Universal Analytics is (nearly) dead, long live Universal Analytics.
Google recently announced that it was officially ending measurement of hits in Universal Analytics (UA) properties on July 1, 2023.
This news is likely unwelcome to many vocal critics of the replacement platform, known as Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
It’s easy to see how digital marketing practitioners might perceive this as a backwards step, and as with all things there are two sides to this story.
Google’s focus with the new analytics platform is to provide marketers important data, whilst (quite rightly) prioritising user privacy. A major part of this privacy focus is the removal of IP tracking - although the Google Analytics team suggest it won’t impact the quality of the reports received by advertisers.
Unfortunately, despite these reassurances, many believe that this focus on privacy means fewer insights for marketers to utilise. For our use-case (PPC campaign management) the Jury is still out on this - Whilst our transition to GA4 platforms has been somewhat painful, the insights provided by the platform aren’t typically the source of that pain. The key challenges we have found so far are;
Implementing tracking for Ecommerce sites.
GA4 utilises a different tagging process, and whilst it does understand the ‘traditional’ product information schema (this is the sales data held on your webpages which is fed into your analytics platform to report revenue data) the recommended implementation is actually different, requiring a completely new tag to be installed - Some ‘off the shelf’ website platforms does not natively support GA4 yet, so the clock is ticking.
Understanding sessions vs events measurement.
Even if you don’t fully understand how something works under the hood (like the engine in your trusty old Vauxhall Corsa), you get to know the rhythms and flows of it going about it’s business. In the PPC world, the relationship between website traffic and the reported data in UA analytics is filled with little quirks and idiosyncrasies - Most of which puzzle those who use it on a regular basis. Due to the change from sessions to event based measurement a lot of these inter-platform interactions have changed now - Getting used to the changes (and often the discrepancies) between UA & GA4 is a big part of the learning curve.
The fear of the unknown
We PPC folk are typically quite set in our ways, best practices and routine hygiene scripts are our daily bread and butter - So when it comes to a huge shift in the technologies that we use, it’s understandable that we might be a little hesitant (especially when the technology in question is often used by clients to benchmark our performance!).
So, should you switch?
Well, given that we now have a date for the sun-setting of UA the question of if you should has become a moot point. The question of when though is still relevant, and the answer is… as soon as possible! Whilst July 2023 might seem like a small shape on the horizon at the moment, GA4 does not track retroactively - So if you want a year's worth of benchmark data in your GA4 account before your UA shuts off completely, you actually only have 4 months to make the change.
Ok don’t panic just yet - Until next year you’ll still be able to run UA & GA4 in parallel. But don’t rest on your laurels for too long. The interface and reporting tools are quite different in the new platform, and it will take some time to adjust.
Not sure about the best approach to Google Analytics for your PPC campaigns? Just get in touch.
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