If you just spent any time preparing data presentations, then you know the importance of having access to your historical data. Perhaps you have it stored in a data warehouse or an Excel spreadsheet – the important thing is that it’s accessible. 

What about your website data? In 2023, Google Analytics 4 entered our lives and subsequently ruined the website data continuity we had enjoyed for more than 10 years. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Google isn’t going to make it any easier for us marketers and data professionals:

Starting on July 1, 2023, standard Universal Analytics properties stopped processing new data, and all customers will lose access to the Universal Analytics interface and API starting on July 1, 2024.  (“Google Analytics 4 has replaced Universal Analytics” – Analytics Help)

But wait there’s more…

Starting the week of July 1, 2024: You won’t be able to access any Universal Analytics properties or the API (not even with read-only access), and all data will be deleted. While the standard sunset took weeks to complete, the full Universal Analytics shutdown will happen within a week. We know your data is important to you, and we recommend that you export your previously processed data before this date.

Did you catch that? Google is going to DELETE YOUR DATA. Wipe it out like Thanos with the snap of its fingers. 

What Does Google Recommend?

Surely the global tech giant with seemingly unlimited resources will provide an easy way for us to retain said data, I hear you say. Alas, no. Not even Bard Gemini (for you AI enthusiasts) can lend a hand: 

As of writing, Google hasn’t provided a tool to easily complete this task. However, as you can see from the screenshot above, there are a few ways Google recommends to download your universal analytics data: 

There are several ways to export data from your Universal Analytics property:

Export individual reports into the following formats:

• TSV for Excel
• Excel (XLSX)
• Google Sheets

Use the Google Analytics Reporting API to export data to Cloud storage and connect to Looker Studio. Learn more about available dimensions and metrics, APIs, and API quotas 

Install the Google Sheets add-on for Analytics and follow these instructions to archive your data

Google Analytics 360 customers can also export to BigQuery (“Google Analytics 4 has replaced Universal Analytics” – Analytics Help)

Translating Google’s Advice Into Real Recommendations

If you, like many people, still do not understand how to save your data, fear not. We are here to help. 

Firstly, remember that this data, unless you archive it, will be gone forever. Doing nothing should not be an option.

Secondly, any plan for data retention should consider use cases and be created in collaboration with the appropriate stakeholders. You cannot plan for everything but you can consider uses that are specific to your firm or common in the industry. Once exported the data won’t be flexible, but planning ahead will improve its usability. 

There are a few ways to get at that historical UA data. We recommend leveraging the Google Sheets Add-On and exporting the data that way. You can then connect that to a Google Data Studio report to build visualizations.

Finding Help with Your Data Transition

The transition from Universal Analytics to GA4 is a significant challenge for marketers. Fundamental differences in data models between UA’s page-view orientation and GA4’s event-based approach create a barrier to seamless data set integration, and Google has not made this a simple process.