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End of Google Analytics: what changes for your websites?

May 330, 2024 — published by Pyramidale Communication,
medical communications agency

Would you like to understand the impact that the end of Google Analytics will have on your website? Pyramidale Communication, a medical communications agency, can explain the options available to you under this new regulation.

1. What is Google Analytics?

Since its creation in 2012, Google Analytics has become the world’s most widely used web analytics platform, holding over 70% of the market. This free tool collects data from websites to monitor their activity. Regardless of the site’s type, the main objectives are to generate traffic and determine whether users engage with the content. With each visitor interaction, Google Analytics generates reports analyzing visitor behavior, traffic acquisition, audience profiles, and conversions.
These reports provide essential data, including the number of visits, the percentage of returning visitors, pages viewed, traffic-generating channels, and more. Such information is crucial for comparing activity across different periods and tracking traffic trends.

2. Why is Google Analytics ending?

While Google Analytics is a powerful tool for analyzing a website’s audiences, updates to its data governance have been limited. Users today demand more transparency and control over their personal data. According to the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés), Google Analytics does not comply with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) rules regarding data release.

The rise of single-page applications (SPAs) and multi-platform user journeys has also revealed limitations in Google’s analytics model, which relies on tracking sessions and page views via cookies. This model is no longer sufficient to meet the evolving needs of businesses.

3. Google Analytics 4: real solution or bad choice?

As of July 1, 2024, access to the Google Analytics user interface and API will be permanently closed. To continue tracking website performance, businesses must migrate to Google Analytics 4, which was designed with a focus on data privacy compliance with CNIL recommendations. Google Analytics 4 no longer stores IP addresses and limits data retention to 14 months, preventing the automatic linking of data to user identities

Google Analytics 4 improves website tracking by analyzing users’ lifecycles at each stage of their interaction with the site. It provides advanced filters and the ability to create custom events, offering more precise audience insights

However, Google Analytics 4 still presents a challenge because data is stored in the US ather than in Europe. For this reason, the CNIL recommends considering European alternatives that are fully GDPR-compliant.

4. What are the alternatives to Google Analytics 4?

Several web analytics tools can replace Google Analytics:

Matomo Analytics: Free, open-source analytics software that respects personal data.
AT Internet Analytics: a French alternative that complies with GDPR and provides analytical dashboards.
Abla Analytics: a French solution using JavaScript instead of cookies and hosting data in France.
Plausible Analytics: easy-to-use, open-source analytics integrated with Google Search Console.

Would you like to create your own medical website? Do you need an audit of your web tools? Pyramidale Communication can help you design your website and optimize its natural search engine visibility (SEO). Contact us for more information.

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