OUT OF DATE: These instructions were originally provided for Universal Analytics. This version of Google Analytics is no longer available.
Google Analytics 4 comes with a built-in method for testing filters without needing to maintain separate Views. (In fact, the concept of “Views” no longer exists!)
Comments (9)
Another way to backup your GA data involves keeping a copy of each hit sent to Google. Doing this gives you a contingency in case something happens to your GA account.
Here’s how to do it:
http://www.analyticsmarket.com/blog/google-analytics-backup-copy
Nice work.
any updates for this in the new layout? No idea how to do this given the new consul
Hi Erin,
The only big difference is where you go to access the Admin area. It’s now at the very bottom of the left-hand menu that’s on every page. I’ll update this post soon but hopefully you can find that spot in the meantime. Let me know if not!
Lesley, this was really helpful – big thanks. Still to understand what you just talked us through. 🙂
Not sure what we just did…
Hi Linda! Whenever you make changes to your GA settings for things like Goals, Filters, Content Groupings etc. — all things I describe in my articles — the changes to your data are permanent. The “Raw Data” View is a backup in case you get something wrong, like accidentally create a filter that removes ALL your data and you don’t notice for a week!
The Test View takes it one step further to let you test out these settings first, then apply them to your main View only when you’re sure they’re working correctly. It’s up to you to decide how risky you think a change is and whether you should test it out first.
Goals & Content Groupings = low risk
Filters = high risk
Hope that helps!
When I made a copy of my view, the new “test view” does not have the same information as the view I copied. Not sure why that’s happening, is this to be expected?
Hi Natalia, The copy should contain all the same settings (saving you time) but it will NOT copy the data (information in your reports). But as long as you make the copy before trying any new techniques, this should be all you need.