The death of Universal Analytics and what it means for your data
At 21Digital, we’re all about keeping our clients in the know. We don’t know if you’ve been keeping tabs, but in recent years, a few big changes have been brewing with Google, and one of those changes has just come into effect very recently (July 1st). We’re talking about the change that’s caused quite the stir (and probably a couple of tears) – Universal Analytics and all its data being deleted.
If you don’t know what we’re talking about, don’t worry— we’ve got you covered with the necessary details, minus the boring stuff.
Google Analytics vs GA4 – a crash course
Google has been nudging us marketers to transition from UA (Universal Analytics), a platform that has been consistently and faithfully gathering data for businesses for around 12 years, to its new platform, GA4, since it was first introduced in 2020.
In July 2023, Google stopped UA from collecting data altogether, forcing all marketers who had yet to transition over to GA4 to bite the bullet and make the move. Despite the unwanted switch by many, Google promised that all historical data stored on UA would be left untouched for a good few years. This ensured that we could access it whenever we needed to, providing valuable continuity in our data analysis on behalf of our clients.
However, shortly after the almighty switch to GA4 came into effect, Google dropped another bomb that came as quite a shock: They would soon be deleting all the data collected by UA over the years, which understandably caused some commotion in the marketing world! And now, as of July 1st 2024, everything has officially been deleted, and while it is still possible for us to access the UA platform, it’s just an empty shell void of any historical data.
So, what does this mean for your business?
So, if you’re one of our marketing clients, the question you may be left asking yourself now is, what does that mean for my business? And rightly so; if you have (or should we say, had) years of valuable data tied up in UA, you’re naturally going to want to know what happens now.
Well, we’re pleased to say you don’t have to worry at all! Because Google gave us plenty of notice, we were able to go into each of our clients’ accounts and download any key data we needed to continue business as usual, like traffic and conversation data, E-commerce data, bounce rate, etc. (you know, the basics). So, you can rest assured that if we ever need to compare your old data acquired by UA with any new data collected by GA4, we have it safely tucked away and can still do that with no problems!
So, all in all, while it’s definitely with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to UA, the good news is our marketing clients remain unaffected by this data deletion!
At 21Digital, we’re lead generation and e-commerce experts with over 20 years of experience delivering award-winning digital marketing services, including web design, web development, SEO, Google Ads, digital consultancy, social media marketing, and email marketing. So, if you’d like a hand navigating this ever-changing digital landscape, we’re here to help! Just give us a call on 01254 660 560 – we always keep the kettle on!
