Is your website still running Universal Analytics? How to check

Universal Analytics, or UA, is the older version of Google Analytics. In Google's words, "Google Analytics 4 has replaced Universal Analytics" (Analytics Help). If your site was built before 2023, it may still carry the old code. Google changes these help pages often; this guide was last checked against them on October 19, 2026.

What happened to Universal Analytics

• March 2022: Google announced that "All standard Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2023" (Google blog).
• March 2023: If you hadn't moved to Google Analytics 4 yourself and hadn't opted out, Google "created a Google Analytics 4 property on your behalf," reusing "existing site tags whenever possible" (Analytics Help). So you may have a GA4 property nobody set up on purpose.
• July 1, 2023: "Standard Universal Analytics properties stopped processing hits." A few kept going "for a short period" (same page).
• The week of July 1, 2024: The paid 360 version had "a one-time processing extension ending on July 1, 2024." Then: "You won't be able to access any Universal Analytics properties or the API (not even with read-only access), and all data will be deleted." Google adds, "For some properties it may take longer" (same page).

Why it matters to you

Reports built on UA have been empty since mid-2023

Google says tools that read UA data, "such as Looker Studio, will not show any Universal Analytics data" (Analytics Help). If your monthly report still has an old UA chart in it, ask where the numbers come from now. See numbers you can't see yourself and tracking that stopped without anyone saying so.

Google Ads may have been working from a dead signal

If UA was linked to Google Ads, "Universal Analytics data stopped flowing to Google Ads beginning on July 1, 2023." That matters if campaigns were "bidding on imported Universal Analytics goals" (same page). Today an Ads conversion can be built from a Google Analytics 4 key event instead (Google Ads Help). To see what your account counts now, follow our guide on how to check your Google Ads conversion tracking.

Your old history is gone unless someone exported it

Unexported UA data "will be permanently deleted by Google and won’t be recoverable," though "Already exported data remains available in BigQuery" (Analytics Help). A GA4 property migrated from UA "will still collect data, but you won’t have access to any current or historical UA data" (Analytics Help). Google urged owners to switch early "to build the necessary historical data" (Google blog), so ask when your GA4 started collecting. If it was recently, your year-over-year comparisons will be thin.

A UA tag isn't always dead weight

Some GA4 properties reuse the UA tag already on the site. Google calls this connected site tags, and says: "Once Google deletes your Universal Analytics property we’ll automatically continue to use your Universal Analytics tagging for your Google Analytics 4 property, however only if your UA tags are still on your website" (Analytics Help). Delete that tag without putting a Google tag in its place, and your GA4 data can stop.

There's a second case. If a site runs both the old UA script and the GA4 script, a GA4 setting called "Collect Universal Analytics events" can capture UA event hits in GA4 (Analytics Help). Both options still appear in Google's current help for GA4 data stream settings (Analytics Help).

So an old UA tag can be leftover junk, or it can be holding up your GA4. Google recommends "dedicated GA4 tags rather than relying on connected site tags," and notes that "Loading multiple tags can have an impact on website speed" (Analytics Help). The safe order is replace first, then remove.

How to check from the outside

Search your page code

1. Open your home page in Chrome on a computer.
2. Right-click any part of the page and select Inspect.
3. Press Control + F (Windows) or Command + F (Mac) and search for each prefix below.
4. Repeat on your contact or booking page.

That's Google's own method for seeing a page's code after its scripts have run. The plain "show source" view "typically shows only the original page code returned to the browser, before scripts and other resources have been loaded and run" (Search Console Help).

What the prefixes mean:

• "UA-" plus numbers: Universal Analytics, as in Google's example UA-000000-1 (Analytics Help).
• "G-" plus letters and numbers: a Google Analytics 4 measurement ID (Analytics Help).
• "GT-" or "AW-": other Google tag IDs, and "A single Google tag can have multiple tag IDs" (Analytics Help). AW- IDs also appear in Google Ads conversion code (Google Ads Help).
• "GTM-": a Google Tag Manager container, like Google's example GTM-ABCDEFGH (Tag Manager Help).

You may also see the script names "analytics.js" (the old UA script) or "gtag.js" (the Google tag). In connected setups, Google describes the UA "parent tag" as "an existing gtag.js or analytics.js tag" (Analytics Help), so gtag.js on its own doesn't prove the tag is GA4.

Three cautions. Finding "G-" shows a GA4 tag is on the page, not that GA4 is set up well. Not finding "UA-" doesn't rule out UA if you found "GTM-" (see below). And search for "UA-" with a digit after it, like "UA-1", or you'll match ordinary words.

Use Google's free Tag Assistant

• Chrome extension: install Tag Assistant from the Chrome Web Store, open your site and click the extension. "The side panel will display the Google tags found on the page" (Tag Manager Help).
• Website: go to tagassistant.google.com, click Add domain, enter your address starting with "https://" and click Connect. You can "review the tags, events, and data on your website" and "share a debugging URL so others can debug for you" (Tag Assistant Help).

Write down every ID it lists. If nothing shows up, turn off your ad blocker; Google warns ad blockers "may prevent the Google tag from running" (same page).

What Tag Manager can hide

Tag Manager lets someone "set up and manage tags on your site without changing your website's code," and one container "can replace all other manually-coded tags on a site," Google Analytics included (Tag Manager Help). So if your page code shows only "GTM-", any UA tags would sit inside the container, out of sight. In Tag Manager, UA tags used a tag type named "Universal Analytics" (Analytics Help, legacy article). Tag Assistant is your best outside view.

What the outside view can't tell you

You can't see whether GA4 is actually receiving data, whether connected site tags or "Collect Universal Analytics events" are switched on, or who the administrators are. You also can't tell what happens to the request an old UA tag makes. Google's pages say UA stopped processing data; they don't say what becomes of those requests now, so we don't claim either way. What we can say is that Universal Analytics no longer records anything from them.

If you have a login

• Google Analytics: Google's note on the 2024 shutdown says "after July 1, you will only see GA4 properties in your account. If you have not created a GA4 property yet, you will see no property at all in your account" (Analytics Help).
• Tag Diagnostics: "Open the Google tag settings. Under “Your Google tag,” in the “Tag quality” section, select View diagnostics." Look for "Using legacy universal analytics tags," which means some pages use UA tags to load GA4 or other tags through connected site tags. Also look for "Only one administrator detected" and any Urgent status, which can mean a tag that was detected before "hasn't been detected in the last 48 hours" (Analytics Help).

Adding or changing Analytics users takes "the Administrator role at the account or property level" (Analytics Help). Who should hold it: see switching agencies without losing accounts and confirm you own your accounts.

What your result means

The outside view can't confirm GA4 settings, so read this table as "likely," not proof.

Questions to ask your agency

Copy these into an email. For more on measurement questions, see questions to ask your SEO agency.

1. Which Google Analytics property is our site sending data to now? Please send the measurement ID (it starts with G-).
2. When did that GA4 property start collecting? Who created it: you, us, or Google automatically?
3. Did anyone export our old Universal Analytics data? If so, where is it?
4. Is there still a Universal Analytics tag on the site or in Tag Manager? Does anything depend on it, such as connected site tags or the "Collect Universal Analytics events" setting?
5. Does Tag Diagnostics show "Using legacy universal analytics tags"? What's the plan to replace it?
6. Can you send a screenshot of every tag in our Tag Manager container, with its type?
7. Were our Google Ads campaigns ever bidding on Universal Analytics goals? What replaced them?
8. Who are the administrators on our Analytics account and Tag Manager container? Am I one?

Your ten-minute checklist

• Open your home page in Chrome, right-click and choose Inspect.
• Search for "UA-" plus a digit, then "G-", "GT-", "AW-" and "GTM-". Write down what you find.
• Do the same on your contact or booking page.
• Run Tag Assistant and note every Google tag ID it lists.
• If you only found "GTM-", ask for a list of the container's tags.
• Send your agency questions 1, 4 and 8.

FAQ

Does Universal Analytics still work?

No. Standard Universal Analytics stopped processing data on July 1, 2023, and Google began removing access and deleting the properties the week of July 1, 2024.

Can I still get my old Universal Analytics data?

Only if someone exported it, for example to BigQuery. Otherwise Google says it was permanently deleted. A GA4 property won't show your UA history either.

Is a leftover UA tag harmful?

Not by itself. Google says loading several tags can affect site speed, and the tag may be what feeds your GA4. Replace it first, then remove it.

The bottom line

An old UA tag doesn't mean your agency did anything wrong. It's a reason to ask a few plain questions, and a good agency will answer them quickly. For an outside look at what's installed on your site, old analytics tags included, request a free mini-audit or send us a question. We'll tell you what we can see, and what only your accounts can answer.