As the deadline for backing up Universal Analytics data looms, you might be wondering about your options for backing up this data.
If that's the case then this post is for you.
There are two ways you can approach the data backup
- Back up aggregated data by month or year
- Back up the complete data set
Backing Up Aggregated Univeral Analytics Data
If all you look at is total sessions, users, pageviews, and conversions by month then you don't need full backup. Aggregated data can be easily backed up by opening up the reports in Universal Analytics, copying the data you need by CTRL +C, and pasting it into a Google Sheet, Excel, etc... You can even save it this way in BigQuery or SQL server.
Google Analytics also allows you to download a CSV file that you can store on your computer.
This is the cheapest way to get the backup. So if budget is an issue then this is the option I will suggest for you.
Backing Up The Complete Data Set
If you are interested in saving granular data then you will have to use a 3rd party tool or build your own solution using Google Analytics API. Both of these options are going to be expensive but if you do want the data at a granular level then this is the best option.
However, considering GA4 has a different data model and uses different methods to calculate metrics, you might not find much value in the backed-up data. However, that's the call you can either make on your own or contact us to help you with it.
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