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You’ve probably heard about the arrival of Google Analytics 4, more commonly known as GA4. It is a replacement for Universal Analytics (UA), the measurement tool that provides users and behavioural statistics on your website. UA has launched over 15 years ago, and this new iteration of Google Analytics is based on new technologies and features that cater to the next generation of analytics.
On July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics will stop collecting data and will be replaced with Google Analytics 4.
Why did you install GA4 now?
As a 360.Agency customer, Google Analytics 4 is already installed on your website. Because the UA data does not transfer to GA4, you will have already built up a data history of at least 1 year by the time UA is no longer supported. You’ll access insights that have a full year’s worth of data processed by the new machine learning features.
Your UA account will remain active for up to 6 months after Google discontinues it, and customers who use ADS 360 for their advertising campaigns will continue to see UA-derived data, which is currently still the most relevant, in their DASH 360 dashboard until further notice.
Updates and new features
UA was designed for an online measurement generation whose pillars were the desktop web page, independent sessions and cookies. However, this method of measurement is no longer appropriate for today’s reality.
In response to changing consumer behaviours, GA4 no longer relies solely on cookies. The tool operates with a new cross-platform tracking by collecting event-based data to provide user-centric insights and help you generate actions. An event is a previously identified scenario, such as the entry of a new lead or an online vehicle reservation, whose main advantage is to be more intelligible and easy to analyze than the sessions collected by UA.
In addition, in response to various regulations and consumer expectations regarding privacy and confidentiality, GA4 no longer stores IP addresses and offers more control over data collection to businesses.
Many changes have also been made to the structure of the tool, such as in the navigation structure of reports and in the account structure, where views have been replaced by data streams.
The predictive features will now offer tips and insights without complex models to facilitate the application of concrete actions and quickly improve your results (available soon).
Over the next few months, more features will be added by Google.
Gaining access to GA4
Accessing GA4
To access the exclusive insights of Google Analytics 4, you may use the same login information you use for Universal Analytics.
Login address: https://analytics.google.com/
Use the same username and password as for your Universal Analytics access.
In the properties, look for the name that contains the extension: GA4 | Reach360
In the coming weeks, we will continue to enhance the information available in GA4, including scheduling more targeted events than those provided by default by Google, for you.
