerably more complex and involves numerous touchpoints across different platforms and devices, so tracking individual sessions no longer provides a sufficiently comprehensive picture of the customer journey.

Launched in 2020, Google Analytics 4 is a next-generation analytics solution in which the outdated session-based measurement model has been replaced by a user-centered approach – while ensuring user privacy. Google Analytics 4 no longer relies solely on cookies and, according to Google, is able to collect data even without unique identifiers or cookies, as well as fill in gaps in the data using machine learning.

User-centered tracking enables you to track the customer journey across different platforms and devices, such as a website and a mobile app. The new Google Analytics 4 can also recognize a visitor as the same user if, for example, they first read your web content on a computer at work and then continue reading on their mobile phone in the evening. The data models of the UA and GA4 analytics tools are therefore not compatible, so switching to the new tool isn’t as simple as pressing a button.

New features in Google Analytics 4

In the previous section, we explained that the entire measurement logic in Google Analytics 4 has changed compared to Universal Analytics. Other new features worth noting include data collection via events, improved privacy protection and AI-powered predictive metrics.

Google Analytics 4 collects data as events

Google Analytics 4 collects data in the form of events. This means that, for example, every page view, click and purchase is reported as an event performed by the user, and any of these events can be marked as a conversion. For example, Google Analytics 4 records file downloads directly as events, which you can, if you wish, mark as conversion events with a single click, without the need for any major adjustments. In Universal Analytics, the basic unit of data collected is called a hit, of which the two most common types are page views and events. By default, data is collected as page views occurring during a session. If you wanted to record other user activities (e.g. file downloads) in Universal Analytics, you had to create a separate event.

Better privacy protection

Although Google Analytics 4 provides a more accurate picture of the customer journey, Google is also introducing new ways to protect user privacy. For example, Google Analytics 4 no longer stores users’ IP addresses at all. The maximum retention period for user-level data is also being reduced. In Universal Analytics, it was possible to prevent the deletion of user-level data entirely; in GA4, this is not possible. In Google Analytics 4, the maximum retention period for user-level data (including conversions) is 14 months, while the default setting is just two months. The collected data is automatically deleted after this period.

Predictive indicators generated by artificial intelligence

GA4 is also equipped with artificial intelligence, where an algorithm uses machine learning to create predictive metrics to assist you. The algorithm can calculate, for example, conversion probabilities, revenue forecasts and so on. These predictions can be used to create audiences, which can then be utilised in Google advertising, for example.

What should you bear in mind when switching from UA to GA4?

Although Google Analytics 4 is undoubtedly the way forward, it does lack some of the features found in Universal Analytics. For example, GA4 does not offer all the metrics or pre-built reports that UA users have become accustomed to. Furthermore, as the measurement logic has changed, reports from the new and old versions of Analytics are not comparable anyway.

It is also worth noting that if you have been tracking various conversion events on your website, such as inquiries or link clicks, the conversion figures will not match. The conversion counts differ because the measurement logic varies between the versions. For example, if you have set clicking an email link as a conversion, in UA the conversion is counted only once during the same session. In GA4, however, this same conversion is counted as many times as the user clicks the link, unless you set restrictions yourself in Tag Manager. However, most of the conversions you use in UA can also be used in GA4, with the exception of smart goals and session-duration-based goals.

What should you do now if you want to use Google Analytics?

Google Analytics 4 is the tool of the future, and Google leaves us no choice but to switch to it when it discontinues Universal Analytics – that is, if we wish to continue using Google’s analytics solution. Google Analytics is a versatile and free analytics tool that provides you with important information about your website’s users and the effectiveness of your marketing activities, so there’s certainly a reason for its popularity.

Given the differences between the various Analytics versions, it’s now a good idea to set up GA4 alongside UA as soon as possible and get used to the new normal – and, in particular, to compare data across your properties while there’s still time. Or, if you find yourself in the exciting situation where your website doesn’t yet have any analytics tool at all, now is a great time to start measuring and analyzing your site using Google Analytics 4!

For those with an urgent need for analytics, we offer Hurja’s Google Analytics 4 (GA4) implementation package. The package includes the installation of Google Analytics via Tag Manager, as well as the creation and configuration of a Google Analytics 4 property. So, if you need a hand with analytics, get in touch!