By now, you must be familiar with the fact that Google had enabled Universal Analytics users to auto-migrate to Google Analytics 4 up till 28th of February, 2023. 

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Almost every Google Analytics expert advised against it and asked website owners to opt out of the automigration. But, what if you didn’t opt out of Google’s UA to GA4 automigration feature? Well, there are high chances that you aren’t alone and yes, you can expect ‘some’ issues.

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At Tagmate, we understand how important it is to have your web analytics in place and I have decided to pen this article to help you understand the situation in case you didn’t opt out. 

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In this article, I will be summarizing the developments in this direction as well as furnishing you with the right inputs to make smarter decisions in the future.

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Let’s know more about UA to GA4 auto migration:

Background: Why is everyone talking about this email from Google that says “We will configure Google Analytics 4 for you”?

Google sent out a blog saying “We will configure Google Analytics 4 for you” on the 9th of February, 2023 and this is how it looks like:

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It is now well known that Universal Analytics (UA) properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2023, and Google has tried to persuade users to migrate to its new analytics platform Google Analytics 4 for a long time now.

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According to this email, Google aims to create GA4 properties for your website on the basis of your current UA settings like audiences and goals.

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The deadline for opting out was 28th of February, 2023 and if you didn’t opt out, you are set to face some repercussions. 

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Wait, are you confused if you opted out or didn’t? Well, if any of the following scenarios are true for your case, chances are, you can expect some trouble:

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• Scenario #1: You have UA properties but didn’t set up GA4 properties
• Scenario #2: You have both UA and GA4 properties but they aren’t linked with each other
• Scenario #3: You have both UA and GA4 properties and you have linked them with each other

So, what is the big deal? What are the ‘bad things’ that will happen after automigration from UA to GA4?

Well, as you already know, migrating from UA to GA4 manually can be a long process. It requires completing a total of twelve steps in the GA4 Setup assistant to be precise.

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Here’s what can possibly go wrong with UA to GA4 auto migration:

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Users: Enabling auto migration grants Google the ability to migrate all users from UA to GA4 which you may not want to happen.

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Google Signals: Google may automatically activate and link Google Signals to your Google Analytics account. This can be illegal in many countries and thus, you may not want to automate this part.

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Google Ads: Google can bid on the conversions from Universal Analytics after migrating them to GA4. It can be very risky to let Google spend your money on the basis of an automated data transfer, especially in this economy.

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Having Google automatically target ads based on GA4 conversions is again a big concern since you aren’t in control of the bidding process, parameters, and strategy. Notably, Google Analytics isn’t a specialized ad bidding software with advanced capabilities so it is in your best interest to either have manual control over bidding or have a dedicated solution to it on your behalf.

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Nomenclature: In fact, automatic migration may leave you in the dark regarding the sources of many datasets with exceptions like conversions that will have ‘UA_’ in the name of the conversion pointing towards UA as its source.

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Since GA4 provides you with extensive data capturing and streamlining capabilities, auto migration will mess up your GA4 property. Every Event Action in UA will become an Event Name in GA4, and every Event Label/Category in UA will become an Event Parameter in GA4.

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For instance, UA Category ‘homepage’ will appear as a GA4 Event called ‘get_started’ and you will end up with a huge list of unique event names every time a URL is collected on click all thanks to auto migration.

Wrap Up

Now that you fully understand the perils of the UA to GA4 auto-migration, you must get to work and ready your GA4 account. Indeed, it is a good news if you had opted out in time but if that isn’t the case, it is high time you start streamlining your analytics.

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How? Use Tagmate, a no-code tool that can help you in your GA4 adaption journey.

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Experience Tagmate here!

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