Did you spot this? Last week Google made a big announcement that they’re turning off their Universal Analytics platform next year.

We heard from Katie Finch, Senior Digital Analyst at Shelter, who wanted to share this with Voscur so we could in turn let others know. This is the sort of information that smaller charities sometimes miss out on, so thanks to Katie and Shelter for letting us know.

What does Google's announcement mean for charities and others? Well, it is a pretty big deal because approximately 60% of websites use this free platform.

It allows you to track users across your website, see how often they’re visiting your pages and what they’re doing once there. If you’re in any way a digital service (even if you've just got a website) it is really handy to see what your online visitors are interested in.

The alternative Google is offering is Google Analytics 4, and Google are starting to offer advice now on what people should do to move their analytics over. This is the outline schedule from Google on 'sun-setting' Universal Analytics:

• All standard Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2023, and 360 Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on October 1, 2023.
• After that, you’ll be able to access your previously processed data in Universal Analytics for at least six months.
• Make the move over to Google Analytics 4 as soon as possible to build the necessary historical data before Universal Analytics stops processing new hits.

Could you or your organisation offer expertise to help others in the sector to plan for this transition? Please do get in touch if you are willing and able to offer advice as we would be happy to share further information to the sector info@voscur.org