It’s not uncommon for those starting their journey with web analytics to find themselves perplexed with the buzzwords floating around. One such confusion that often arises is the distinction between Universal Analytics V GA4 (Google Analytics 4).
In this blog post, we’re going to explore these two versions of Google Analytics in a way that’s friendly for non-tech savvy readers. We’ll walk you through the key differences and help you understand which one might be the right fit for your website analytics needs.
What is Google Analytics?
Before we delve into the differences, it’s crucial to understand what Google Analytics is in the first place. Google Analytics is a powerful tool offered by Google that helps website owners understand how visitors are interacting with their site and how activities like SEO or Google ads are improving leads and awareness. It provides a wealth of data, including who is visiting your site, where they’re coming from, what pages they’re looking at, how long they’re staying, and much more.
Universal Analytics v GA4: A Look at the Differences
Universal Analytics and GA4 are essentially different versions of Google Analytics, each with its own features and benefits.
Universal Analytics
Universal Analytics (UA) has been the standard version of Google Analytics for many years. It was designed to give you valuable insights into your website’s performance and the behaviour of your site’s visitors.
Key features of Universal Analytics include:
- User-Based Tracking: UA focuses on sessions and user-level data. This means it helps you understand individual user behavior on your website during a specific period.
- Custom Dimensions & Metrics: UA allows you to create custom dimensions and metrics. This gives you flexibility in collecting and analyzing data that’s specific to your business.
- E-commerce Reporting: UA has robust e-commerce reporting capabilities. It helps you understand your e-commerce performance by providing data on sales, transactions, and product performance.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics, and it represents a significant shift in how data is collected and processed. It was designed with today’s multi-device usage in mind, providing cross-platform tracking.
Key features of GA4 include:
- Event-Based Tracking: Unlike UA that focuses on sessions, GA4 is designed around events. An event can be anything from page views, button clicks, user engagement, and more. This provides a more granular view of user interactions on your site.
- Machine Learning Insights: GA4 incorporates machine learning to provide predictive insights, such as predicting future user actions or potential revenue from a particular segment of users.
- Cross-Platform Tracking: GA4 allows for unified tracking across multiple platforms and devices, including websites and mobile apps. This gives a more complete view of user behavior across different devices.
- Enhanced Reporting: GA4 offers more comprehensive and flexible reporting options, including the ability to visualize entire user journeys, not just standalone sessions.
Which One Should You Use?
Universal analytics is going away, GA4 will be the only supported analytics tool as of July 1,2023. The sunset process of Universal Analytics refers to the phase-out or discontinuation of Universal Analytics in favor of GA4. This process is often multi-phased, involving a gradual decrease in support and functionality for Universal Analytics as users are encouraged and assisted to transition to GA4.
The process usually includes the following steps:
- Announcement of Sunset: Google officially announces the discontinuation of Universal Analytics, providing an end date for its services and support.
- Transition Assistance: Google provides resources and tools to help users migrate their analytics setup from Universal Analytics to GA4. This can include detailed guides, migration tools, webinars, and even personalized support.
- Decreased Support: Over time, Google reduces support for Universal Analytics. This could mean fewer updates, fewer customer service resources dedicated to Universal Analytics, and decreased functionality.
- End of Life: At the end of the sunset period, Universal Analytics is fully phased out and no longer supported. Users who haven’t transitioned to GA4 might lose access to data or analytics capabilities.
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Also published on Medium.