GA4 Migration

What is GA4?

GA4 is the fourth version of Google’s website analytics platform. It will become the default analytics option when Universal Analytics (UA) is deactivated in July 2023 – and crucially, Google will not migrate your data from UA to GA4. What GA4 offers is a more powerful, streamlined version of the web analytics tool that Google has offered to website owners for years now.

Beyond being able to see where users are clicking on your site, it gives you insights into who they are, where they’re from, and how they behave on your site. It’s also customisable, with integration into Google Ads as well as reporting and dashboarding tools like Looker Studio. That means you can track and measure conversions like form fills or even phone calls from your advertising campaigns, in real-time reports.

What’s the rush to change?

• Combined website and app data. More and more businesses are offering both website and app-based engagement with their users and Google recognises this. GA4 combines these data streams in a simpler fashion so that you can track and analyse your userbase in one place.
• Event-based, not session-based. Tracking is changing to suit user preferences. Shifting the focus from a user’s session to simply the events they trigger with your business puts the emphasis on consensual interaction as opposed to constant observation.
• Cookieless measurement. With an emphasis on user privacy, Google goes a step further with GA4 and removes the need for cookie tracking altogether. Instead, by relying on machine-learning and anonymous data, Google can give you an accurate picture of your customer base, without breaching their privacy.
• And much more. Google has also upped their game in terms of easy-to-use predictive metrics that give you at-a-glance insights into how your website is doing, letting you know when your ad traffic is down, when a new blog has gone viral, or whether a month is bringing in more revenue than last year.