The Full Migration Information With out Dropping Information

You’ve received years of perception saved in Google Analytics. And also you’re prepared for a cleaner, privateness‑pleasant approach to monitor what issues, with out cookies, pop‑ups for consent on each web page view, or a heavy script slowing down your web site. That’s precisely the place Umami excels. However it presents a standard problem: migrate with out erasing years of helpful information?

Let’s perceive why this text issues to you (and your crew).

Entrepreneurs, SEOs, and web site house owners normally need the identical issues:

• Hold the historical past you’ve in-built GA4 so you’ll be able to reply “What occurred final quarter?”
• Hold reporting transferring in the course of the swap, so weekly and month-to-month updates don’t stall.
• Hold pages quick and personal with a light-weight script and cookieless monitoring
• Hold resolution‑making easy: web page efficiency, sources, campaigns, occasions, and conversions with no maze of menus

If that sounds such as you, you’re in the appropriate place. And sure, you are able to do it with a couple of cautious steps and a brief overlap interval.

Why Are Extra Groups Selecting Umami Over GA4?

GA4 can reply very superior questions. However it may well additionally make easy questions really feel sluggish and tough to interpret.

Frequent challenges

A steep studying curve for non‑analysts

• Sampling and thresholds that blur small‑web site and mid‑market information
• Consent flows that block analytics on a bit of visits
• A heavy script that doesn’t assist Core Internet Vitals
• Occasion historical past limits which might be simple to miss

What groups really want?

• A clear dashboard
• Plain‑spoken occasions and objectives
• Actual‑time information that’s simple to belief
• Cookieless monitoring that retains privateness easy
• A lighter script that retains pages quick

Umami’s Core Options (And What It Deliberately Excludes)

The speedy advantages

• Cookie‑free monitoring by default, with no private identifiers
• A tidy dashboard: prime pages, sources, nations, gadgets, occasions, and campaigns
• Actual‑time guests and occasions you’ll be able to watch throughout a launch
• A small script that’s suitable with PageSpeed and search
• Simple occasion and purpose setup utilizing information attributes or a tiny JS name

What Umami doesn’t attempt to be:

• It doesn’t sew customers throughout gadgets
• It doesn’t construct advert audiences contained in the analytics instrument
• It doesn’t push heavy, mannequin‑primarily based attribution

For a lot of websites, that’s not a loss. It’s a reduction: much less noise, sooner solutions, clearer selections.

A Step-by-Step Migration Plan

The method is like transferring residences. For a short while, you maintain the keys to each… You progress the stuff you care about. Then you definately return the previous keys and preserve a tidy album of pictures.

1. Get Umami working alongside GA4

• Add your web site to the Umami dashboard
• Place the script in your world structure (header, footer, or template head)
• Publish, open your web site in a personal window or utilizing a VPN, and click on round
• Examine stay information in Umami to substantiate all the things’s flowing

2. Map your occasions and create your objectives

• Listing the GA4 conversions you really use: lead kind, signup, demo request, buy
• Identify your Umami occasions in clear lowercase: form_submit, signup_complete, demo_request, purchase_complete
• Monitor the result, not simply the clicking: form_submit ought to fireplace after a profitable submission
• Create objectives that match these occasions; you can too use URL guidelines for easy thank‑you pages

3. Standardize your marketing campaign tags

• Hold UTMs lowercase and quick:
  • medium = e mail, cpc, social;
  • supply = google, linkedin, e-newsletter;
  • marketing campaign = spring_sale_2025
• Use content material or phrases for placement particulars or artistic names
• Save a one‑web page information in a shared folder and paste the hyperlink in your crew chat

4. Examine, appropriate, and swap

• Examine whole visits, prime pages, prime sources, and conversions
• Count on delicate gaps; concentrate on rankings and patterns
• Repair lacking occasions, SPA route change monitoring, or messy UTMs
• Replace your consent banner and privateness coverage as soon as GA4 is eliminated
• Retailer exports and archive previous dashboards for reference

Protect Your GA4 Historical past With out Importing It

Umami and GA4 have totally different foundations, so that you simply received’t import GA4 instantly. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to preserve a stable archive and use it every time it’s essential to evaluation historic information.

What to export from GA4

• Month-to-month summaries: customers, classes, prime pages, and prime sources (CSV + PDF)
• Conversions by channel and marketing campaign for the previous 6–12 months
• Touchdown pages with classes and conversion fee (helpful for search engine optimisation and paid)
• Marketing campaign efficiency: UTMs with classes, engaged classes, and conversions
• A brief notice with massive modifications: launches, outages, promos

Extra helpful exports

Identify your information with YYYY‑MM in order that they type cleanly. Put them in shared folders your crew already makes use of. The purpose is to create a helpful, accessible archive, not a digital attic you by no means go to.

Crucial GA4 Checks Earlier than You Migrate

• By default, GA4 retains user-level occasion information for two months, and you may manually prolong it to a most of 14 months in the usual (free) tier. Set it to the max whilst you nonetheless can
• Aggregated views within the interface might last more, however row‑stage historical past received’t
• Affirm you’ve got admin entry for exports; repair possession points earlier than you turn.

Sensible Steps To Set up Umami

• Add your web site within the Umami dashboard to get your web site ID and script hyperlink
• Paste the snippet in your head tag; async and defer are really helpful
• If you happen to use WordPress, add it to header.php or by your theme settings
• If you happen to use Subsequent.js, add it to your app structure or doc head
• For single‑web page apps, name a pageview on route change
• Use a customized script area when accessible (for instance, analytics.yoursite.com) to cut back blockers

Setting Clear Occasion and Aim Patterns

Occasion names that keep clear

• cta_click (use a property like button_text for context)
• form_submit (monitor the success state)
• signup_complete
• demo_request
• add_to_cart
• checkout_start
• purchase_complete (embrace worth and foreign money if you happen to promote in a couple of)

The right way to ship occasions the straightforward manner

• You possibly can add a knowledge attribute to a button: information‑umami‑occasion=”form_submit”
• For dynamic monitoring, name a small JS perform: umami.monitor(‘event_name’, { property: ‘worth’ })

Objectives that match your funnel

• Create a purpose for every core occasion above
• For pages with a easy thank‑you URL, use URL‑primarily based objectives

UTMs that don’t break reporting

• Lowercase for all fields
• Brief lists for supply and medium
• An ordinary format for marketing campaign names: spring_sale_2025 or weekly_newsletter_2025_12_10
• Use content material/time period for artistic variations or placement

Evaluating Information In the course of the Overlap Interval

It’s regular for GA4 and Umami to indicate barely totally different counts. You’re on the lookout for consistency throughout rankings and a good hole vary.

Cheap tolerances

• Whole visits inside 10–15% is widespread
• High pages and sources ought to match by order, even when counts differ
• Conversions inside a good vary; massive gaps normally imply a lacking occasion or a blocked GA4 tag

Frequent causes for discrepancies

• The snippet isn’t on all templates: add it to the worldwide structure
• SPA route modifications don’t ship pageviews: hook into your router
• Consent blocks GA4 however not Umami: count on greater counts in Umami; that’s fantastic
• UTM case points: standardize to lowercase
• Customized script area typo or lacking certificates: repair the URL and SSL

Updating Your Consent and Privateness Coverage

As a result of Umami is cookie‑free and aggregates information, your consent might be simplified.

• If analytics cookies had been the primary motive in your banner, you’ll be able to scale back that when GA4 is gone.
• Hold consent for any advert, chat, or testing instruments that use cookies
• Replace your privateness coverage to say that analytics are cookie‑free and aggregated
• State whether or not you self‑host or use a bunch, and the area the place information is saved
• Hold a brief file of instruments, entry, and information location; authorized groups love readability

If you happen to’d like a bunch that gives a server in numerous world places and quick setup, we’re a protected place to begin.

The right way to Successfully Onboard Your Group?

Change is accepted when folks can really see what’s taking place, with out asking for a particular login.

• Share a hyperlink with management to allow them to verify headline numbers
• Give your entrepreneurs full entry to allow them to add occasions, create objectives, and tag campaigns
• Add a one‑web page UTM information to your shared folder; hyperlink it in Slack or Groups
• Two easy habits that repay:
  • Save a month-to-month snapshot with prime pages, prime sources, conversions, and notes on launches
  • Hold a small log of marketing campaign launches and web site modifications; a fundamental doc is sufficient

Actual-World Use Instances for Completely different Groups

• Content material crew

  They verify prime touchdown pages and e-newsletter signups every Monday. If a subject spikes, they plan comply with‑ups and promotion round that thread. Umami’s actual‑time view helps them catch a hyperlink from a giant web site and have it whereas it’s scorching.

• Advertising and marketing crew

  They monitor cta_click on pricing, signup_complete, and demo_request. Each Friday, they take a look at the channel combine. They discover LinkedIn drives clicks however e mail drives signups that convert, in order that they tune copy for every viewers. Easy, fast, actionable.

• Small ecommerce model

  They ship a purchase_complete occasion with the worth and foreign money. They watch product pages with excessive views however low purchases and replace photos or copy. Clear numbers make minor fixes apparent.

• Company managing many websites

  They add every consumer to Umami with the identical naming for occasions and objectives. Stories are simple to repeat, and skim‑solely hyperlinks preserve shoppers knowledgeable with out fixed entry requests.

Frequent Questions & Issues About Switching

• “Will we lose information?”

  You’ll lose consumer‑stage identification stitching and advert audiences inside analytics. You received’t lose web page efficiency, sources, occasions, objectives, or clear marketing campaign reads. In case your day-to-day duties embrace content material, search engine optimisation, and income or pipeline monitoring, you’ll possible acquire velocity and readability.

• “How will we deal with funnels?”

  Monitor every step as an occasion: view_product → add_to_cart → checkout_start → purchase_complete. Examine counts by step. If you would like visuals later, you’ll be able to export and construct in a BI instrument.

• “Is actual‑time quick sufficient?”

  Sure. You’ll see guests and occasions inside seconds, helpful for launches and vital backlinks.

• “Will advert blockers trigger hassle?”

  A customized script area could be very useful. As a result of Umami is gentle and may run by yourself subdomain, it blends in higher than an enormous third‑occasion tag.

• “Can we monitor a number of websites and subdomains?”

  Sure. Add every property. Hold occasions and objectives organized so information doesn’t get blended up.

• “Does this assist search engine optimisation?”

  In fact, a small script is nice information for efficiency. Fewer consent hurdles for analytics means a fuller view of site visitors, which helps you learn search engine optimisation modifications with fewer blind spots.

Fast Wins You Can Present To Your Boss or Shoppers

• Quicker pages with a smaller analytics script
• Fewer blocked hits and a clearer learn on marketing campaign outcomes
• Much less time looking for the appropriate report and extra time implementing enhancements.
• An easier privateness story that’s simpler to elucidate to authorized and clients

To attain these wins with a dependable internet hosting accomplice, discover our Umami VPS plans.

The 30‑Minute Guidelines

• Create your web site in Umami and replica the snippet
• Add the snippet to your world head; publish
• Open your web site in a personal window; verify actual‑time information
• For SPAs, add a pageview name on route change
• Create objectives for form_submit, signup_complete, demo_request, purchase_complete
• Add information attributes to key CTAs and types for occasion monitoring
• Standardize UTMs (lowercase, quick lists); share a one‑web page information
• Filter inside visits and any spammy referrers
• Export GA4 month-to-month summaries and marketing campaign stories; retailer them by YYYY‑MM
• Run each instruments for two–4 weeks; examine, appropriate, then take away GA4

When Umami may not be the one instrument you want

In case your crew depends on identification graphs, cross‑system linking, or advert audiences constructed inside analytics, it’s possible you’ll preserve GA4 for that slice whereas utilizing Umami for day‑to‑day web site analytics. One other path is pairing Umami with a knowledge warehouse and a BI instrument for superior evaluation. Most groups don’t want each, but it surely’s good to know when to decide on one.

A Brief Notice Summarizing Every thing

We’re transferring our web site analytics to Umami for a lighter, cookie‑free setup that’s simpler to learn and higher for web site velocity. We’ll preserve GA4 for two–4 weeks whereas we export historical past and examine numbers. Our core conversions shall be tracked as clear occasions and objectives. After the overlap, we’ll take away GA4, replace the consent banner, and preserve a month-to-month snapshot. This offers us quick, privateness‑pleasant analytics with out shedding our historic story.

Launch Umami In the present day With out Complicated Server Administration

For a easy setup, AccuWeb Internet hosting affords Umami-ready VPS plans. You get a clear deployment path, help if you want it, and over 15 world server location selections that meet your authorized necessities. It’s the quickest approach to get cookieless analytics working on a stable host.

Finally, analytics ought to really feel like a automotive’s dashboard, offering you with the important data it’s essential to transfer ahead, not a cockpit stuffed with switches you by no means use. Transfer your historical past right into a tidy folder, gentle up a quick cookieless tracker, and preserve your web site transferring, clear, fast, and respectful of your guests.

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