This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, Universal Analytics has been on the way out for years (Google Delays Sunsetting of UA till 2024) with GA4 saturating industry news since its inception. But the real question we need to be asking is, what comes after the migration?

In the ever-evolving world of data analytics, staying ahead of the game is crucial for businesses seeking valuable insights – which is why we’ve pulled together some top tips to help you in a post-UA world. 

Attribution : (UTMs vs Auto-tagging, how to avoid Unassigned values)

GA4 and its Data Driven attribution model are based on the auto-tagging system (enabled by default when connecting an advertising platform) that automatically records source, medium and campaign information. So what is the reason for the unassigned values in acquisition reports? It’s common practice in many media strategies to customize source, medium and campaign values through the use of UTMs. In Universal Analytics you could enable the option that allows these UTMs values to override the auto-tagged ones, but in GA4 this is no longer possible. If you want to avoid attribution conflicts, it’s important to take into account the definition rules of each channel, and adapt their respective values in our UTMs.

Universal Analytics data history: why it is important to back-up

Come July 1st, our data history will be available for 12 months in read-only mode, until the final sunset of the platform (in standard UA properties). After that, access to the interface will no longer be possible, making it crucial to back-up your data history in time. Depending on the volumes of data to be exported, and the storage and reporting needs, we propose various solutions that allow us to maintain a continuity of data between pre- and post-AU sunset.

Dashboarding: have you migrated your dashboards too?

GA4, with its event-based data model, has new dimensions and metrics –  meaning we have to update our dashboards that use Universal Analytics data sources, for two main reasons:

• Incompatibility between some attribution dimensions and event-based metrics
• New naming of dimensions and metrics  ( views, first user source/medium, engaged session, user engagement, etc)

Your dashboards need to be similar, or match the GA4 data model while respecting the compatibility of the event, user and session domains.

GA4 Product Linking:

One of the great advantages of GA4, even in its standard version, is the possibility of integrating all advertising platforms – which in Universal Analytics was only possible in the Premium version. This allows us, as of July 1st, to have in our standard GA4 properties all data pertaining to our campaigns (Google Ads, DV360, SA360).

GA4 Account Architecture: 

A major change that GA4 presents in its hierarchical account organization is the absence of views (used in Universal Analytics to create/separate data sets by content, region, country, business line, and manage access and users). It’s good to keep in mind that GA4 Data Streams do not replace UA Views, so creating a hierarchy and separation of data sets requires careful and prior planning of the account architecture. We can use sub-properties or roll-up properties, if we have a premium GA4 account, or reorganize the GA4 default reports through the use of custom reports (as GA4 allows us to customize the reporting interface according to analysis needs and organize them into collections, topics and reports). Establishing and following your own Data Governance Model is essential to define how and where your data is collected, and who has access to it.

Server Side Tagging (What’s next?)

Server Side Tagging is a tracking system based on tag management at server level (Cloud) and not at browser level (client-side), the most popular solution being Google Tag Manager Server Side (sGTM).  Server-side tracking ensures more control, a privacy first approach and more reliability than client-side tracking.

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Remember, these recommendations are general guidelines, and you should tailor them to your specific business needs and objectives. 

Take the time to familiarize yourself and your team with the new GA4 interface, collection design, and BigQuery Schema. For more information or  insights on the topic check out our list of resources:

• Bridging the Gap: How BigQuery Augments GA4’s Reporting Capabilities
• A New Era Dawns: Universal Analytics Sets with the Sunset
• What’s New With GA4?

>> For more information on personalized training or optimization of GA4, contact our experts at hello@incubeta.com