Why Has My Google Analytics Changed?

On Saturday, 1^st July 2023, the online world, or at least anyone who has a website and uses Google Analytics to monitor and measure its performance, was rocked, when Google commenced ‘sunsetting’ (phasing out) the Google Analytics we have known and loved for the past eighteen years, the last version of which we’ll call Google Analytics 3 or Universal Analytics, and replacing it with the very different looking Google Analytics 4. This only applied to free Google Analytics accounts, with Universal Analytics 360 or Google Analytics 360 still available on the paid GA360 platform.

To be fair, this has not come as a bolt out of the blue. Google did forewarn of its intentions as long ago as July 2019, and Google first released Google Analytics 4 or GA4 in October 2020. Anyone who has used Google Analytics over the past eighteen months or so, cannot help but to have noticed the warnings of Universal Analytics’ imminent demise and Google’s strong encouragement to switch to Google Analytics 4.

When it was announced, Google cited changes in user behaviour and privacy standards as major reasons for the change.

Privacy has been a major concern for people over the last few years, and users' awareness of their privacy online has been increasing. The result of this has been changes in the law, like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in Europe and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) in the United States. As the world moves towards a cookieless world, Google has created GA4 with privacy as a primary focus.

Google says that it believes that the model Universal Analytics was built on has become obsolete, stating: -

Google Analytics 4 is a free analytics service that enables you to measure traffic and engagement across your websites and apps in one view, rather having to view App and Web data separately. For more information from Google see this guide.

As well as cookieless and non-IP dependent reporting, GA4 uses an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning-based data model that provides more accurate and actionable insights. This helps you make data-driven decisions more confidently, knowing that the data you are working with is accurate and up-to-date.

Previously, Google Analytics measured web visits via desktop, tablet and mobile devices in Universal Analytics, and App visits through Firebase, a separate application.

GA4 combines both web and app data in the same property.

Universal Analytics is session based, whereas GA4 is event or user based, meaning it tries to track a user across whatever device they engage with the property.

Other key differences are: -

• Cookieless and IP-less traffic

Although GA4 can collect cookie and IP data, it is possible to collect data on GA4 without using third-party cookies or collecting IP addresses

• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence AI

GA4 uses Machine Learning and AI to predict behaviour and model data, based on samples of data.

• Product Integration

GA4 integrates with a range of other Google products, including Google Ads, Google Search Console, Google Merchant Center, as did GA3, but you can now export data to Big Query for free as a GA4 user, which was previously only available to paying GA360 users.

• Customisable Reports and Dashboards

You can now create customisable dashboards based on the data and KPI’s you want to report on.

• Bounce rate and engagement rate

Although Bounce rate is still reported, it is calculated differently and GA4 focuses on more ‘positive’ engagement metrics.

• Google Tag Manager is now even more important.

A lot of the basic functionality in Universal Analytics could be utilised without the need for Google Tag Manager (GTM), such as configuring a Destination Page Conversion Goal. This is not possible in GA4, as all goals are event-based, so being able to use and configure GTM is essential, especially if you are in ecommerce, or need to create custom events and custom dimensions, or if you have specific data collection or reporting requirements.

• No Data Limits on GA4

Universal Analytics properties were only able to process 10 million hits, 500 hits for each session, and 200,000 hits per user per day, however GA4 has no such data limits.

For a more in-depth comparison of the two platforms, see this piece from Google here.

GA4 is a ‘new kind of property designed for the future of measurement’:

• GA4 collects both website and app data in one single view of data, to better understand the customer journey

• GA4 uses event-based data instead of session-based data

• It includes privacy controls such as Cookieless measurement, and non-IP dependent measurement.

• GA4 utilises Machine Learning and AI to offer intelligent behavioural and conversion modelling.

• GA4’s predictive capabilities offer guidance without the need to develop complex models

• Direct integrations to media platforms help drive actions on your website or app

GA4 uses a significantly different data structure and data collection logic, which is why it has not been possible to migrate Universal Analytics to GA4, as has happened in each of the previous iterations of Google Analytics.

Now, everything is built around users and events – not sessions, as we’ve been used to, over the past eighteen years. An events-based model processes each user interaction as a standalone event. By moving to this event-based model, GA4 is more flexible and better able to predict user behaviour, thus allowing you to make informed decisions without the need for complex models.

Events let you measure user interactions on your website or app; for example, you can measure when someone loads a page, clicks a link, or makes a purchase. GA4 comes with a range of preset or templated events, however you can also configure your own, based upon what you want to track. With Google Analytics 4, you can use data from events to create reports with information about your business.

Universal Analytics measures screenviews in separate mobile-specific properties, whereas GA4 combines both web and app data in the same property. This means that you now have a single source of information on your users and how they engage with your business or organisation, rather than separate, disjointed views.

Google Analytics 4 is a powerful tool that offers several benefits to marketers including:

• Improved Accuracy

GA4 uses an AI/machine learning-based data model that provides more accurate and actionable insights. This helps you to make data-driven decisions confidently, knowing that the data you are working with is accurate and up-to-date.

• Enhanced Data Privacy

GA4 provides improved data privacy and security, giving businesses more control over their data and making it easier to comply with privacy regulations like GDPR. This helps you to protect your users and customers’ data and maintain their trust. 

Learn more about website GDPR in our detailed guide. 

• Enhanced Cross-Device Tracking

Today’s user is far more sophisticated than the users Google Analytics first catered for, two decades ago. Modern online journeys typically incorporate multiple channels, networks and devices. GA4 recognises this and provides enhanced cross-device tracking capabilities, allowing you to gain a more complete picture of your users or customers’ online journeys. This helps you to better understand your users and customers and make informed decisions about how to engage with them.

• More Advanced eCommerce Tracking

GA4 provides more advanced eCommerce tracking, making it easier for you to measure the success of your online sales efforts. This helps you to understand what’s working and what isn’t, and make data-driven decisions about how to improve your eCommerce strategy.

GA4 uses first-party cookies to distinguish unique users as well as unique sessions from a single user, however, it does not require you to set cookies to transmit data to Google Analytics.

You can easily make changes to the cookie settings in your Google Analytics 4 Property, follow the instructions here.

Google Analytics 4 is GDPR and CCPA neutral. It doesn't inherently comply or fail to comply with the GDPR. it is up to you to use the platform in compliance with the data privacy laws or not. Google Analytics 4 offers a web analytics tool to track website visitor interactions on your website, providing valuable usage pattern insights, both within GDPR and CCPA or outside it.

Those of us who have been using Google Analytics for a while will undoubtedly find the switchover challenging. New metrics, a new look, all your data in a different place, it’s like any change, it takes time to adjust and become comfortable with the new. And some people cope with change far better than others.

Key to any data analysis is to be able to compare like for like, and this will certainly be one of the biggest challenges of switching to GA4, as any like-for-like comparison can only go back to October 2020 at the latest, and many people adopted GA4 much later. At Zelst, we set up GA4 accounts for all of our clients at the earliest opportunity so that they had at least twelve months of comparative data, but even then, GA4 has changed quite a lot over those 12 months. This year, we have had to set up GA4 for a number of new clients whose previous agency hadn’t done this, so there will be much less comparative data.

Many people have been avoiding switching to GA4 for these two reasons, but ultimately we are now here, and we have to use it, or we need to switch to another paid provider of Analytics, such as Analytics 360, Adobe Analytics, Clicky, Matomo, Simple Analytics or even Semrush.

Given the costs and the fact that GA4 is a very comprehensive and customisable analytics and reporting platform, and it is free, I suspect most people will stick with it and adjust, but I think it is also essential that you also compare data from other sources.

At Zelst, for instance, we review Analytics data, but we also sense check that with data that we pull from Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster, Google Ads, Meta, Semrush, Ahrefs, etc., so that when we undertake any analysis and make recommendations, we have a solid and robust understanding of the data and what it could mean.

Because the world has moved on, Google Analytics has had to change, and I know, from what people at Google told me over ten years ago, that they were well aware of this and have been working on the new platform for a long time. Much as it would have been nice if GA had smoothly evolved from GA3 to GA4, as it had done in previous iterations, because the datasets are so different, this was not possible, so Google has used the opportunity to change things quite significantly, which is brave but has caused quite a considerable backlash.

So, as uncomfortable as it might be, I think we now need to embrace the new GA4 and all of the potential benefits and opportunities that it offers. Like any data or analytics, if the data is reliable, which in GA4’s case it does seem to be, the key is understanding the trends, interpreting the data and providing actionable recommendations, and this will be the proof in the pudding.

If you need help in analysing and interpreting your data, setting up events, helping set up your Google Analytics or just need help with your Analytics, contact our specialists at Zelst.