Very few people know about this: This year (2023), Google is deleting all historic Google Analytics data. If you don't back it up it will be gone forever.
This is not click-bait. It's directly from Google…
You may know there’s a new version of Google Analytics being rolled out this year called GA4.
What you may not know is none of your data is getting ported over to the new version, which means if you don’t back up your historic Google Analytics data this year, it will be deleted forever.
This is a screenshot from Google’s support docs (read more here):
Back up your data before Universal Analytics shuts down this year.
If you’re interested in more detailed information about this issue as well as GA4 overall, watch our recent webinar here.
Google is shutting down the current version of Google Analytics, called Universal Analytics.
It's being replaced by a new version called GA4. But the new version is very different and requires some thoughtful setup.
Yes. On July 1st, 2023, Universal Analytics will stop collecting data entirely. At the end of this year, Google will shut down Universal Analytics completely, deleting all historic data in the process.
GA4 is a very different product with an entirely new data model. That means Google can't just transfer your old data into the new system. Instead, if you care about your historic data, Google recommends you back that data up before July 1st, 2023.
As a top 3% Google agency partner, we can help with this.
On July 1st, 2023. After that, the current version of Google Analytics (called Universal Analytics) will stop collecting data completely. Google will likely automatically setup a GA4 account for you, but that account will be missing some key features. Those being accurate event tracking, proper data retention settings, and many other settings that are different in GA4 because of the fact that the system functions differently.
You should plan an organization-wide switch to GA4 before this date. You should also ensure GA4 is setup correctly so it's tracking the things you want to track. Although it looks similar, GA4 is a very different tool from Universal Analytics, so thoughtful setup is highly recommended.
At the end of 2023 when Google shuts down Universal Analytics for good.
Because it's an entirely new system with a completely new data model. It may be called "Google Analytics," and it may look very similar to the old version of Analytics, the back end relies on an entirely new data model that is not compatible with the old data.
GA4 is "Google Analytics 4," and is the newest version of Google Analytics.
Universal Analytics and GA3 are the same thing. The naming convention is confusing, but both GA3 and Universal Analytics refer to the current version of Google Analytics that everyone has been using for years. This version is being replaced by GA4.
Definitely. We talk about many of the improvements in this webinar.
One of the biggest downsides to GA4 is it's data retention settings. By default, a whole bunch of data in GA4 will expire after only 2 months. This is a huge deal for anyone that cares about their data.
Another downside is that, while GA4 has some great new features, using those features effectively requires a bit more thoughtful setup than the old version did. For example, if you do nothing, Google will automatically create a GA4 account for you and start tracking data. Which is great, but in that process they'll also auto generate a bunch of automated events that will clutter your reports and those events are impossible to get rid of, ever. There is no way to delete them once they are setup.
We cover more negatives in this webinar.
Yes! This is something not a lot of people know about: The default data retention settings in GA4 mean that, if you don't change anything, a lot of data will simply be deleted after only 2 months. That is a HUGE deal for anyone that cares about their data.
There are lots of other settings that impact how things are tracked in GA4 that are not ideal from the start and should be changed.
Back up your historic data before Google shuts down Universal Analytics this year. Time is ticking. Contact us to help with this.
In addition to backing up your historic data, we also strongly recommend setting up backup for your GA4 data moving forward. Two reasons for this:
At the end of the day, this transition is reminding us that if Google holds our data, we don't really own it. If you want to own your data, you have to get it backed up outside of Google Analytics.
We can walk you through everything you need to know. Contact us to find out the steps you should take based on your needs and goals.
We've been managing analytics for clients of all sizes for over 16 years.
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