Google Analytics is used by millions of businesses to measure success across their web properties. Google recently released their newest version of the platform – Google Analytics 4, – which is essentially a new platform altogether. 
 
On episode 149 of  The Layover Live, Paul McLeod, Director of Analytics at Simpleview, joins Jason Swick to discuss the all new Google Analytics 4. Paul and Jason share some of their favorite features in the new platform, as well as how destination marketers can take advantage of the increased functionality in Google Analytics 4. 



“For DMOs, something like three quarters of all sessions are the first one that a user has ever had on our websites. Now part of that is different devices, and in the older version of Google Analytics, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell it was the same person from phone to their desktop, whereas Google is tapping into more stuff on the backend now to connect those ideas. ” -Paul McLeod 
 

Although Google Analytics 4 will eventually replace the current Universal Analytics, the shift won’t happen right away. Organizations who currently use Google Tag Manager and Universal Analytics can start to implement GA4 tags without the need of a development team. Google offers a GA4 setup assistant to help with this process. 

Your Universal Analytics property will be left unchanged and will continue to collect data that you can access using the property selector in the admin screen. Simpleview is currently developing a plan for more custom solutions, such as robust event tracking, multiple domains, etc. We’ll share more information in the coming months. In the meantime, continue utilizing Universal Analytics as your official reporting tool until the time comes to fully migrate.

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