Google launched its new analytics tool called Google Analytics 4 in October 2020 and finally replaced Universal Analytics with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) on July 2023. In this article, we shall discuss “Why is Google moving from Universal Analytics (UA) property to GA4 property”. This is a shift away from the natural page view that is unique to Universal Analytics. But the important question is: Why is Google moving from Universal Analytics (UA) property to GA4 property? Please see What are the differences between Universal, Global, and Domain Local Group Scopes. And the Benefits of Azure API Management and how to create an API instance.
If you have not moved to GA4 then you are surely missing a lot of features that exist within this new Google Analytics 4. Google is Ending Universal Analytics & Why not Switch to GA4? This is How to Configure and Migrate from Universal Analytics (UA) property to GA4 property using Setup Assistant. Below is the error that will be prompted when the setup is not complete.
What is GA4 and why you should start migrating now?
GA4 is the next big thing from Google in terms of data analytics online. It is bringing and improving all the features in Universal Analytics. This is done by transforming it into another version that harnesses all the opportunities presented by big data and machine learning. So if you want to start benefiting from all these opportunities then you should start migrating now.
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What is the difference between GA4 and Universal Analytics?
The difference between GA4 and UA is the difference in concept and architecture. While Universal Analytics was built for the purpose of sessions that are derived from a series of page views. GA4 was built on a different concept of using events. These events can be page views, clicks, form submissions, and you can even create your own custom events.
- What this means is that Google Analytics 4 has the capacity to collect more data than Universal Analytics.
- Google Analytics 4 will give you more insights into what people are doing on your website or web app.
- Google Analytics 4 can be used to track anything and not only web traffic.
Now there is more focus on users’ privacy and more reduction in the use of cookies. That is why Google launched GA4. Because it can operate across platforms whether web or mobile apps and does not rely exclusively on cookies but rather make use of event-based data modeling for its analysis.
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Below are a few features of Google Analytics 4
1. Tracking ability across different platforms
GA4 can help you to track users across different devices and platforms and give a report base on the data streams you configured with some criteria. It helps you to know which platform is doing well on user interactions. This will also provide you with details on conversions from start to finish on your website or mobile app.
2. Better Analysis and reporting
Google Analytics 4 has a toolset you can use to run advanced analysis due to its deep insight ability and you can decide which page or event you want to critically analyse.
3. Better insights with AI and machine learning
GA4 can use machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide you with smarter insights which will help you to differentiate or compare different data coming from different sources by using ‘probabilistic matching’.
What happens if you don’t migrate to GA4?
Please note that if you don’t migrate from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 your data will not be tracked. What this means is that while you have a history of users coming to your website nothing gets tracked and reported and you will basically be missing out on valuable information about your website and your users.
GA4 is definitely an upgrade to Universal Analytics because of its enormous features that are more powerful, more flexible, and more accurate in data analysis. Google has now discontinued the use of Universal Analytics for your web app and mobile app and you no longer have a choice but to migrate to GA4 now.
I hope you found this blog post on why is Google moving from Universal Analytics (UA) property to GA4 property Interesting and helpful. In case you have any questions do not hesitate to ask in the comment section.