For nearly two decades, Google Analytics has been the go-to tool for marketers and data analysts.
But, as we get toward AI-powered search and privacy-first data collection, one question is quietly emerging: will there even be a Google Analytics 5?
Here’s an audio version of this article in case you prefer to listen.
Why Google needs Google Analytics 4 (for now)
At first glance, Google Analytics feels like a generous gift: a sophisticated analytics platform available to anyone, free of charge. But as the saying goes, if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.
And so, data collected by GA4 is used to improve Google’s own products, increase their understanding of user intentions and, most importantly, make advertising more impactful. But advertising changes…
How AI changes Google’s priorities (sort of)
AI-powered search provides users with answers directly on the Google’s search pages. And so, the understanding of users journeys on different websites seems to be no longer that necessary.
However, in reality, behavioural data can still provide context to advertising – no matter whether it is in classic search or AI search results. So this will definitely not be the reason for GAs demise.
What may, is the fact that GA is not the only source of data Google has.
Is Google Analytics still an important source of data?
Google Analytics is just one of many ways Google collects behavioural data. Even if you’ve never installed GA, Google likely has insights into your visitors through:
- Google Search
- YouTube
- Google Ads
- Android OS and apps
- Google Maps
- reCAPTCHA
- and many others
Google’s data collection web is huge, and GA4 is just one of many data streams. With this in mind, it is very likely that GA’s role as the source of important data is dwindling.
And so, another important question arises.
Will keeping Google Analytics still be financially viable for Google?
Google Analytics is a huge cost for Google. It requires massive infrastructure, constant updates, and fighting with privacy compliance issues and local laws.
However, for now, GA4 is still worth more to Google than it costs to maintain.
But will it still be this way?
Other sources of data that Google uses, already collect massive amounts of behavioural data, and this may increase in the future, making Google Analytics irrelevant.
On the other hand, there are still many websites that do not use Google Ads, Maps, YouTube embeds or reCaptcha, but, they use Google Analytics.
So, will Google decide to lose the data from these sites? Or… to give it away to its competitors?
Will Google Analytics join the Google App graveyard?
Google has a long history of killing products that it no longer deems financially viable. Could “Google Analytics 5” be the next no-show?
The case for its disappearance:
- Google’s other data sources are already massive
- Maintaining infrastructure and dealing with privacy regulations is very costly
The case against:
- Giving the data pie to its competitors
- Losing data from small portion of websites that do not use Google’s products
Will we ever see Google Analytics 5?
The rise of AI will probably not be the reason for Google to drop Analytics. Nor will it be its costs of maintenance and deteriorating usefulness (for Google).
Dropping it will probably never be an option, because it will mean giving space to its competitors.
However, it does not mean that Google Analytics will stay the same.
The most likely outcome isn’t a flashy “GA” death, but GA4 slowly morphing into a tool which will let website owners not only gain traffic insights and improve their own site but also improve their AI-visibility. This will get content creators to create content better suited for its AI search.
