Google Universal Analytics (UA) and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) are two major web analytics tools from Google. Both offer insights into website performance, user behavior, and other key metrics that help digital marketers track the success of their campaigns.
While UA has been around for years, GA4 is a more recent product released by Google. It offers a number of advantages over UA, making it an attractive option for those looking to get the most out of their analytics platform. The biggest difference between the two services is that GA4 is more focused on collecting data in real-time and providing instant insights that can be used to inform marketing strategies quickly.
Furthermore, GA4 provides more accurate data than UA thanks to its better tracking features. UA relies on third-party cookies which can be blocked or deleted by users; this leads to a lack of information about certain visitors or activities on the website. On the other hand, GA4 uses first-party cookies which are harder to block and provide reliable data about visitors and their actions while they are on your website.
Another key feature of GA4 is its ability to collect deeper customer insights. Through machine learning algorithms, it can identify user segments who are most likely to convert, as well as determine factors that lead customers away from converting in order to inform businesses when and how they should reach out with promotions or discounts.
Moreover, GA4 can also be integrated with other Google products such as Firebase and Ads Data Hub through BigQuery- which allows users to gain further insights into their customers’ behavior across different platforms and channels- making it an even more powerful tool for understanding user behaviors.
Finally, the major reason why businesses must migrate from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 now is because UA will be fully deprecated by July 2023, meaning UA will be completely shut down, making it essential for anyone using UA currently to make the switch sooner rather than later.
In conclusion, while both Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 offer valuable insights into website performance and customer behavior; ultimately it is critical for businesses wanting to take advantage of real-time analytics capabilities with higher accuracy data collection, as well as deeper customer insights, to migrate from UA to GA4 sooner rather than later, before full deprecation occurs in July 2023.
