GA4 Migration Service

GA4 is the newest version of the popular Google Analytics tracking solution, in use by a very large percentage of sites on the web to gain more insights into their website and digital marketing channel performance.

Many websites are still making use of the Universal Analytics tracking setup, but soon this version won't be supported and so it will be necessary to migrate to GA4.

This is where my GA4 migration service comes into play - allowing you to future-proof your analytics setup, enabling you to take advantage of the powerful new features that are coming exclusively to GA4 users.

What is GA4?

Google Analytics 4 (or GA4) is the newest version of the Google Analytics tracking solution. Because it's the fourth iteration of the tracking tool it's titled GA4. GA1 referred to the first, or classic Google Analytics platform, GA2 was also known as universal and used the analytics.js library, GA3 was also titled universal (but used gtag.js library) and next up is GA4, which will also use the gtag.js library, but introduces a different measurement model known as firebase analytics.
The previous title of GA4 was "Apps and Web" property which you might have noticed within your Google Analytics accounts previously. GA4 allows you to merge insights from a website/app in the one place (or Property), something that wasn't possible previously.

The new Google Analytics 4 account structure, taken from https://www.optimizesmart.com/introduction-to-google-analytics-apps-and-web-property/

What is the difference between GA4 and Universal Analytics?

GA4 allows for more accurate reporting on any unique users across platforms - ideal for those who have a website and a mobile app, and previously had to switch between differing Properties/Views to assess data.
There's also more robust cross-device and cross-platform tracking included within the product, avoiding the previous roll-up property you might have been making use of.
GA4 includes more advanced analysis reports, plus a free connection to BigQuery, enabling features that would have previously only been accessible to premium members, or GA 360 customers. This lets you access raw data and run SQL queries on it, for far more advanced data insights.
There's also no more limits when it comes to volume data, which would've been reserved for the GA 360 product.
Automatic event tracking is included for some event types, in a similar way to those that are supported within Google Tag Manager (page scroll depth, outbound link clicks and so on).

Do I need GA4 if I don't have a mobile app for my website?

Even though it's true that one of the big benefits of GA4 is the ability to have combined performance data from a mobile app and a website within the same Property, it's still advisable to consider switching to GA4 to ensure your Analytics platform remains supported and "future-proofed" going forward. It's likely GA3 (or Universal Analytics) won't be supported at some point, and that might mean a forced switch to GA4 (there's no clear stance from Google on this, at least that I can see).

Is Universal Analytics the same as GA3?

Yes - GA3 is also known as Universal Analytics, and that was the 3rd iteration of the Analytics product. Technically GA4 still uses the same gtag.js library, but also introduces a new measurement model.

What happens if I don't setup GA4 on my website?

Nothing right now - it just means you won't have access to some of the nice new features that are available to GA4 users. You can still continue to use GA3 in the meantime without fear, but at some point in the future it will likely not be supported - that could mean you will be forced into switching eventually.

Can I setup Universal Analytics for a new website

Yes - it is still possible to setup the Universal, or traditional Analytics tracking. By default the new GA4 solution is selected when you setup a new Property within Google Analytics, but you just need to scroll down the page to untoggle that option and to make use of the old, Universal solution. Google seems to have hidden this option to try and push more people into using GA4 - which doesn't seem the smartest, or nicest way to go about it.

How much does your GA4 migration service cost?

This is a tough one to answer - whilst I can give rough pricing per web platform/CMS used, ultimately the time involved in the audit, migration and subsequent reviews will vary massively depending on how complex your requirements are.
A 5 page Wordpress site with no ecommerce functionality is going to be far easier to migrate than a 10,000 page Magento site with ecommerce functionality in use, targeting multiple territories around the world! Ultimately I need to give a price based on an initial first review of your current Google Analytics/Google Tag Manager setup.

We use Google Tag Manager - does this cause any issues with GA4?

Google Tag Manager supports GA4 so this won't be an issue, GTM will need to be accessed and tweaked in order to utilise GA4 tags going forward - that's all.

Will we need to update our cookie notification prompt if switching to GA4?

This is one that will likely need tweaking as you may begin to track different elements from your users. Updating your terms and conditions and other relevant documents to refer to the name of the new product would likely be recommended if you do begin using GA4, but you should still consult an expert on this/GDPR compliance if you are making the change.