GA4 (Google Analytics 4) is Here! Are You Ready?

Posted by ImageWorks Creative Team June 10, 2022
Google Analytics UA Transforming on website to Google Analytics 4, ga4

Google Analytics 4 (formerly known as Universal Analytics, or UA) is a new type of property that offers various benefits over Universal Analytics. It will be replacing the old Google Analytics in July 2023! Also, all new GA signups are now forced to use GA4 as they phase out of the older platform.
 

What's different in Google Analytics 4? GA4 is:

  • Focused on privacy and long-term viability
  • Intelligent, utilizing machine learning to extract information about the customer journey across platforms and devices.
  • Improved, seamless interfaces with Google's advertising platforms to boost campaign performance and marketing ROI.
  • Focuses on Active Users, now shown as Users rather than Total Users, thus changing the calculation method.


What you should know about what's changing in Google Analytics:

  • UA has been replaced by Google Analytics 4. GA4 is the new default over UA.
  • External traffic can no longer be blocked. Instead, Google relies on data from the Advertising Bureau on known bot accounts and automatic detection of bots and spiders, etc.
  • There are no more GOALS, oh no! 🙀
  • "Goals" are being replaced by "Events" which then can be tied to “Conversions”
  • As it is now, conversions will not show up until an action of said conversion occurs. (we do not like this at all 😖)
  • Standard UA will stop processing data on July 1, 2023.
     



After July 1, 2023, you'll be able to view your UA reports for a limited time. New data, on the other hand, will only be sent to Google Analytics 4 properties.

While we wish we could say that GA4 is simple to use, set up, and locate the reports you require, the truth is that this is not the case right now. It'll be clumsy and difficult to navigate. Hopefully, this will not be the case in the future, as major UI changes are already being implemented. So, hopefully, it won't be long before it becomes more intuitive.

But don't sweat 😰 the change!

If you have any marketing plan with ImageWorks Creative, we will be working on this change in the background and transfer your existing reports to GA4 - although in the meantime some data may be inaccurate or unavailable during this change as Google does not yet have a replacement for all aspects of the former UA just yet.

If you don't have any marketing plans, well allow us to help plan your success and get you started! Just hover over the Marketing Tab and you will see all of our services! 

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