Google Upgrades Analytics to Universal Analytics
On April 3 Google announced that there will be changes made to Google Analytics. Enter Universal Analytics.
Universal Analytics is now the new operating standard for Google Analytics; providing new collection methods and reporting tools. With new features such as the User ID it will now be possible to track more accurate user counts by tracking multiple devices, sessions, and engagement data.
Along with better tracking users will now have the ability to control organic search sources, session and campaign timeout handling, referral exclusions and search term exclusions from the admin; no longer do you need to change these from the source code.
Custom dimensions and metrics will also be available with the upgraded Universal Analytics. Custom dimensions and custom metrics are like default dimensions and metrics in your Analytics account, except you create and define them yourself. They’re powerful tools you can use to collect and segment data that Google Analytics doesn’t automatically track, like product details, levels in games, or authors of content pages.
Who will this affect?
Every account will need to be upgraded, or they will be auto upgraded in the future. If this happens then the new tracking features will not be usable until you upgrade the tracking code on your website to the new Universal Analytics tracking code. Since this is collected and processed at the property level, every property within an account will need to be individually upgraded.
How will this change take place?
The upgrade from the current GA system to the new UA will take place in 4 phases. For complete details you can visit this page https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/upgrade/#benefits
Phases:
Phase 1: All websites can upgrade to Universal Analytics
- The option to upgrade to UA will roll out to standard accounts
- Current phase
Phase 2: Auto-transfer process begins
- Mobile App SDK, WAP/server-side snippets, and all other non-ga.js websites are auto transferred to UA
- Date TBD
Phase 3: Universal Analytics out of beta.
- All features are supported in UA
- Date TBD
Phase 4: Universal Analytics is the operating standard for Google Analytics
- All websites have now been upgraded to UA
- Ga.js, urchin.js, WAP/server side snippets, YT/MO, custom variables, user defined variables are now deprecated
- Date TBD; within 2 years
How is this upgrade made?
There are two basic steps involved with upgrading your property to the new Universal Analytics. It is also important that you must complete step 1 before beginning step 2. The detailed steps can be found here: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/upgrade/guide.
Also of note, you cannot stop the process or revert to a previous version of Google Analytics once the transfer process has begun. And as previously mentioned it is vital that you complete step 1 before attempting step 2.
Step 1: Transfer a website to Universal Analytics
There are 6 steps that need to take place inside the admin to transfer your property. The last step informs us that we need to allow 24-48 hours for the transfer to complete. This means that you will need to wait 24-48 hours after transferring it before you can do step 2 below.
Step 2: Update your tracking code on your website
This step is technically optional, however, you will not get the full benefits of then new Universal Analytics until the tracking code has been updated to analytics.js. Contact your website admin/developer for instructions for update the tracking code for your website.
