When is Google Analytics 4 Live?

Confused about whether Google Analytics 4 is live? The short answer is yes - and if you're still relying on the old Universal Analytics (UA), it officially stopped collecting new data back in 2023. This article will walk you through the GA4 timeline, explain the key differences from what you're used to, and outline what you need to do right now to save your historical data and get up to speed.

The GA4 Rollout: A Quick History Lesson

If you feel like the switch from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 happened suddenly, you're not alone. While the transition felt abrupt for many, it was rolled out over several years. Here are the key dates that matter:

• October 14, 2020: Google officially introduces Google Analytics 4. It becomes the default option when you create a new analytics property, though you could still create a UA property if you knew where to look.
• July 1, 2023: This was the big one. On this day, standard, free Universal Analytics properties stopped processing any new-hit data. All the new visits, pageviews, and events on your website were no longer being recorded in your UA reports.
• July 1, 2024: This is the final and absolute cutoff. After this date, no one (including paid Google Analytics 360 customers) will be able to access the Universal Analytics interface or its API. All of your historical reports and data within the UA platform will be permanently deleted.

In short: GA4 isn't just live, it's now the only option. The critical task at hand isn't about deciding when to switch, but about how to secure your old data before the final deadline and get comfortable with the new platform.

Why Did Google Make the Switch to GA4?

This change wasn’t just a facelift, it was a fundamental reimagining of web analytics, driven by major shifts in how we use the internet and growing concerns over user privacy.

From Sessions to Events

Universal Analytics was built around the concept of a "session." A session is a group of user interactions with your website that take place within a given time frame. Think of it like a single visit to a store. UA would tell you someone came in, how long they stayed, and which aisles (pages) they visited.

GA4 is built around "events." An event is any specific user interaction, from a page view to a button click to a video play. Instead of just tracking the overall visit, GA4 tracks every single meaningful action. This event-based model gives you a much more granular and flexible view of the actual user journey, not just the container it happened in.

A Focus on Privacy

The internet of today is vastly different from when Universal Analytics was created. With regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and browsers like Safari and Firefox phasing out third-party cookies, the old methods of tracking users across the web are disappearing. GA4 was designed for this new, privacy-conscious reality. It relies less on cookies and uses data modeling and machine learning to fill in the gaps in a way that respects user consent.

Combining Web and App Data

In the Universal Analytics era, if you had a website and a mobile app, you needed two separate properties to track them, making it nearly impossible to get a unified view of a user's journey. GA4 solves this by design. It uses a single data model for both web and app, allowing you to track users seamlessly as they move between your platforms and understand their full behavior in one place.

"I Missed the Deadline! What Should I Do Now?"

First, don't panic. Many website owners are in the same boat. While you can't recover the data you missed tracking between July 2023 and now, you can take immediate steps to get back on track and, most importantly, save your historical data before it's gone forever.

Step 1: Check for an Existing GA4 Property

Before you do anything else, check to see if you already have a GA4 property. Google automatically created a basic GA4 property for many existing UA users. To check:

1. Log into your Google Analytics account.
2. In the top left, click on the account selector dropdown.
3. Look at your list of properties. GA4 properties have ID numbers that typically start with "G-". Universal Analytics properties have IDs that start with "UA-". If you see a GA4 property there, you're one step ahead.

Step 2: Export Your Historical Universal Analytics Data - Immediately

This is the most time-sensitive action you need to take. After July 1, 2024, all your historical data inside the Universal Analytics interface will be deleted. Those years of reporting are invaluable for understanding long-term trends and making year-over-year comparisons. You must export this data now.

Here are a few ways to do it:

• For simple needs: Go into your key reports in Universal Analytics (e.g., Channels, Source/Medium, Top Pages) and use the "Export" button in the top right. You can export data as a PDF, Google Sheet, or CSV. This is tedious but effective for saving your most important views.
• For more complex needs: If you are comfortable with APIs, you can use the Google Analytics Reporting API to pull data programmatically.
• For an easier automated solution: Look into third-party tools and connectors that are built specifically to migrate and store UA data. These often connect directly to Google Sheets or data warehouses like BigQuery.

Do not wait on this. The deadline is firm, and once the data is gone, it's gone.

Step 3: Create and Set Up Your New GA4 Property

If you confirmed you don’t have a GA4 property yet, it's time to create one. The setup assistant makes it relatively straightforward.

1. In Google Analytics, go to the Admin section (the gear icon in the bottom left).
2. Make sure your desired account is selected, then in the Property column, click Create Property.
3. Follow the steps in the setup wizard. You’ll be prompted to name your property, select your industry and time zone, etc.
4. Next, you'll set up a "data stream," which is the source of your data (e.g., your website or app). For a website, you'll enter your URL.
5. Finally, you'll be given a Measurement ID (e.g., G-XXXXXXXXXX) and a snippet of code (the Google tag) to install on your site. The easiest way to do this is often with a WordPress plugin like MonsterInsights or by using Google Tag Manager.

Once the tag is installed, GA4 will begin collecting data immediately.

Navigating the Key Differences in GA4

Once you are set up, you will notice things look quite different. Getting familiar with a few core concept changes will make the transition much smoother.

The New Reporting Interface

One of the first things you'll notice is how streamlined the left-hand navigation is. Instead of the long list of reports in UA, GA4 organizes everything into a few core sections:

• Reports: This section contains your standard pre-built reports, like the Realtime view, Acquisition reports (how users find you), and Engagement reports (what users do).
• Explore: This is arguably the most powerful feature in GA4. The "Explorations" hub is where you build custom reports. You can create funnels, path explorations, and free-form tables and charts that just weren't possible in the standard UA interface.
• Advertising: A dedicated hub for analyzing your paid campaign performance, conversion paths, and attribution models.

"Bounce Rate" is Out, "Engagement Rate" is In

For years, marketers obsessed over Bounce Rate - the percentage of single-page sessions. The problem is, a "bounce" wasn't always a bad thing. A user might land on a blog post, find exactly what they need in 30 seconds, and leave feeling satisfied. In UA, that's a bounce, in reality, it's a success.

GA4 replaces this with Engagement Rate. This metric is far more useful. An "engaged session" is one that either:

• Lasts longer than 10 seconds (you can adjust this),
• Includes a conversion event, OR
• Has at least two pageviews.

Engagement Rate tells you how many of your visitors are actually interacting with your content in a meaningful way, which is a much healthier metric to track.

Final Thoughts

Google Analytics 4 is officially the new standard for web analytics. The transition away from Universal Analytics is complete, with data collection long since ended and a final, hard deadline for accessing any historical UA reports fast approaching. Your most urgent task is to export your old data before you lose it forever.

As you get comfortable with GA4 and start connecting other marketing tools, the sheer amount of data can feel overwhelming. At Graphed, we built a tool to cut through that complexity. Instead of wrestling with custom reports across a dozen different platforms, you can connect your sources (like GA4, Google Ads, and Shopify) and just ask questions in plain English. We turn hours of manual dashboard building into simple conversations, so you get the answers you need in seconds and can get back to growing your business.