There’s been lots of talk about the new version of Google Analytics (GA4) which is seen as the biggest update in the tool’s 15-year history.
In my view, it’s almost like a whole new analytics tool rather than just an upgrade. It has many exciting new features and extraordinary functionality and is actually quite different from the existing Universal Analytics (UA).
There’s no requirement to upgrade to GA4, but it’s important to know that standard UA properties will no longer process new hits after 1 July 2023 and 360 UA properties will stop processing after 1 October 2023. You don’t have to upgrade, but you really should as it’s important to know what traffic is coming to your website and what it’s doing.
Google Analyticis is one of the Google accounts you need for your business and in my view, given all the ground-breaking features that GA4 offers businesses, transitioning is really a no-brainer. It really can revolutionise your marketing and your customer engagement.
Time is of the essence too. Because none of your historical data will carry over to the new version, you need to allow as much time as possible for data collection. I highly recommend that you upgrade to GA4 sooner rather than later so that you can ‘bank’ a whole lot of data to allow meaningful comparisons. You can run the two versions in parallel.
Read on for an overview of the platform and its benefits to businesses.
GA4 is about enabling users to keep up with shifting consumer behaviour and trends.
It offers more efficient, streamlined and more powerful ways to analyse data, plus it has a strong focus on privacy protections. This new version has also moved away from cookie-based tracking and uses an event-based data model, so it’s clearly designed for the future.
The new version comes with a heap of benefits including:
This is just a snapshot of the many advantages that the upgrade offers and there’s no doubt that it will help users improve their marketing ROI.
With deeper and broader audience insights than ever before, the power is well and truly in the hands of the GA4 user to target marketing efforts and spend far more effectively. Essentially, it’s a future-proof model which provides businesses with more value from their data, and which will help them create smarter, more relevant marketing strategies which should result in higher revenues.
And remember, the sooner you get on board with this new version, the better. It will take a little time and effort to upgrade and it’s important to transition carefully to minimise disruption to your analytics, but the benefits over the long-term will most definitely be worth it.
Karen Dauncey has been working in SEO since 2003. She specialises in helping businesses get found online through Google using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Karen's wealth of SEO knowledge and practical digital marketing experience comes from running her own SEO and Google Ads agency, Blue Cherry Online Marketing since 2008. Karen has optimised over 1000 websites, managed millions of dollars' worth of spend on Google Ads and has a solid understanding of the constantly shifting industry of digital marketing and SEO. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business.
She is the founder and creator of The SEO School an online SEO Course to help teach business owners how to do their own SEO. She regularly delivers educational programs for both Local, State and Federal Government and was an advisor for the ASBAS Digital Solutions Program. Karen’s passion and commitment to help small business owners get found online is the driving force behind her online school, making SEO advice accessible to all with free resources and online courses.
Karen has attended search engine conferences in London, Stockholm, Adelaide and Sydney, and was also invited to attend a pilot Business Coaching Course at Google’s Head Office. She has a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.
She is also the co-owner of the Digital Experts Directory, an online directory for female serviced-based businesses to promote their business (with a great backlink for SEO).
To keep up to date with the latest in SEO, join her Facebook group The SEO School Community or follow her on Facebook
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