Even though you may be aware that Google is updating its analytics software, you may need to become more familiar with the distinctions between Universal Analytics (UA) and Google Analytics 4. (GA4).

Like most company owners, you need more time to read through lengthy blog entries. You need to be aware of the main distinctions so you can select the most suitable platform for your company.

That’s why we took the time to write this topic. In this article, we’ll outline the distinctions between Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics so you can decide what precisely separates them and what to do if you update and migrate your data from UA to GA4.

Google Analytics Universal vs GA4 | Why is Digital Marketing Course Necessary to Understand?

A complete understanding of various digital marketing tools, including Google Analytics, can be obtained from a digital marketing course. With the assistance of Google Analytics, you can monitor and examine website traffic, user behavior, and other crucial metrics that can help guide your marketing strategy.

Through digital marketing training, you can learn about the variations between GA4 and Universal Analytics and how to use each successfully. For instance, by learning how to configure GA4 to monitor user behavior across multiple devices, you might learn more about how users interact with your website and other digital properties.

Additionally, you can practice using Google Analytics by joining a digital marketing course Digital Edge Institute offers. It will enable you to practice data analysis and use findings to make data-driven marketing choices. Doing so will allow you to use Google Analytics more effectively and to its fullest potential for your company.

What Is Google Analytics 4?

The Universal Analytics tool has been replaced by GA4, which is made to make it easier for you to gather more accurate information about the users of your website.

Using events to monitor user activities on your site is one of GA4’s key features.

Events include website views and form entries to video views and clicks. You can better comprehend how people engage with your website by tracking events.

GA4 has several significant changes, including a built-in machine learning feature. Insights you might not have otherwise been able to see can be found instantly by GA4 by identifying trends in your data.

How Universal Analytics Works?

There was Universal Analytics before GA4. While getting ready to switch to GA4, many website proprietors and advertisers still use UA for their websites.

The initial GA technology can be upgraded using the Universal Analytics platform.

It unveiled several new features, such as support for mobile devices and the ability to monitor user activities across various platforms.

UA also made it feasible to gather information from sources other than websites, like apps and offline networks.

Finally, UA expanded its support for custom measures and dimensions, giving users more control over the information gathered.

Despite these upgrades, the UA platform maintained the same fundamental design as the initial GA platform. Therefore, UA shared the same restrictions as GA, such as restricted monitoring options and inaccurate data gathering.

How GA4 / Google Analytics 4 Work?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) was created with the web’s future in mind.

It is made to function with today’s cutting-edge websites and online apps. Naturally, GA4 will also work with the forthcoming linked and bright goods surge.

Additionally, GA4 provides enhanced data gathering and processing, which will enable you to learn more about the users of your website or application and their activity.

Difference between Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4(GA4)

Now that we’ve looked at each one individually, let’s compare the platforms to see how they vary.

Interface

GA4 has a brand-new user experience with Material Design concepts as its inspiration. The user UI is clear and straightforward to use.

The new interface’s ability to personalize your dashboard is one of its finest features. You will only see information that is pertinent to you by doing this.

The previous GA version, which could have been quite intimidating for users, especially those unfamiliar with web statistics, has been dramatically improved.

A revamped event-tracking system in GA4 makes monitoring user encounters with your website more accessible from a UX perspective.

Information Tracking

How UA and GA4 gather data varies from one another, as was already stated.

UA follows people as they move between pages on your website using the standard page view monitoring technique.

GA4 employs event monitoring, on the other hand, to monitor user interactions with particular website components.

Even though event tracking can be more challenging to set up, it offers more precise data than page view monitoring.

If dealing with code makes you uncomfortable, UA might be preferable. However, GA4 can offer helpful insights into how users engage with your site if you’re prepared to put in the effort to set up event tracking.

Data Collection and Processing

How data is gathered and handled varies between UA and GA4 as well. UA collects data in sessions, which are collections of details about a user’s activities with your website over a specific time frame.

These results can be found in your UA reports after being analyzed by Google’s computers.

GA4 gathers data in streams, which are akin to sessions but hold more specific data. Following processing by Google’s servers, these feeds are accessible in your GA4 reports.

Customizability

The greater customization freedom of GA4 is one of its most essential features.

You could make unique dimensions, metrics, and converting events with Universal Analytics, but you could only build up to five special reports.

With GA4, you can now build an infinite number of custom reports and hit categories, enabling you to manipulate your statistics however you see fit.

It is a huge benefit for companies that want to make the most of their data.

Activity Groups

The fact that GA4 provides a novel method to group related activities on your website is one of the first features you’ll note about.

With the aid of this function, known as activity groups, you can group related occurrences to monitor them collectively.

Custom Events

Setting up unique events in GA4 is another method to alter how your data is gathered. Whether or not those user interactions result in page views, custom events let you keep an account of particular user activities on your website.

Thanks to the event-based model, you can obtain a more precise image of how users engage with your site.

Final Words

As you can see, tracking user activity using UA and GA4 is very distinct from one another. Although UA is a well-known standard, GA4 has some unique benefits regarding speed and versatility.

It’s critical to start moving your data now because GA4 will completely supplant UA on July 1, 2023. Because of this, taking a course in digital marketing is crucial to understanding this kind of essential material.