Google Analytics provides marketers with detailed statistics about website and mobile traffic. This includes the sources of traffic. It measures conversions and sales results. It tracks visitors from all referrers such as search engines, direct visits, affiliate marketing partner sites and social media networks. It also displays online advertising, pay-per-click advertising, email marketing and links to digital content such as PDF documents or video.
Google Analytics can help you find the audience you want. It can reduce your customer acquisition costs by helping you target the best-performing marketing channels.
With the new Universal Analytics, Google introduces features that change the way you collect and organize data. Google also enables you to improve data processing. And Google gives you more analysis tools. The upgrade enables you to gain a better understanding of how visitors to your website interact with your content.
There are many benefits you can have when you upgrade to Universal Analytics. These include:
You can also control the following settings from the administration panel:
You can upgrade all of your classic Google Analytics properties into Universal Analytics properties. Google says when you upgrade to Universal Analytics you will not lose any data or changes to your account settings.
The time to upgrade to Universal Analytics is now. That’s because Google will soon begin to require all accounts to use Universal Analytics. Plus you’ll only receive product updates and new features if you have a Universal Analytics property that receives data from a Universal Analytics tracking code. You’ll no longer receive any product updates or access to new features from properties that receive data from a previous version of Google Analytics tracking code, such as ga.js JavaScript library.
If you currently use Google’s Classic Analytics, then there are only two steps for you to upgrade. Either way, you’ll need to go to the Universal Analytics Upgrade Centre to start now.
Google announced that there will be four phases involved with upgrading from Google Analytics to Universal Analytics. Yet Google has not announced exact dates for these phases.
Phase 1
The current phase, which is happening now, involves all properties that you can upgrade to Universal Analytics. Google is rolling this option to standard Google Analytics accounts. Once you see this option in the administration section of your account you’ll be able to start the upgrade process. Use the upgrade tool to transfer classic properties to Universal Analytics.
Phase 2
Google starts the auto-transfer to Google Analytics in phase 2. This includes the following properties:
You’ll be able to execute a version of the Universal Analytics tracking code when your property transfer is complete. However, Google will NOT auto transfer your property if it contains the dc.js JavaScript snippet and any related reporting or remarketing features until phase 3.
Phase 3
In phase 3, Google plans to have Google Analytics out of its beta stage. Universal Analytics will now support all features, including dc.js JavaScript. If you have a premium account or premium SLA, you’ll now be able to transfer your properties to Universal Analytics. In this phase you’ll only be able to get new properties ONLY if you have upgraded to Universal Analytics.
During this phase Google will expect you to complete the implementation of Universal Analytics tracking code; this includes:
Phase 4
By phase 4, Universal Analytics will be the operating standard for Google Analytics. Google expects that you have already upgraded Google Analytics properties to Universal Analytics. In this phase Google will remove the following features:
You’ll have a minimum of two years to process any data collected from these deprecated features
There are two major steps to upgrade from Google Analytics to Universal Analytics.
Step 1: Set Up
You can set up a Universal Analytics property account in one of two ways. You can either upgrade an existing property to Universal Analytics or you can set up a new property.
You can upgrade if you already use Google Analytics and are willing to combine your historical data from Google Analytics with new data you collect through Universal Analytics. The upgrade process was highlighted earlier.
You should consider setting up a new property account if you’ve never used Google Analytics or if you want to collect data from a new website, mobile app or other type of digital device. You may also set up a new property account for a website that is set up with Google Analytics for which you want to keep data separate. In essence, you’d have two accounts, each with its own set of data.
Here is how you can set up a property according to Google:
Click on the “Get Tracking ID” button. After you click on this and complete the above steps as Google instructs, your property will now exist. However, you must set up the tracking code to collect data. When clicking on the “Get Tracking ID” you’ll also receive your tracking code snippet. Just copy and paste this snippet on to every web page that you want to track.
Step 2: Implementation
Once you set up a Universal Analytics account, you can then implement the tracking code and customize for your technical environment. The issues involved may differ for new accounts versus upgrades.
If you are getting a new account, you’ll need to either set it up yourself or hire a professional to do it for you. You’ll need to be familiar with HTML to integrate the JavaScript in your code for your website. You’ll also need to download the appropriate SDK for a mobile app.
Here is how to set up the tracking code, but keep in mind there are different versions of the tracking code, so use the one that’s right for your environment:
If you are upgrading, you’ll need to change the code you are using. You can do this by first going to the Universal Analytics Upgrade Centre to get the tracking code. When you complete the upgrade process, you’ll have a more powerful way to measure and analyze your website traffic. This can help you to improve your online marketing strategy and results.