Google Analytics is a great free website analytics tool that gives you numerous amounts of information about your website. But what if you could get more information such as bounce rate, social tracking, mobile tracking, and channels? That's where Google Analytics Universal (GA4) comes into play. With this updated version of Google Analytics, it combines the two different versions of Google Analytics together and adds much more information. This blog will look at what Google Analytics Universal is, why you need to update before July 2023, and how to update.

Why a website owner should use Google Analytics:

1. Understand website traffic: Google Analytics provides you with insights about their website traffic, including the number of visitors, how they found your website, how long they stayed on it, and which pages they visited. These insights can help you to understand your audience better and improve your website's user experience.
   
2. Track conversion rates: Google Analytics can track conversion rates, which are the percentage of visitors who take a specific action on the website, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form. This can help you to identify which pages are most effective at converting visitors and make adjustments to improve conversion rates.
   
3. Identify top-performing content: With Google Analytics, you can see which pages and content on their website are performing the best, such as which pages have the most views, the most engagement, or the longest average time on a page. This information can help you to create more of the content that your audience enjoys and engages with the most.
   
4. Monitor website performance: Google Analytics provides you with data on website performance, including page load times and bounce rates. This information can help you to identify areas for improvement and ensure that your website is running smoothly.
   
5. Make data-driven decisions: By using Google Analytics, you can make data-driven decisions about your website, rather than relying on guesswork. The data provided by Google Analytics can help you make informed decisions about your website's content, design, and functionality, leading to better user experiences and higher conversion rates.

Google Analytics Universal (GA Universal) is a widely-used tool for website analytics, but it has limitations in terms of providing insights into user behaviour and customer journeys across multiple platforms and devices. To address these limitations, Google has developed a new version of Google Analytics called GA4.

Why we should update to GA4 before July 2023:

1. Data loss prevention: After July 2023, Google will no longer support GA Universal, which means that website owners who continue to use it will be unable to access their historical data or any new data generated after that date.
   
2. Improved user tracking: GA4 is designed to provide more accurate and comprehensive tracking of user behaviour across different platforms and devices, including mobile apps and offline interactions.
   
3. Enhanced reporting: GA4 offers more advanced reporting capabilities, including predictive analytics and machine learning, which can help you to gain deeper insights into your customers' behaviour and preferences.
   
4. Integration with other Google tools: GA4 is fully integrated with other Google tools, such as Google Ads and Google BigQuery, making it easier to manage and analyze data across multiple platforms.

Overall, upgrading to GA4 before July 2023 can help website owners avoid data loss, gain more accurate insights into user behaviour, and take advantage of advanced reporting and integration capabilities.

So, how to do that?!

Here you have a few options;

If you using WordPress - get the Google Site Kit plugin;

• Go to 'Plugins' > 'Add Plugins' > and type on the search box (right side) "Google Site Kit"
• Then, follow their instructions to set up all.

If you using Squarespace, here is a blog post from SquareSpace to update your data:

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205815608-Using-Google-Analytics-with-Squarespace

If you are using Wix, here is a blog post from Wix to update Google Analytics data:

https://support.wix.com/en/article/tracking-events-on-your-wix-site-with-a-google-analytics-property

If you are using another platform, follow this tutorial.

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10089681#start

And if you don't have time to do this or tech bits are not your strength, I will be happy to help you;