Is your site still running the old Google Analytics? It has collected nothing since 2023

When we check small business websites, we keep finding the same thing: the code of the old Google Analytics, called Universal Analytics. The owner believes they have visit statistics. In fact they haven’t had any for years.

What happened

Google replaced Universal Analytics with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and switched the old system off in two steps:

• on 1 July 2023, standard Universal Analytics properties stopped processing data;
• from 1 July 2024, Google also closed the paid version (Analytics 360), the interface and access to historical data, which was deleted.

The move to GA4 wasn’t automatic for the website itself: the code in the pages had to be replaced. Where nobody did it, the old code is still there, running for nothing.

Why it’s a problem even though it “does nothing”

The old code isn’t harmless:

• it measures nothing: no statistics, no reports, so decisions are made in the dark, sometimes while believing there is data;
• it still loads on every visit: the visitor’s browser downloads the script from Google’s servers and connects to Google, which receives their IP address;
• it usually runs without consent: on sites nobody has looked at in years, there’s rarely a banner blocking it. That’s tracking without consent, and pointless tracking at that;
• it slows the page a little: one more external script to download, for no benefit.

A forgotten script is also a sign: it often means nobody is looking after the site, and other things (updates, the certificate, the privacy policy) may have been left behind too.

How to tell if your site has it

Three ways, simplest first:

• with Ronda, our free check: it reports it as Universal Analytics in the privacy section;
• in the browser: open the site, press Ctrl+U (on a Mac Cmd+Option+U) to see the page’s code and search for UA- or analytics.js. An ID like UA-12345678-1 is the old system; the new one starts with G-;
• ask whoever built the site whether it was moved to GA4 after 2023.

What to do

First, remove the old code: it does nothing useful. Then decide whether you need statistics, and which kind.

1. You don’t really need them. Many small businesses never look at their statistics. Then removing the code is enough: a lighter site, no tracking, one less problem.

2. Simple statistics, no banner. If you only want to know how many visits you get and on which pages, there are tools that use no cookies and don’t identify visitors, such as the aggregate statistics some hosting providers and CDNs offer, or Matomo installed on your own server. Under certain conditions they need no consent, so no banner either (see our article on cookie banners).

3. Google Analytics 4. If you need advanced features (campaigns, conversions, the link with Google Ads), install GA4. But it should normally start only after consent, so you also need a properly configured cookie banner.

Whichever you choose, remember to update the cookie policy, which must describe the tools actually on the site.

In short

If your site still runs Universal Analytics, you’ve measured nothing since July 2023 but you keep sending visitor data to Google. Remove it, then choose calmly: no statistics, cookieless statistics, or GA4 with consent. It takes minutes to check, and not much more to fix.