Squarespace SEO: Should You Upgrade to Google Analytics GA4?
Google’s Analytics 4 is rolling out.
The promise of new features dances in our heads, but the ringing question that remains is, should Squarespace users rush to adopt this tool to help with their SEO?
The announcement of GA4 seems to ask more questions than it answers. Adding new features and taking old favorites away complicates things: is there enough documentation? How do you track goals? Will I lose my old data?
Table of Contents in Detail Hide
How do you install Google Analytics on a Squarespace website?
Getting GA4 to work on Squarespace will take a little bit of elbow grease. The external API keys under settings > advanced won’t work for it. Instead owners need to add it into the Code Injection > Header to get up and running.
Should GA4 be Immediately Adopted for Squarespace SEO?
Because this tool is so new, the documentation that accompanies it has a lot to be fleshed out. The comprehensive SEO guides, like the ones we regularly release don’t yet exist. Right away, this bumps up the technical knowledge required to use the new analytics effectively. For Squarespace users who just want to focus on running their business, this means waiting to upgrade until the technology matures. Those that are curious may want to dip their toes in, but it won’t be a necessity for some time.
What is GA4 Changing?
Google is making nine critical updates with GA4. There are features that are being added and ones that are being discontinued. The company also announced that immediately upon release, the old Google Analytics will no longer be supported an updated.
New Data
Creating a new account for Google Analytics 4 or even upgrading an existing account starts you off with brand new data. The entire platform starts from scratch and non of your historical data will be brought into the new tool. Your existing data won’t be lost in your old Analytics account, but historical session and user data won’t be accessible.
Changes to Conversions
The way that events and goal conversions are added to the tool will work completely differently. There are not no goals in GA4, everything counts as a conversion. All of the conversions are event based instead of URL based. To get access to more events when starting an account, setting up enhanced measurement event tracking will allow you to autocapture a wider range of events that will be close to what you could capture in the old Analytics. Overall the newer system is easier to get started with event types like link clicks, file downloads, and video plays without touching any code or the Tag Manager. However, if the standard toolbox isn’t sufficient for your needs, it will take a lot of technical knowledge to implement the solution.
Automatically Tracking Events
In GA4, all hits are counted as events in contrast the old system where an event was a hit type. So all meaningful events are being captured automatically as they are done in the browser or app. This makes it easier for non-technical business owners, but will take some adjustments to get to where the noise can get canceled out. The filtering and segmentation required to get clear insights into what is happening on the site will take some time to sort out. To help with industry specific events that a Squarespace site will require, Google has supplied some documentation.
Filtering and Views
The new property doesn’t use any views whatsoever. Instead the platform encourages you to find other filters and segmentations that will be more useful metrics for your business. Looking closer at what your views look like on Universal Analytics will give you something to translate into the new dashboard. Filters are switching locations, and are now available on the property level. Bot and spam traffic gets filtered out automatically, and business owners will get further benefits by manually filtering out internal traffic, and development environments.
Grouping Channels
Grouping traffic channels is changing drastically with the new tool. The new focus is more on source and medium combinations to analyze traffic acquisition sources and attribution. Other changes include parsing paid social form paid search.
Auto-Insights and Machine Learning
The tech giant is starting to leverage these new technologies to start driving better insights automatically. Currently, these are still very vague and basic. Over time as the neural networks learn more about how people use your site, the information on offer will improve. They should be able to help with figuring out on page issues for conversion without coding, with plans to expand into forecasting, adjusting for privacy losses and more.
Analysis Tools and Reporting
A walkthrough of the interface shows off the expanded reporting and analysis tools. A lot more customization is available right out of the box as well as templates that are easy to set up.
Interested in Seeing what GA4 has to offer Squarespace SEO?
The good news for now is that site owners don’t have to choose. It is possible to run both tools at the same to keep track of the old favorites moving away and start experimenting with the new ones. The tool is not only for businesses with mobile apps, and works with all web properties.
GA4 is already set up to be GDPR and CCPA compliant, so none of these new features will disappear as new privacy laws start to take effect. However it will not connect to Search Console.
If you are interested in learning more about the rapidly changing world of SEO in the Squarespace world, we offer a weekly newsletter with helpful tips.
