Google is doing an update to Google Analytics from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4.
The migration from GA2 to GA3 was painless for many of us 10 years ago.
This migration isn’t quite as simple.
The current Google Analytics is different than the new GA4 in many ways, and not all features from UA are present in GA4.
Additionally, Google is pressing us to update now. The free version of Google UA will stop collecting data from July 1, 2023.
You should address your analytics plan as soon as possible to make sure that your new GA4 property will be tracking correctly by that date and provide accurate year-over-year data.
Here’s how to migrate to Google Analytics 4.
How to Make the Move to Google Analytics 4
1. Export the UA data you’ll want to access later
You will need to export all of your past Universal Analytics data for comparison in your GA4 future.
Since any data not qualifying will be lost after the deadline, it is important to carefully consider which data meets the requirements. We recommend that you export all of your data so that you do not miss anything.
At the very least, we assume you will want traffic, engagement, and sales data from the last several years organized by channels, types of devices, and your preferred user demographics.
It is important to store your exported data in a way that is well organized and can be easily accessed when you need to use it for comparing historical data.
2. Document your UA settings
You’ll need to make a record of your existing Universal Analytics settings so you can replicate them in your new Google Analytics 4 account. Exporting your historical data is crucial.
Important settings to review and record include the following:
- User access
- Referral exclusions
- Goals
- Events
3. Create your GA4 property and launch it
It is important to create new GA4 properties and launch them immediately.
Google Analytics 4 properties will not import data from Universal Analytics. This means that the new property will only track data from the time it is created.
The quicker you create it, the sooner GA4 will have data.
This should ideally be done before July 1, 2022. If you do not reach your goal by the specified date, simply create your GA4 property as soon as possible.
To launch the new property, you’ll need to:
- Create the new GA4 property.
- Add the new GA4 tracking tag to your site.
This can be easily done by using Google Tag Manager. After you deploy the new property, check it over the next few days to make sure that traffic data is appearing in the property.
4. Create your property and data streams
After you create your Google Analytics 4 property, the next important step is to set up your data stream. You can set up a GA4 property by navigating to Admin and choosing the GA4 Setup Assistant option.
If you’re using the gtag.js tag, you can enable data collection using your existing tags to simplify the migration process. With that done, you can create your property.
You can create an additional data stream by going to Admin > Property > Data Streams, choosing ‘add stream’, and selecting iOS app, Android app, or Web. Then follow Google’s helpful setup instructions as appropriate.
5. Enable data collection
There are four ways to collect data using GA4 for your website, depending on your preferred method and the platforms you are using. These are as follows:
- Add your GA4 tag to a website builder or CMS-hosted website (such as Shopify or WordPress). Google provides specific step-by-step instructions for individual platforms here
- Add the entire global site tag directly to the <head> section of your web pages
- Add your tag using Google Tag Manager. Again, Google has been kind enough to provide in-depth instructions as to how to complete this tagging – which you can find here
- Find your “G-” ID (for any platform that accepts a “G-” ID)
To find your global site tag and G-ID, go to Admin and select Data Streams from the dropdown menu. Then choose the data stream you want to track.
After completing Google’s app property setup guide, data collection can be enabled by adding the GA4F SDK to your app. The events that are automatically collected can be supplemented by additional events that are more relevant to your business.
6. Activate Google signals (if applicable)
It’s important to turn on Google signals if you want to track what users do across devices and show ads to people who are signed in to Google. But be careful: you need Editor access to the right property to do this.
The process is as follows:
- Go to Admin and navigate to the relevant GA4 property.
- Go to Tracking Info, then Data Collection.
- Click ‘GET STARTED’ and follow the dialogue prompt.
- Click through the information and activation panels, then click ‘CONTINUE’ once you’ve read through the informational content around Google signals.
- Activate Google signals, selecting the appropriate properties and choosing to activate immediately unless you’d like to make the decision to activate at a later date.
After activating this, you should be able to find user data in the Cross Device reports in GA4 under the Audience section.
7. Make a list of your key items
New analytics properties do not automatically copy over specific tracking items from other properties.
Some of the most common tracking items that can be found in Google Analytics are: website pages, website traffic, and conversion rates. These tracking items can help give you a better understanding of how your website is being used and how well it is performing. You may have additional ones to add, but these are some common ones you need to add to the list:
- Events
- Goals (Conversions)
- Content Groupings
- Custom Dimensions/Metrics
- Referral Exclusions
- Product Link Connections
- Audiences
Evaluate the items on your list to determine what to keep and what to discard. Consider if there are any gaps where you might want to create new tracking items.
Remember that goals are created in each reporting view. If you have multiple goals set up in different reporting views for the same UA property and you want to keep all of them, you will need to list them all and create them again in the GA4 property.
You can only have 30 conversions per property in GA4, which is similar to the 20 goal limit per reporting view in UA.
Be sure to note which goals on your list are “non-event” goals, as you will need to make some changes to how you track those goals in the future.
8. Migrate UA events
There are two more steps in your GA4 migration journey that are very important for accurate reporting. These steps deserve their own post.
If you’re using Google Analytics, it’s recommended that you also use a global site tag. This will help you track data across platforms and devices more effectively. This is an easy way to create a GA4 data bank while continuing to use Universal Analytics.
There are two ways to approach your dual tagging:
- Use Google’s GA4 Setup Assistant and choose to ‘Enable data collection using your existing tags’
- Add a new manual ‘config’ directive using your GA4 ID (G-XXXXXXXX)
Google’s extensive guidance on event migration in GA4 will be extremely useful to have throughout this process.
9. Migrate goals and ecommerce tracking
This is a big task because UA’s old way of tracking ecommerce has been replaced with a new system that focuses on events.
Google has a guide that lists recommended events and associated details for conversions.
What’s important to note before you commence your ecommerce tracking migration is that, in order to enjoy the best of both worlds while your UA and GA4 properties are running in tandem, you should:
- Leave your UA implementation as is
- Create new duplicate events for your GA4 property
10. Import GA4 conversions to Ads
For tracking purposes, it is best to import your GA4 conversions into Ads. This will help to ensure accuracy and uniformity.
To focus on the next-generation metrics that matter, it is key to demote your UA conversions to secondary versions and set your new GA4 conversions as the primary conversions. You can learn how to do both here.
Import the conversion process before beginning to compare values from both UA and GA4 to ensure the accuracy of your newly implemented conversion tracking.
You should wait a few weeks after implementing your tracking system before making comparisons. This will ensure that you have a sufficient number of samples from each of the two properties to compare.
11. Determine a date for migrating to GA4 as your single source of truth
google analytics is relied on by many departments in organizations for reporting, so it is important that the organization agree to when the new GA4 property will become the sole source of data and reporting.
you should likely wait until you have year-over-year data in your GA4 property(ies) prior to changing your single source of truth to GA4
You can start using your GA4 as your single source of truth as of July 1, 2023, if you can get it implemented before July 1, 2022.
If you use the free version of Google Analytics, you’ll have to start using GA4 as your primary source of information on July 1, 2023, even if the data from UA isn’t comparable year to year.
12. Migrate audiences
Any audiences you have set up in Universal Analytics allow you to perform more targeted marketing activity by allowing for granular data analysis. If you import these audiences, you will be able to continue with this strategic segmentation.
The import process for Google Analytics 4 requires you to manually recreate any custom audiences that you have set up. This may not be a big deal for businesses with only a few custom audiences, but it could take some time for businesses with more complex audience setups.
The audiences you’ve created in GA4 won’t work unless you also recreate any custom dimensions they’re based on.
You are limited to creating a maximum of 100 audiences in a single Google Analytics 4 property.
13. Update user access
All that is left to do is update your user management settings for the new property.
Google has a tool that can help migrate users from one account to another. This can be helpful when there are a lot of users with different settings that need to be moved to a new account.
The settings mentioned can be easily replicated by going to the Access Management area within Admin.
14. GA4 team training and upskilling
The final step is to teach your team about Google Analytics 4, from the overall reports structure and new metrics, to the tracking conventions and new reporting possibilities.
We expect this final step to take months or even years since we are leaving the comfort of Universal Analytics. Google Analytics 4 appears to be providing data analytics capabilities unlike anything we have seen before.
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