Google Analytics GA4
The Google Analytics team is upgrading to the new version of their product, called GA4 Property. This upgrade will offer you more features and possibilities for tracking your business data.
To get started with this new version of Google Analytics, you’ll need to make sure that your website uses https:// URLs (the “s” stands for secure). Otherwise, your reports may not work properly after the upgrade takes place.
What You Need to Do
- Make sure your website is ready for the upgrade. You can check this by going into Google Analytics and clicking “Admin” in the top right corner, then selecting “Property Settings.” If it says “GA4 Property” at the top of your screen, then congratulations! Your account has already been upgraded and you’re ready for action. If not though…
- Log into Google Analytics and click on “Upgrade Account” from within your account settings page (click here if needed). This will take you through a few steps where you’ll confirm that all of your information is correct before upgrading officially takes place.*
What Are The Benefits Of Upgrading?
It’s important to note that this upgrade will not affect existing users. If you’re already using Google Analytics, nothing will change. However, if you’re a new user or have been using GA for less than 30 days and are looking to upgrade your plan level (for example from Free to Premium), then these changes may impact how much data is available for analysis in your reports.
The benefits of upgrading include:
- New users will be able to access all features available on their current plan level
- Existing users who have been paying monthly will now have access all previous feature upgrades they’ve missed out on over the years
- Notifications when new upgrades are available
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What Happens if You Do Nothing?
If you don’t update your property, the following will happen:
- You’ll lose out on revenue. If you’re not tracking mobile traffic or other important sources of traffic, you won’t be able to see how much money they’re generating for your business. This could mean missing out on opportunities to improve conversions and increase sales.
- Competitors can get an advantage over you. If they know that their competitors are using GA4 Property and not updating their own properties, they’ll have an advantage over them because they’ll be able to use this information as part of their strategy when making decisions about where to invest in marketing campaigns or product development efforts (and more).
Google Analytics 4 Property
- New interface: The new Google Analytics 4 Property (GA4P) interface is designed to be more intuitive and user-friendly, so you can get the information you need faster.
- Enhanced real-time reporting: You’ll have access to enhanced real-time reporting that gives you an at-a-glance view of how your site is performing in real time. This includes metrics like pageviews per minute, unique visitors per hour and bounce rate by hour.
- Cross-platform analysis: You can now see how different devices interact with each other when it comes to viewing content on your website or app–and then compare them against one another for a better understanding of how users interact with different platforms over time.
- Automated insights: GA4P uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to automatically identify trends in data without requiring manual intervention from analysts or developers; this allows teams across organizations large or small who may not have access to sophisticated tools like SQL databases but still want insight into their digital performance.
How to Upgrade to GA4 Property
To upgrade your property to GA4, follow these steps:
- Create a new Google Analytics 4 property.
- Set up your data streams.
- Install the Google Analytics 4 property tag on all pages of your site that are not already using it (including any third-party integrations).
Benefits of GA4 Property
The GA4 Property upgrade offers a number of benefits, including:
- More accurate data. The new platform will provide you with more accurate data so that you can make decisions based on real-time information.
- Improved customer experience. You’ll be able to deliver a better customer experience by understanding how users interact with your site or app and where they get stuck along the way, which makes it easier for you to improve those interactions in order to increase conversions and sales.
- Increased customer engagement. In addition to giving you insights into how customers interact with your site or app, GA4 Property also allows marketers who use Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) to integrate their advertising campaigns directly into Analytics so they can see how ads affect traffic sources and conversion rates over time–allowing them to optimise ad spend based on actual performance instead of guesswork!
Tips for a Successful Upgrade
- Test the new property.
- Use the data migration tool. This is an easy way to move your data from one Google Analytics account into another, and it’s available for all properties except those using BigQuery.
- Set up custom conversions. If you have any custom conversion types set up in your old property, they’ll automatically be transferred over when you upgrade–but if not, now’s a good time to set them up so that they’re ready when users start converting on their own!
- Set up data streams: You can use this feature (which allows users to send real-time updates) before upgrading but we recommend doing so after upgrading because there may be some issues with sending updates through older versions of GA4.
Conclusion
- Upgrade your Google Analytics account to Universal Analytics.
- Make sure you have implemented all of the changes that were recommended.
- Check out additional resources for more information.