End of Life: Universal Analytics 3 Explained

Intro

Google has announced the end of life of their Universal Analytics 3 (UA-3) for July 1, 2023, and are replacing it with a new Google Analytics 4. This means that individuals who added Google Analytics (GA) to their website before Oct. 14, 2020, will need to update their website with the new code.

Summary (TLDR)

In this article, we will discuss the new Google Analytics and how it is changing, and help you determine if you need to upgrade. We’ll keep it brief, and for the non-technical individual and website owner. Please read our Google Analytics introduction If you’d like to learn more about Google Analytics.

What Does Google Analytics 4 Add?

The most exciting features Google has added is a more refined interface, as well as adding some more basic default event tracking to Google Analytics. This has the promise of doing away with Google Tag Manager for most of our clients.

Google is also claiming to be improving their performance and privacy. This code also works to comply further with legislation, while solving some problems Google products have.

Lastly, they’ve expanded the features of Analytics to cover some of the more common use cases without using Google Tag Manager.

What about Google Tag Manager Users?

Good news! You may no longer need to use Google Tag Manager. The new Google Analytics 4 has much of the tracking necessary for the majority of websites to succeed without Tag Manger. Specifically, the new Google Analytics 4 incorporates ways to track form submissions and clicks of links to phone numbers or emails.

Advanced Tag Manager Users will have to add a new tag for the new GA platform. This is a task that is a bit more difficult and will not be included in this documentation.

How to check if you’re using Universal Analytics?

Want to find out if you’re using Universal Analytics 3?

Method 1:

Step 1: Log into your Google Analytics here.

Step 2: Then, click on the text next to the “Analytics” icon in the upper-left corner.

Step 3: A large menu with all your accounts will appear, and after clicking on an account, the properties that account has will appear to the right.

Final: If you see “UA-” under those titles you need to upgrade.

Method 2:

You can easily check if your current Google Analytics property starts with “UA-” and you can find this by searching your HTML source code. Simply right-click on your website, and “view source.” Then search (Windows: CTRL+F) for “UA-” and look for a value that looks like this: UA-#########-1. Of course, the “#” are actual numbers.

How to Test Your New Google Analytics 4 Setup?

Step 1: Go to the accounts’ menu:

Step 2: Then, click on the property that doesn’t have “UA-” in front of it.

Final: This is the new Google Analytics 4 System. If you see data in it, it’s probably working. Just double check if your goals are set!

What Happens If I Don’t Upgrade My Googles Analytics?

You’ll lose access to your data, and it could affect your website performance and possibly page rank.

How to Upgrade WordPress to Google Analytics?

Well, good news. Google makes a free plugin called Google Site Kit. But not so fast! If you’re not a Google Site Kit plugin user, you need to remove the old Google code from your website.

Unfortunately, this is beyond the document’s intended easy difficulty, but if you search for the “GA-” code in the settings, you can remove it. Just be careful, if you leave one behind, you might end up slowing down your site or hurting the SEO.

Need More Help?

Proper Programming can help? We specialize in Google Analytics, and can handle all of your needs. Contact us now, for a free quote!

Update: Oct 31^st, 2022 Updated Language, Reviewed

Update: May 18^th, 2020 Google Tag Manager Section with more accurate information.