Background
The old version of Google Analytics, Universal Analytics (UA), stopped processing new data on July 1, 2023. After this date new analytics data was no longer collected but data and reports are still available… until July 1, 2024. On July 1, 2024, the UA interface, and any information within it, will no longer be available.
All Mason websites had begun collecting analytics data in the new version of Google Analytics, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), by July 1, 2023 at the latest. Some webites had implemented GA4 much earlier. This means that, by July 1, 2024 – the date that UA will become inaccessible – all Mason websites will have at least one full year of of data in GA4, enabling year-over-year comparisons.
Do You Need Web Analytics Data From More Than One Year Ago?
Web analytics data from more than one year ago is rarely actionable. In most cases older data will not be able to meaningfully inform current or future marketing efforts.
If you are wondering what data would be valuable to save from UA, the question to ask is: what older web analytics would be useful to current or future marketing efforts?
That being said, some high-level data older than one year may be useful for looking at long-term trends:
- If you run organized marketing campaigns and have been campaign-tagging your communications, historical marketing campaign performance may fall into this category for you.
- Top-line website numbers like overall numbers of sessions or pageviews might be useful to illustrate the trend of how your website traffic has changed over time.
- Geographic data such as traffic breakdowns by country might be worthwhile depending on your business.
Consider what specific reports or data might be useful to your work in the future.
How to Save Reports/Data From Universal Analytics (UA)
There is no way to export data from UA in bulk using the Google Analytics UA interface. You have to navigate to a report that you want to save, configure the report as desired by selecting an appropriate date range, etc., and save the report/data using the available options.
- Log in to Google Analytics, and open the old UA property that you want to export data from.
- Navigate to a report that has data that you want to save, and configure the report as desired, using date range, sorting, filtering, secondary dimensions, segments, etc.
- In the top-right of the report interface, click the
Exporticon. - Using the options under the
Exporticon, you can choose to export and download the report as a PDF, spreadsheet, or in CSV format.- The PDF file is formatted similarly to the on-screen report, so it is easier to look at, but it can be more difficult to work with the data.
- The spreadsheet can be exported in either Excel or Google Sheets format. These sheets include the tabular data and a chart visualizing the tabular data.
If you have more in-depth data export needs, it is possible to export data in an automated way using third-party tools such as software that provides for pulling Google Analytics directly into Microsoft Excel of Google Sheets.
Questions?
For additional questions about what data to save or how to best save it, please contact us.