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• 7 Reasons to Migrate from Google Analytics to Matomo Now

  15 mai 2022, par Erin

  The release of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and the subsequent depreciation of Universal Analytics, has caused a stir amongst webmasters, SEO experts, marketers and the likes.

  Google’s Universal Analytics is the most widely used web analytics platform in the world, but from 1 July 2023, it will no longer process any new data. Google is now pushing users to set up GA4 tracking imminently.

  If you’re like many and wondering if you should upgrade to Google Analytics 4, there are two key reasons why this might be a risk :

  1. GDPR violations : recent rulings have deemed Google Analytics illegal in France and Austria, and it’s likely that this trend will continue across the EU.
  2. Data loss : users switching to Google Analytics 4 can’t migrate their data from Universal Analytics.

  To mitigate these risks, many organisations are looking to switch to a Google Analytics alternative like Matomo. This is an ideal option for organisations that want to take ownership of their data, get compliant with privacy regulations and save themselves the stress of Google deprecating the software they rely on.

  Whilst there are two major reasons to steer clear of Google Analytics 4, there are 7 reasons why migrating to Matomo instead could save your business time, money and peace of mind.

  If you want to avoid the pitfalls of GA4 and are thinking about migrating from Universal Analytics to Matomo, here’s why you should make the switch now.

  1. Keep your historical Universal Analytics data

  Users switching to Google Analytics 4 will be disappointed to find out that GA4 does not accept data imports from Universal Analytics. On top of that, Google also announced that after Universal Analytics stops processing new data (1 July 2023), users will only be able to access this data for “at least six months”. 

  Years of valuable insights will be completely wiped and organisations will not be able to report on year over year results.

  Fortunately, any organisation using Universal Analytics can import this data into Matomo using our Google Analytics Importer plugin. So you can reduce business disruptions and retain years of valuable web analytics data when you switch to Matomo.

  Our comprehensive migration documentation features a handy video, written guides and FAQs to ensure a smooth migration process.

  2. Ease of use

  Web analytics is complicated enough without having to navigate confusing platform user interfaces (UIs). One of GA4’s biggest drawbacks is the “awful and unusable” interface which has received an overwhelming amount of negative backlash online. 

  Matomo’s intuitive UI contains many of the familiar features that made Universal Analytics so well-liked. You’ll find the same popular features like Visitors, Behaviour, and Acquisition to name a few.

  

  User Flow in Matomo

  When you switch to Matomo you can get up to speed quickly and spend more time focusing on high-value tasks, rather than learning about everything new in GA4.

  3. 100% accurate unsampled data

  GA4 implements data sampling and machine learning to fill gaps. Often what you are basing critical business decisions on is actually an estimate of activity. 

  Matomo does not use data sampling, so this guarantees you will always see the full picture.

  “My primary reason to use Matomo is to get the unsampled data, [...] if your website gets lots of traffic and you can’t afford an enterprise level tool like GA premium [GA360] then Matomo is your best choice.”

  With Matomo you can be confident your data-driven decisions are being made with real data.

  4. Privacy by design

  Built-in privacy has always been at the core of Matomo. One key method we use to achieve this, is by giving you 100% data ownership of your web analytics data. You don’t ever have to worry about the data landing in the wrong hands or being used in unethical ways – like unsolicited advertising. 

  On the contrary, Google Analytics is regularly under fire for controversial uses of data. While Google has made changes to make GA4 more privacy-focused, it’s all just smoke and mirrors. The data collected from Google Analytics accounts is used by Google to create digital profiles on internet users, which is then used for advertising. 

  Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about how businesses are using their data. Businesses that develop privacy strategies, utilise privacy-focused tools will gain a competitive advantage and a loyal customer-base. 

  Prioritise the protection of your user data by switching to a privacy-by-design analytics solution.

  5. Compliance with global privacy laws

  To date, Google Analytics has been deemed illegal to use in France and Austria due to data transfers to the US. Upgrading to GA4 doesn’t make this problem go away either since data is still transferred to the US. 

  Matomo is easily configured to follow even the strictest of privacy laws like GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, LGPD and PECR. Here’s how :

  • Matomo’s opt-out mechanism lets users opt-out of web analytics tracking
  • You can configure analytics for data retention of raw data and aggregated reports
  • Users can anonymise IP addresses as well as implement other data anonymisation techniques
  • Matomo can respect DoNotTrack setting
  • Users can set up Matomo so it doesn’t process any personal data or PII (personally identifiable information)
  • It’s easy to set shorter expiration dates for tracking cookies
  • Matomo allows you to disable Visits Log and Visitor Profile
  • Users aren’t tracked across websites unless specifically enabled

  Matomo can also be used without cookie consent banners (unlike with Google Analytics, which will always need user consent to track). Matomo has been approved by the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) as one of the select few web analytics tools that can be used to collect data without tracking consent.

  Every year more countries are drafting legislation that mirrors the European Union’s GDPR (like the Brazilian LGPD). Matomo is designed to stay data-privacy law compliant, and always will be.

  Stay on top of global privacy laws and reduce the time you spend on compliance by switching to a privacy-compliant solution. 

  6. All-in-one web analytics

  Matomo gives you easy access to Heatmaps, Session Recordings, A/B testing, Funnels analytics, and more right out of the box. This means that digital marketing, UX and procurement teams won’t need to set up and manage multiple tools for behavioural analytics – it’s all in one place.

  Learn more about your audience, save money and reduce complexity by switching to an all-in-one analytics solution.

  Check out Matomo’s extensive product features.

  

  Page Scroll Depth in Matomo

  7. Tag Manager built-in

  Unlike GA4, the Matomo Tag Manager comes built-in for an efficient and consistent user experience. Matomo Tag Manager offers a pain-free solution for embedding tracking codes on your website without needing help from a web developer or someone with technical knowledge.

  Help your Marketing team track more website actions and give time back to your web developer by switching to Matomo Tag Manager.

  Final Thoughts

  Google Analytics is free to use, but the surrounding legal issues with the platform and implications of switching to GA4 will make migrating a tough choice for many businesses. 

  Now is the chance for organisations to step away from the advertising tech giant, take ownership of web analytics data and get compliant. Switch to the leading Google Analytics alternative and see why over 1 million websites choose Matomo for their web analytics.

  Ready to get started with your own Google Analytics to Matomo migration ? Try Matomo free for 21 days now – no credit card required. 

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  Your email address
  

  Your website address
  

  Your Analytics subdomain will be .matomo.cloud (change)

  Choose your analytics subdomain
  

  .matomo.cloud

  I hereby accept the terms and conditions and the data processing agreeement (DPA).

  
  Your information will be used to create an account on our cloud service. For more information please consult our privacy policy.
  
  

  » Start improving your websites now

  

• 10 Key Google Analytics Limitations You Should Be Aware Of

  9 mai 2022, par Erin

  Google Analytics (GA) is the biggest player in the web analytics space. But is it as “universal” as its brand name suggests ?
  

  Over the years users have pointed out a number of major Google Analytics limitations. Many of these are even more visible in Google Analytics 4. 

  Introduced in 2020, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has been sceptically received. As the sunset date of 1st, July 2023 for the current version, Google Universal Analytics (UA), approaches, the dismay grows stronger.

  To the point where people are pleading with others to intervene : 

  

  Main limitations of Google Analytics

  Google Analytics 4 is advertised as a more privacy-centred, comprehensive and “intelligent” web analytics platform. 

  According to Google, the newest version touts : 

  • Machine learning at its core provides better segmentation and fast-track access to granular insights 
  • Privacy-by-design controls, addressing restrictions on cookies and new regulatory demands 
  • More complete understanding of customer journeys across channels and devices 

  Some of these claims hold true. Others crumble upon a deeper investigation. Newly advertised Google Analytics capabilities such as ‘custom events’, ‘predictive insights’ and ‘privacy consent mode’ only have marginal improvements. 

  Complex setup, poor UI and lack of support with migration also leave many other users frustrated with GA4. 

  

  Let’s unpack all the current (and legacy) limitations of Google Analytics you should account for. 

  1. No Historical Data Imports 

  Google rushed users to migrate from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4. But they overlooked one important precondition — backwards compatibility. 

  You have no way to import data from Google Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4. 

  Historical records are essential for analysing growth trends and creating benchmarks for new marketing campaigns. Effectively, you are cut short from past insights — and forced to start strategising from scratch. 

  At present, Google offers two feeble solutions : 

  • Run data collection in parallel and have separate reporting for GA4 and UA until the latter is shut down. Then your UA records are gone. 
  • For Ecommerce data, manually duplicate events from UA at a new GA4 property while trying to figure out the new event names and parameters. 

  Google’s new data collection model is the reason for migration difficulties. 

  In Google Analytics 4, all analytics hits types — page hits, social hits, app/screen view, etc. — are recorded as events. Respectively, the “‘event’ parameter in GA4 is different from one in Google Universal Analytics as the company explains : 

  

  This change makes migration tedious — and Google offers little assistance with proper events and custom dimensions set up. 

  2. Data Collection Limits 

  If you’ve wrapped your head around new GA4 events, congrats ! You did a great job, but the hassle isn’t over. 

  You still need to pay attention to new Google Analytics limits on data collection for event parameters and user properties. 

  

  These apply to :

  • Automatically collected events
  • Enhanced measurement events
  • Recommended events 
  • Custom events 

  When it comes to custom events, GA4 also has a limit of 25 custom parameters per event. Even though it seems a lot, it may not be enough for bigger websites. 

  You can get higher limits by upgrading to Google Analytics 360, but the costs are steep. 

  3. Limited GDPR Compliance 

  Google Analytics has a complex history with European GDPR compliance. 

  A 2020 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the Privacy Shield framework Google leaned upon. This framework allowed the company to regulate EU-US data transfers of sensitive user data. 

  But after this loophole was closed, Google faced a heavy series of privacy-related fines :

  • French data protection authority, CNIL, ruled that  “the transfers to the US of personal data collected through Google Analytics are illegal” — and proceeded to fine Google for a record-setting €150 million at the beginning of 2022. 
  • Austrian regulators also deemed Google in breach of GDPR requirements and also branded the analytics as illegal. 

  Other EU-member states might soon proceed with similar rulings. These, in turn, can directly affect Google Analytics users, whose businesses could face brand damage and regulatory fines for non-compliance. In fact, companies cannot select where the collected analytics data will be stored — on European servers or abroad — nor can they obtain this information from Google.

  Getting a web analytics platform that allows you to keep data on your own servers or select specific Cloud locations is a great alternative. 

  Google also has been lax with its cookie consent policy and doesn’t properly inform consumers about data collection, storage or subsequent usage. Google Analytics 4 addresses this issue to an extent. 

  By default, GA4 relies on first-party cookies, instead of third-party ones — which is a step forward. But the user privacy controls are hard to configure without losing most of the GA4 functionality. Implementing user consent mode to different types of data collection also requires a heavy setup. 

  4. Strong Reliance on Sampled Data 

  To compensate for ditching third-party cookies, GA4 more heavily leans on sampled data and machine learning to fill the gaps in reporting. 

  In GA4 sampling automatically applies when you :

  • Perform advanced analysis such as cohort analysis, exploration, segment overlap or funnel analysis with not enough data 
  • Have over 10,000,000 data rows and generate any type of non-default report 

  Google also notes that data sampling can occur at lower thresholds when you are trying to get granular insights. If there’s not enough data or because Google thinks it’s too complex to retrieve. 

  In their words :

  

  Data sampling adds “guesswork” to your reports, meaning you can’t be 100% sure of data accuracy. The divergence from actual data depends on the size and quality of sampled data. Again, this isn’t something you can control. 

  Unlike Google Analytics 4, Matomo applies no data sampling. Your reports are always accurate and fully representative of actual user behaviours. 

  5. No Proper Data Anonymization 

  Data anonymization allows you to collect basic analytics about users — visits, clicks, page views — but without personally identifiable information (or PII) such as geo-location, assigns tracking ID or other cookie-based data. 

  This reduced your ability to :

  • Remarket 
  • Identify repeating visitors
  • Do advanced conversion attribution 

  But you still get basic data from users who ignored or declined consent to data collection. 

  By default, Google Analytics 4 anonymizes all user IP addresses — an upgrade from UA. However, it still assigned a unique user ID to each user. These count as personal data under GDPR. 

  For comparison, Matomo provides more advanced privacy controls. You can anonymize :

  • Previously tracked raw data 
  • Visitor IP addresses
  • Geo-location information
  • User IDs 

  This can ensure compliance, especially if you operate in a sensitive industry — and delight privacy-mindful users ! 

  6. No Roll-Up Reporting

  Getting a bird’s-eye view of all your data is helpful when you need hotkey access to main sites — global traffic volume, user count or percentage of returning visitors.

  With Roll-Up Reporting, you can see global-performance metrics for multiple localised properties (.co.nz, .co.uk, .com, etc,) in one screen. Then zoom in on specific localised sites when you need to. 

  

  7. Report Processing Latency 

  The average data processing latency is 24-48 hours with Google Analytics. 

  Accounts with over 200,000 daily sessions get data refreshes only once a day. So you won’t be seeing the latest data on core metrics. This can be a bummer during one-day promo events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday when real-time information can prove to be game-changing ! 

  Matomo processes data with lower latency even for high-traffic websites. Currently, we have 6-24 hour latency for cloud deployments. On-premises web analytics can be refreshed even faster — within an hour or instantly, depending on the traffic volumes. 

  8. No Native Conversion Optimisation Features

  Google Analytics users have to use third-party tools to get deeper insights like how people are interacting with your webpage or call-to-action.

  You can use the free Google Optimize tool, but it comes with limits : 

  • No segmentation is available 
  • Only 10 simultaneous running experiments allowed 

  There isn’t a native integration between Google Optimize and Google Analytics 4. Instead, you have to manually link an Optimize Container to an analytics account. Also, you can’t select experiment dimensions in Google Analytics reports.

  What’s more, Google Optimize is a basic CRO tool, best suited for split testing (A/B testing) of copy, visuals, URLs and page layouts. If you want to get more advanced data, you need to pay for extra tools. 

  Matomo comes with a native set of built-in conversion optimization features : 

  • Heatmaps 
  • User session recording 
  • Sales funnel analysis 
  • A/B testing 
  • Form submission analytics 

  

  9. Deprecated Annotations

  Annotations come in handy when you need to provide extra context to other team members. For example, point out unusual traffic spikes or highlight a leak in the sales funnel. 

  This feature was available in Universal Analytics but is now gone in Google Analytics 4. But you can still quickly capture, comment and share knowledge with your team in Matomo. 

  You can add annotations to any graph that shows statistics over time including visitor reports, funnel analysis charts or running A/B tests. 

  10. No White Label Option 

  This might be a minor limitation of Google Analytics, but a tangible one for agency owners. 

  Offering an on-brand, embedded web analytics platform can elevate your customer experience. But white label analytics were never a thing with Google Analytics, unlike Matomo. 

  Wrap Up 

  Google set a high bar for web analytics. But Google Analytics inherent limitations around privacy, reporting and deployment options prompt more users to consider Google Analytics alternatives, like Matomo. 

  With Matomo, you can easily migrate your historical data records and store customer data locally or in a designated cloud location. We operate by a 100% unsampled data principle and provide an array of privacy controls for advanced compliance. 

  Start your 21-day free trial (no credit card required) to see how Matomo compares to Google Analytics ! 

  21 day free trial. No credit card required.

  Your email address
  

  Your website address
  

  Your Analytics subdomain will be .matomo.cloud (change)

  Choose your analytics subdomain
  

  .matomo.cloud

  I hereby accept the terms and conditions and the data processing agreeement (DPA).

  
  Your information will be used to create an account on our cloud service. For more information please consult our privacy policy.
  
  

  » Start improving your websites now