May 2023 · 3 min read · Learn
Google Analytics Is Changing. Don’t Lose Your History.
On July 1, Universal Analytics stops processing new data. If your website still runs on it, here is what to do in the next six weeks so you keep your numbers and start GA4 with a clean setup.
If you’ve logged into Google Analytics lately, you’ve probably seen the warning banner. On July 1, 2023, standard Universal Analytics properties stop processing new data. After that date, the reports most small business websites have used for years stop updating.
The replacement is Google Analytics 4, usually called GA4. There’s still time to get it right, but not a lot.
What’s actually changing
Universal Analytics is the version most local business sites have run for the last decade. If your tracking code starts with “UA-”, that’s you.
GA4 is not just a new coat of paint. It counts things differently, the reports look different and some of the numbers you’re used to won’t match one for one. The biggest thing to understand is that your history does not move over. GA4 only starts counting from the day it’s installed on your site.
That’s why the date matters. Every week you wait is a week of data you won’t have when you want to compare next summer to this one.
Google has said it will set up a basic GA4 property automatically for many accounts that haven’t made one. I wouldn’t count on that. An automatic setup doesn’t know what a lead looks like for your business.
Four things to do before July
Here’s the short list I’ve been walking business owners through:
- Set up GA4 now and confirm it works. Install it, then open the realtime report and visit your own site from your phone. If you show up, it’s collecting.
- Decide what counts as a lead. A contact form submission, a tap on your phone number, a booking, a click for directions. Set those up as conversions in GA4 so you’re counting results, not just visitors.
- Export the history you care about. Pull the reports you’ll want later into a spreadsheet: monthly visits by source, your top pages and any goals you tracked. Do it by year so you can compare. Google has said the old reports will stay viewable for a while after the cutoff, but not forever.
- Make sure you own the account. Check who has admin access. It should include you or someone at your company, using a company email, not just your web developer or agency.
Own the account, not just the report
That last point deserves its own section, because it’s the one I see go wrong most often.
A lot of Google Analytics accounts were set up years ago by whoever built the website. It was created under their login, and the business owner gets a report now and then. That works until the relationship ends. Then you find out you can’t get into your own data.
The GA4 switch is a natural time to fix it. Whoever sets up the new property, make sure the business is the owner and at least two people at the company have admin access. Vendors can have access too. They just shouldn’t be the only ones with the keys.
Use the switch as a reset
Since you have to set things up again anyway, take a few minutes to ask what you actually want to know. Most owners don’t need fifty reports. They need answers to a few questions: Where do my leads come from? Which pages bring people to call? Did the campaign we ran in March move anything?
If you connect GA4 to Google Ads and Google Search Console while you’re in there, you’ll get closer to those answers. And if you set up conversions the right way from day one, a year from now you’ll have a clean year of data you can trust.
If you’re not sure where your measurement is weakest, the Marketing Checkup takes about three minutes and will show you. Then get GA4 running before July 1.