All businesses use Google Analytics to track their website’s performance on Google. If you are a business that’s been using Universal Analytics to track your SEO, SEM, Google ads, etc., you would have known that it stopped working in July 2023.
Hence, you need to know what the latest version, Google Analytics 4, is all about and how it is different from Universal Analytics.
That’s what we will be discussing in this post.
What Is Google Analytics 4 or GA4?
In a nutshell, GA4 is an analytics tool from Google that helps businesses track the performance of their websites and mobile apps. The app is similar in function to its older version, Universal Analytics.
However, the latest version comes with a number of new features, capabilities, and reporting functionalities.
GA4 has been rolling for a few months now, and it has now become the default analytics tool for Google users since July 2023.
Difference Between GA4 and Universal Analytics
The biggest difference between GA4 and Universal Analytics is its reporting nature. The latest version lets you analyze the activities on both apps and websites.
Here are a few other major differences.
A New Dashboard
This is the most prominent difference you will notice. It was the first one we noticed. The dashboard looks fresh and intuitive.
In our opinion, the previous version had a cluttered UI with a lot of unwanted reports. GA4 has moved most of them.
The navigation bar on the right is used to house buttons for:
- Home
- Reports
- Explore
- Configure
- Library
- Advertising
This is extremely important for businesses that focus on organic SEO and Google ads.
Measurements Are Events in GA4
In GA4, instead of page views, events are the measurements. This enables you to understand how users interact with your apps and websites.
These granular report levels allow you to understand more insights about user interactions on your site. As a result, you get to optimize the site according to the insights for better UX.
In addition, it has the following metrics you can track and analyze:
- Engaged sessions
- Engagement time
- Engagement rate
Predictive Insights in GA4
Universal Analytics helped you understand the audience by looking at their past performance. But it didn’t help much with proactive decision-making. Well, with GA4, it is changing for the better.
Using Google’s predictive metrics, you can now make data-driven decisions right from GA4. And you can do it on a large scale.
This will make retargeting campaigns more value-adding, as it leverages AI for:
- Purchase Probability
- Revenue prediction
- Churn probability
What’s interesting is that you can now create different audiences based on their behaviors and target them separately.
Enjoy More Control
While Universal Analytics was fun and effective to use, it was not very customizable. That issue doesn’t come with GA4, as it enables you to customize the dashboard as you like it.
As an added advantage, you can use it with Google Data Studio for custom visualizations to understand data better.
Businesses that also want to track customer interactions can do it effortlessly with GA4 now, as it lets you create custom segments as per the trigger events set by you.
Track Your Websites of Apps Across Platforms
What would you do when your users are active on multiple platforms to access your site or apps? It was nearly impossible to track the metrics with Universal Analytics.
That’s not the case with GA4. You can easily track both app and web data under the same property.
The result is more visibility into the entire customer journey. And you can also understand where customers are falling out and take appropriate actions to resolve the issue.
How to Setup Google Analytics 4?
There are two ways to set up GA4. One is when you already have Universal Analytics set up, and the other is with Firebase.
Setting up Google Analytics 4 with an existing property
You can effortlessly set up GA4 with GA4 Setup Assistant if you already have UA on your website.
- Click on ‘Admin’ in your GA on the lower left side of the screen.
- A list of your accounts will show in a drop-down menu. Pick your site/app.
- From the property tab, choose the UA that’s currently active on your site.
- Now, choose the GA4 Setup Assistant from the same column.
- You will see another option, ‘I want to create a new GA property’. Click on ‘Get Started’.
- Now, click on ‘Create Property’.
Setting up Google Analytics 4 with a Firebase account
Follow the steps given here to upgrade to GA4 from Firebase.
- Sign into your Firebase account.
- Go to the Dashboard from the Analytics section on the console.
- Click on the ‘Begin Upgrade’ tab on the banner for the upgrade.
- Follow all the instructions diligently to finish the setup.
Advantages of Using Google Analytics 4
Using Google Analytics 4 has the following advantages.
- GA4 has better tracking than Universal Analytics, as it can track clicks, searches, video engagements, etc.
- The latest analytics version can now collect data from both offline and online events, email engagements, Google ad campaigns, etc.
- Google Analytics 4 helps you with predictive analytics for better decision-making through historic audience behaviors.
- Using GA4’s new capabilities, you can create and optimize audiences to reach them effectively with suitable offerings.
Trouble Migrating to Google Analytics 4? Let Eco York Help You
As a Google Analytics expert in the market, Eco York can help you with integrating and managing your website’s analytics. No matter if you want it as part of the SEO solutions we offer or as an additional service, we can help.
Our experience and expertise in the field empower us to take full advantage of GA4 for your business.
We rely on the following elements to help you with our Google Analytics expert services.
- A team of trained and certified Google developers.
- Customized service offerings according to your business needs.
- Years of industry experience offering top-notch SEM and SEO solutions.
- Highly cost-effective Google Analytics service packages for all.
- Timely customer service to help with all your concerns.
Conclusion
The support to Universal Analytics will stop completely for next year. Therefore, you must get used to the GA4 console and its capabilities as early as possible while the support to UA is still live.
And if you are looking for an experienced GA4 migration services provider, Eco York can help you. We have been using GA4 for our clients since its availability, and we love its customization and reporting capabilities.
Our Google developers can take care of all the aspects of GA4 migration effortlessly to migrate it quickly.
To learn more about how we can help you, speak to our support team now!
