Updates for the week ending 6/17/2022

This week we welcome our new GA4 overlords.

The time has finally come to embrace change. We have to move from Universal Analytics into GA4. As a result, this week I started to update all the processes in Curious Ants that deal with measurement to use Google Analytics 4.

Because of an upcoming webinar I’ve been asked to host about GA4, I’ve been doing a deep-dive into it recently. While it isn’t perfect, it’s growing on me. There are some significant advantages in GA4 over Universal Analytics. Even if there aren’t any, we’d still need to move in this direction anyway.

Why do this today? Because in a year from now (July 2023) we Google will no longer be adding data into your Universal Analytics accounts. That means, if you want accurate year-over-year data at that time, you need to transition NOW.

So, here’s a couple of the processes I’ve updated so far:

For one, I’ve change the process for adding Google Analytics to your website to feature GA4. I’ve also added some videos describing how to use Google’s Site Kit plugin to add this to your website (if you’re using WordPress) and another video on how to use Google Tag Manager to install your Google Analytics (again, using Site Kit). Have I told you that I like the Site Kit plugin yet?

I also updated the process for conversion tracking to include GA4 specifics. I hope to record a video for this, as well. Because of the change in the tracking process (and to keep the old tracking process alive, in case you need it) I had to update the Game Plan and the task spreadsheet, as well. Be sure to update your processes.

In the next couple of weeks, you can expect updates to the following process, too:

• The monthly report
• The weekly Google Analytics SEO Dashboard