The internet was abuzz last week when Google announced that it’s sunsetting its Universal Analytics offering in favor of Google Analytics 4 (GA4). The search giant will stop processing new hits through Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023 (Universal Analytics 360 properties have until October 1, 2023). The news was a shock for site owners and search marketers alike who were not prepared for such a hard deadline.

In its March 16, 2022 announcement, Google said that “Universal Analytics was built for a generation of online measurement that was anchored in the desktop web, independent sessions and more easily observable data from cookies. This measurement methodology is quickly becoming obsolete.”

By contrast, Google says that “Analytics 4 operates across platforms, does not rely exclusively on cookies and uses an event-based data model to deliver user-centric measurement.” Click here to read Google’s full announcement and overview of the differences between GA4 and Universal Analytics.

Why the GA4 Announcement Is a Big Deal

While the summer of 2023 may seem far away from now, it’s critical for webmasters to start configuring their sites for GA4 as soon as possible. That way, the year-over-year data you need will be in place when the big switchover takes place. Plus, the more familiar you are with GA4 now, the easier the transition will be.

Despite the early announcement, the news of the impending end of Universal Analytics had some members of the web community quite perplexed, particularly surrounding the issue of historical data. Since there’s currently no way to migrate your Universal Analytics data to GA4, it’s believed that your site data from previous years will be gone for good.

However, Barry Schartz at Search Engine Roundtable hopes that there may be some sort of legacy view that would allow site owners to see their past analytics.

Either way, Twitter timelines were full of memes poking fun at Google’s massive announcement that left the web community scrambling to figure out what to do next.

The GA4 Integration Can Be Painless

Google launched GA4 back in 2020 in hopes of it being a futuristic glimpse into a new era of analytics. But even before Google’s latest announcement, GA4 was met with some growing pains in the form of grievances from site owners who tried to make the switch early.

One thing is for certain though — Google is always going to throw curveballs. RebelMouse is a modern CMS and creative agency that keeps up with Google’s algorithms and standards so that our clients can focus on publishing content that moves the needle. In addition to lightning-fast websites , our integration with GA4 is seamless for the sites we power. In fact, it can be as simple as copy-and-pasting your GA4 ID.

So if you’re worried about Google’s GA4 changeover, let’s talk about how we can make the transition seamless and generate more traffic for you and your site in the meantime. Click here to start chatting with us about how we can help transform your business.