On Wednesday, Google announced that it will be sunsetting Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023. Universal Analytics 360 users will see hits stopped being processed on October 1st, 2023.
Preparing For The Future
Two and a half years ago, Google introduced Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to address evolving measurement standards and give businesses a better chance of succeeding online. GA4 has the flexibility to measure an array of different kinds of data, along with a host of other benefits.
As said by Google:
“It allows businesses to see unified user journeys across their websites and apps, use Google’s machine learning technology to surface and predict new insights, and most importantly, it’s built to keep up with a changing ecosystem.”
Goodbye Universal Analytics
UA was engineered for a generation of online measurement that was anchored in the desktop web, independent sessions and more easily observe data from cookies. According to Google, this measurement methodology is fast becoming obsolete whereas GA4 operates across platforms and doesn’t rely on cookies, utilising an event-based data model to deliver user-centric measurement.
“And though Universal Analytics offers a variety of privacy controls, Google Analytics 4 is designed with privacy at its core to provide a better experience for both our customers and their users. It helps businesses meet evolving needs and user expectations, with more comprehensive and granular controls for data collection and usage.”
Here are some of the most apparent ways Google Analytics 4 can support your business:
- Understand customers across standpoints
- Improve ROI with data-driven attribution
- Measure engagement and conversions with business and compliance needs in mind
- Get greater value from your data
- Address your enterprise measurement needs
Google advises moving over to Google Analytics 4 as soon as possible to build the necessary historical data before UA stops processing new hits.
