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#7420 – "New" Google Analytics Tag

Posted in ‘sh404SEF’

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Thursday, 01 October 2020 21:56 UTC

ibweb

We have several clients who received emails from Google Analytics this week stating that they should upgrade to their new Google Analytics tag, which apparently changes from Google Analytics tag (analytics.js) to the latest tag (gtag.js).

I've included a screenshot of the email for your reference, as well as a screenshot of the page that the "Get Your New Tag" button leads to.

For the vast majority of our clients, we implement Google Analytics via the "Universal" analytics integration option within sh404sef where we provide the Web Property ID.

Two questions:
1) Will sh404sef be updated to automatically use this new analytics integration in a coming update? If so, roughly when is that update planned to release?
2) Will we need to do anything on our end in order to use the new Google Analytics tag?

Thursday, 01 October 2020 21:57 UTC

ibweb

The last post didn't let me add the second attachment (it appears your add another attachment button is not working in Chrome).

I've attached the 2nd attatchment in this update.

Friday, 02 October 2020 07:32 UTC

wb_weeblr

Thanks for the report on the second upload button, we'll make sure to report to Akeeba, which makes our ticket extension.

As for analytics.js vs gtag.js and as you can see in the message, gtags is not a "new" version of analytics. It's a slightly different product. They push people to use it because gtags is a "global" measurement tool (hence the name). It allows tracking users not only on the web but also on mobile apps and possibly in the future devices, etc

There's no other incentive to use gtags. Analytics.js is not deprecated, nor will it be retired.

1) Will sh404sef be updated to automatically use this new analytics integration in a coming update? If so, roughly when is that update planned to release?

2) Will we need to do anything on our end in order to use the new Google Analytics tag?

As gtags is a different Google product, this will be a 3rd option, on top of analytics.js, it will not replace it. The default way to use Google Analytics will still be analytics.js for the foreseeable future. I have no plan on integrating gtags in the immediate future but it will be at some point.

Best regards

Yannick Gaultier

weeblr.com / @weeblr

Friday, 02 October 2020 13:28 UTC

ibweb

Thanks for the explanation. Let me give a bit more info on our clientel. 80% of our clients just need standard Google Analytics tracking, in which case we use the Universal Analytics Integration.

For those that need more advanced tracking, we typically implement Google Tag Manager so that we can dynamically add in various tags for tracking (i.e. Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, LinkedIn Tracking, etc.). Thanks to sh404sef, Google Tag Manager is also supported.

I understand that we can simply stay with the analytics.js implementation, at least until/when its deprecated. But my understanding is that Google is intentionally replacing analytics.js with gtag.js (not to be confused with Google Tag Manager/GTM). I don't think it's truly a different product as you stated. Instead, it seems to be a different delivery method of the same product (Google Analytics), but also lets you add integrate other Google specific tracking mechasims. It's almost a "lite" version of Google Tag Manager if you will, but more geared to simplify tracking all Google products (Analytics, Optimize, Ads, etc.).

My point is, why woudln't you want to upgrade sh404sef to support gtag.js overtime since it has more integrations with Google products out of the box and since it is Google Analytics preferred method of implementation now?

We love the sh404sef analytics integration and ease of implementation for Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. Any info that you can provide as to why it's beneficial for our clients to stick with analytics.js over gtag.js would be very helpful.

Friday, 02 October 2020 14:50 UTC

wb_weeblr

(not to be confused with Google Tag Manager/GTM).

I am not confusing them.

But my understanding is that Google is intentionally replacing analytics.js with gtag.js

Not really. Gtags is actually an extension of analytics.

I don't think it's truly a different product as you stated. Instead, it seems to be a different delivery method of the same product (Google Analytics), but also lets you add integrate other Google specific tracking mechasims.

It actually is an additional library, that loads analytics.js on top of itself (when gtag is used on websites). In other words, it will never be a replacement for analytics. When you use gtag, you still use and load analytics.js. As such and in call cases, it will always be implemented as a 3rd option.

My point is, why woudln't you want to upgrade sh404sef to support gtag.js overtime

I just wrote the opposite of that.

My point is, why woudln't you want to upgrade sh404sef to support gtag.js overtime since it has more integrations with Google products out of the box and since it is Google Analytics preferred method of implementation now?

Any info that you can provide as to why it's beneficial for our clients to stick with analytics.js over gtag.js would be very helpful.

Because if you don't need the actual features provided by gtag, you are wasting CPU and transfer resource and making (at least) one more request to grab analytics. Gtags is about 90KB going over the network and around 220KB of javascript to be executed. Unlike analytics.js, it can't even be cached across sites because it passes the UA id in the request.

And of course you still have the about 20K transferred and 45KB executed of analytics.js itself.

So on the contrary, you would need a very strong and compelling reason to start using gtag over analytics.

Best regards

Yannick Gaultier

weeblr.com / @weeblr

Monday, 05 October 2020 21:49 UTC

ibweb

Thank you for the thorough explanation and additional details. That definitely helped clear up some concerns and confusion. We have what we need to respond to our clients at this point. Feel free to close out this ticket.

Tuesday, 06 October 2020 10:20 UTC

wb_weeblr

You're welcome! Closing this ticket now, feel free to open a new one as needed. If you do so, please mention this ticket number in the new one.

If you created any superadmin account for us, be sure to delete or block it now to avoid unnecessary risk in the future.

Best regards

Yannick Gaultier

weeblr.com / @weeblr

This ticket is closed, therefore read-only. You can no longer reply to it. If you need to provide more information, please open a new ticket and mention this ticket's number.