In less than four months, on 1 July 2023, Universal Analytics will stop processing new data. This is the old version of Google Analytics, which many businesses have used for years. Its successor is called Google Analytics 4, or GA4 for short.
Do you already have GA4 up and running? Then now is the time to check that it is set up properly. This checklist takes you through all the key points. That way you will be ready in good time and will not head into the summer blind.
What exactly stops on 1 July?
On 1 July, the free version of Universal Analytics will stop processing new data. If you use the paid version, Analytics 360, a later date applies to you. For most small and medium-sized businesses, 1 July is therefore the deadline.
GA4 works differently from its predecessor. It measures everything as an event. A page view, a click on a button and a purchase are all events. This means you cannot compare GA4 one to one with your old reports.
Another important point: your old data will not automatically move across to GA4. You start with a blank slate. If you want to compare one year with another later on, you will need GA4 data from this year. The sooner GA4 is set up properly, the more comparison data you will have on 1 July.
Check that GA4 measures on every page
Many migrations go wrong in the places you rarely look. The homepage works fine, but the thank-you page or the checkout is missing the tracking code. You then miss exactly the most important steps.
Go through these points:
- Tracking code everywhere: also check thank-you pages, the checkout, landing pages and any subdomains.
- Enhanced measurement switched on: this is a setting in GA4 that automatically measures scrolling, outbound clicks, downloads and site searches on your website.
- Forms and phone clicks: are you measuring submitted forms and clicks on your phone number or email address?
- E-commerce events: check that view item, add to cart, begin checkout and purchase are coming through.
- Testing: use the realtime report and DebugView in GA4 to see whether events are actually arriving.
Then compare the number of orders in GA4 with the figures from your web shop. Small differences are normal, for example because of visitors who do not accept cookies or who use an ad blocker. If the difference is large, something is wrong with your tracking.
Check your conversions and the link with Google Ads
A conversion is an action that has value for your business. Think of a purchase, a quote request or a completed contact form. In GA4, not every event is automatically a conversion. You need to indicate which events matter.
A good rule of thumb is to choose a small number of conversions. The fewer you have, the clearer your reports will be. So only mark the actions you really steer by.
Do you advertise with Google Ads? Then these points are especially important:
- Link your GA4 property to your Google Ads account. A property is the account or environment in which GA4 collects your data.
- Import your GA4 conversions into Google Ads.
- Check that you are not counting the same action twice, for example through an Ads conversion tag and through the GA4 import.
- Check whether your remarketing audiences also come from GA4, if you use them.
Smart bidding strategies in Google Ads learn from your conversion data. If you only switch source at the last moment, that learning has to start again. So let GA4 conversions run alongside your existing conversions for a while now.
Three settings that are often forgotten
These settings are not correct by default. They often only come to light once the data is already polluted.
1. Exclude internal traffic. You, your colleagues and your agency visit your site regularly. This distorts your figures, especially on a site with little traffic. In GA4, define internal traffic using your IP address and then activate the data filter. Test the filter first before you switch it on permanently.
2. Extend the retention period. By default, GA4 keeps detailed data for only two months. You can increase this to fourteen months. This applies to the exploration reports, which let you dig deeper into your data. Set this correctly now, because you cannot recover data that has already been deleted.
3. Set up cross-domain tracking. This ensures that GA4 recognises a visitor when they move from one domain to another. This happens, for example, when customers go to a separate environment to pay or book.
Suppose you have a web shop on your own domain, but payment runs through an environment on a different domain. Without cross-domain tracking, GA4 sees the customer on the payment page as a new visitor. The purchase then appears to come in via a referral from the payment environment. As a result, your advertising and your SEO get no credit for the sale. You then draw the wrong conclusions about what works, when the cause is simply a missing setting.
Keep your old data and plan the final months
After the phase-out, access to Universal Analytics will eventually disappear. So whatever you will still need later, save it now. It takes little time, but it is hard to fix afterwards.
At the very least, export the reports you use regularly. Think of:
- traffic by source and medium, per month
- conversions and revenue per year and per quarter
- your most visited pages
- the performance of your campaigns
You can export reports as PDF, CSV or Google Sheets. Give the files a clear name that includes the period, and store them in a fixed location. That way you can still look back in a year’s time.
A possible schedule for the coming months:
- Now: check your tracking, conversions and links.
- April: set up internal traffic, retention period and cross-domain tracking correctly.
- May: compare the figures from GA4 and Universal Analytics and resolve any differences.
- June: export your old reports and build your new dashboards.
This way you will have everything in order well before 1 July, with time left over for unexpected problems.
Frequently asked questions
Will my old data be transferred to GA4 automatically?
No. GA4 starts with new data from the moment you install it. Your old Universal Analytics data remains separate. So export the reports you want to keep.
Can I run Universal Analytics and GA4 at the same time?
Yes, and it is sensible to do so. Until 1 July you can use both side by side. This lets you see differences in how they measure and get to know GA4 before it becomes your only source. Bear in mind that the figures will never be exactly the same, because the two count differently.
How long does the switch take?
That depends on your site. For a simple website, the basics are often done quickly. A web shop with e-commerce, multiple domains and advertising takes more time. Also allow for a testing period, because you will want to see that the figures are correct over several weeks.
Need help with your migration? Book a free introductory call
Are you unsure whether you have set up GA4 properly, or do you not know where to start? Then book a free 30-minute introductory call with Adventio Marketing in Amersfoort. We will review your current tracking with you and show you what still needs to be done before 1 July. You will get a clear picture of the next steps, with no obligation.
