Good morning, Marketer – or is it?

The end officially arrives today for Universal Analytics. Our instance is still processing data here in the United States, but we were greeted with this ominous message: "This property is scheduled to stop processing data very soon. Once this goes into effect, you'll need a Google Analytics 4 property to measure website performance."

For an industry that has been so heavily reliant on UA since 2012, losing this essential tool has been a tough pill to swallow. And today’s forced migration to GA4 is a historic transitional moment in digital marketing.

The sunset of UA has had huge implications for marketers – including the teams behind Search Engine Land and MarTech, who have been covering the platform since its launch.

Earlier this week, we asked our readers how they were coping and the results were, shall we say, interesting:

• “GA4 is yet another way to lose control of your website, and your business, to Google.  The lack of transparency leaves you in the dark with your website. Unless you can afford to pay for tracking software or outside your marketing, Google is going to gobble you up.”
• “I eagerly dove in and got G4 set up, only to find it doesn't have the features I need. My number one requirement is to track metrics on individual website pages, and I can't do that except by downloading the data and sorting it myself in a spreadsheet. A huge step backwards and I'm looking for other tools.”
• “We definitely are NOT ready to only use GA4. Yes it is set up and good to go, but us marketers HATE GA4. Why did Google have to do this to us lol.”

Hang in there, everyone!

Nicola Agius
Paid Media Editor

Dig deeper:

• Most of you have Google Analytics 4 set up but are still learning how to use it
• From UA to GA4: Managing your reporting expectations
• GA4 for B2B: How to track events and conversions
• How to decide if GA4 is right for you
• 15 low-cost alternatives to GA4