The Switch to GA4: Why You Need to Upgrade Your Web Analytics Now

Web analytics is the process of gathering, analyzing, and reporting data from websites and mobile apps. In July 2023, Google revealed Google Analytics 4 (GA4), a new version of GA that is intended to take the place of both Universal Analytics (UA) and GA360. In order to provide information into user behavior while resolving privacy issues, GA4 collects data from both websites and apps. Standard UA stopped collecting data on July 1, 2023, and only GA4 has gained new data.  In this blog post, I will cover what web analytics is, why Google made the switch from UA to GA4, and what it means to go from "the age of precision" to "the age of projection."

What is web analytics?

Web analytics is the process of collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on websites and apps to understand user behavior and improve digital marketing efforts. Google introduced a new version of GA called Google Analytics 4 (GA4) July 2023, which caters to users' privacy concerns regarding data tracking and analysis. Some web analytics measures include acquisition-related, behavior-related, and conversion-related metrics, which can help determine how users are attracted to a website and their behavior patterns across that website. The removal of third-party cookies had a big impact on digital advertising and forced marketers to come up with new tactics catered to that change.

Why did Google switch from the old platform, called "Universal Analytics," to GA4?

Google made the switch from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) because of cookies. UA relies heavily on third-party cookies, which are small text files that track a user's activity across different websites. However, with increasing concerns over user privacy, Google decided to get rid of third-party cookies and instead shift towards a more privacy-focused approach to data tracking and analysis.

What does it mean to go from "the age of precision" to "the age of projection"?

Going from "the age of precision" to "the age of projection" means that businesses need to focus on predictive analytics rather than precise analytics. Predictive analytics uses machine learning algorithms which may include supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning to analyze large amounts of data and make predictions about future user behavior. This is more privacy-friendly and allows businesses to deliver more personalized experiences to their customers.

For a greater understanding of machine learning, check out this  5 minute video

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