Why You Should Upgrade To GA4

There’s been lots of talk about the new version of Google Analytics (GA4) which is seen as the biggest update in the tool’s 15-year history.

In my view, it’s almost like a whole new analytics tool rather than just an upgrade.  It has many exciting new features and extraordinary functionality and is actually quite different from the existing Universal Analytics (UA).

Do I need to upgrade to GA4?

There’s no requirement to upgrade to GA4, but it’s important to know that standard UA properties will no longer process new hits after 1 July 2023 and 360 UA properties will stop processing after 1 October 2023.   You don’t have to upgrade, but you really should as it’s important to know what traffic is coming to your website and what it’s doing.

In my view, given all the ground-breaking features that GA4 offers businesses, transitioning is really a no-brainer.  It really can revolutionise your marketing and your customer engagement.

Time is of the essence too.  Because none of your historical data will carry over to the new version, you need to allow as much time as possible for data collection.  I highly recommend that you upgrade to GA4 sooner rather than later so that you can ‘bank’ a whole lot of data to allow meaningful comparisons.  You can run the two versions in parallel.

Read on for an overview of the platform and its benefits to businesses.

What’s different about GA4?

GA4 is about enabling users to keep up with shifting consumer behaviour and trends.

It offers more efficient, streamlined and more powerful ways to analyse data, plus it has a strong focus on privacy protections.  This new version has also moved away from cookie-based tracking and uses an event-based data model, so it’s clearly designed for the future.

The benefits of GA4

The new version comes with a heap of benefits including:

• A new home page displaying more relevant data
• Ability to sync data from your website and app
• New predictive capabilities and more sophisticated insights (eg you will be able to see how your audience behaves at different stages along the buying journey)
• Easier and better integration with other Google tools eg Google Ads and Search Console
• Enhanced tracking and measurement
• Faster and more powerful analysis
• More customised reporting (eg Top Spenders template)
• Predictive metrics such as purchase probability and churn probability
• Easy and more accurate identification of visitors across devices
• Cookie-free tracking
• Strong focus on privacy protection

This is just a snapshot of the many advantages that the upgrade offers and there’s no doubt that it will help users improve their marketing ROI.

Key takeaway why you need to upgrade to GA4 without delay!

With deeper and broader audience insights than ever before, the power is well and truly in the hands of the GA4 user to target marketing efforts and spend far more effectively.  Essentially, it’s a future-proof model which provides businesses with more value from their data, and which will help them create smarter, more relevant marketing strategies which should result in higher revenues.

And remember, the sooner you get on board with this new version, the better.  It will take a little time and effort to upgrade and it’s important to transition carefully to minimise disruption to your analytics, but the benefits over the long-term will most definitely be worth it.

Need more info on GA4?

Why not join my free Facebook group called The SEO School Community and ask your questions there?  You may also want to consider taking a look at my free SEO Starter Kit and signing up for my online course which teaches you all the SEO essentials to help your business get found online.  You implement your own customised SEO strategy as you progress through the modules, and it’s fully supported with lots of expert help.  Find out more or book your spot on The SEO School here.

Karen Dauncey

Karen Dauncey has been working in SEO since 2003. She specialises in helping businesses get found online through Google using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) She is the founder and creator of The SEO School an online SEO Course to help teach business owners how to do their own SEO. She regularly delivers educational programs for both Local, State and Federal Government and is an advisor for the ASBAS Digital Solutions Program. Karen’s passion and commitment to help small business owners get found online is the driving force behind her online school, making SEO advice accessible to all with free resources and online courses.

Karen's wealth of SEO knowledge and practical digital marketing experience comes from running her own SEO and Google Ads agency, Blue Cherry Online Marketing since 2008. Karen has optimised over 1000 websites, managed millions of dollars' worth of spend on Google Ads and has a solid understanding of the constantly shifting industry of digital marketing and SEO. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business. She was recently recognised as an SEO Expert for the popular course creation platform, Kajabi as well as appearing on ABC Radio
for her expert opinion on the ACCC's investigation into search engines.

Karen has attended search engine conferences in London, Stockholm, Adelaide and Sydney, and was also invited to attend a pilot Business Coaching Course at Google’s Head Office. She has a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.

She is also the co-owner of the Digital Experts Directory, an online directory for female serviced-based businesses to promote their business (with a great backlink for SEO).

To keep up to date with the latest in SEO, join her Facebook group The SEO School Community or follow her on Facebook or LinkedIn.