Google Analytics 4: Custom setup recommended

As Google announced in March 2022, Universal Analytics (UA) will be deactivated as of July 1, 2023 and replaced by its successor Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

If you have not yet switched to GA4, we recommend that you do so as soon as possible.

What happens if the change is not actively implemented?

If your company hasn’t switched, Google will automatically create a new GA4 property based on the UA setup. However, we advise against using such an automatically configured setup.

Instead, the implementation should be specifically adapted to your website, marketing activities and interaction with the new GA4 data model. This requires manual configuration.

What changes with Google Analytics 4?

The new Google Analytics generation differs fundamentally from its predecessor and should be considered as an entirely new tool. The most significant changes are:

Completely redesigned user interface
New event-based data model
New reporting functions
AI support
Possibility to track without cookies
Retention of custom data only maximum 14 months
Retrieval of the data in Looker Studio is now limited

This is therefore not a mere update, but a complete change with far-reaching effects on your reporting. You can find more information on our GA4 info page.

We therefore recommend to plan enough time for the migration – for example to compare the data collection in UA with GA4, to learn how to use the new tool or to prepare audiences for Google Ads.

What are possible effects of a non-individualized GA4 tracking setup?

The correct integration with other platforms (e.g. Google Ads) is no longer guaranteed (e.g. for audience building). For marketing measures, however, this integration is crucial.
The evaluation of campaigns, corresponding budget adjustments and longer-term evaluations are no longer optimally possible.
Comprehensive bases for decision-making are lacking, which can have a corresponding impact on costs and sales.
In the absence of data export, custom data is lost. Google offers a simple solution with BigQuery to store the data externally in the Google Cloud. However, this must also be set up manually.

An individual tracking setup tailored to your needs and your campaigns will continue to provide you with a clear picture of the performance of your online measures.

We recommend an interaction of Google Analytics 4 with Google BigQuery, so that your data is available to you in the long term and that you can transfer it fully to the reporting tool of your choice (e.g. Google Looker Studio).

Questions?

Take active control of your performance tracking. We will be happy to support you in setting up an appropriate setup.

Merlin Rooma

Team Lead Web Analytics & Tracking