Universal Analytics is a version of Google Analytics that provides advanced tracking capabilities, more accurate data collection, and enhanced features to better understand user behavior and interactions across multiple devices and platforms. Launched in 2012, Universal Analytics was designed to address the limitations of the original Google Analytics (Classic Analytics) by offering a more flexible and comprehensive tracking solution. Some key features and benefits of Universal Analytics include: 1. User ID tracking: Universal Analytics can track users across multiple devices and sessions, providing a more accurate view of user behavior and engagement. By assigning a unique User ID to each visitor, it allows you to track their interactions across different devices, such as desktop, mobile, and tablet. 2. Custom dimensions and metrics: Universal Analytics enables you to create custom dimensions and metrics that are specific to your business or website, allowing you to collect and analyze data that is more relevant and meaningful to your needs. 3. Enhanced E-commerce tracking: Universal Analytics offers an improved E-commerce tracking system that provides more detailed insights into customer behavior, product performance, and sales funnel analysis. 4. More accurate data collection: With Universal Analytics, you can exclude certain traffic sources, such as bots and internal traffic, from your data, resulting in cleaner and more accurate reports. 5. Integration with other Google products: Universal Analytics is designed to work seamlessly with other Google products, such as Google Ads, Google Tag Manager, and Google Optimize, making it easier to manage and analyze your marketing efforts. 6. Customizable tracking code: The Universal Analytics tracking code is more flexible than Classic Analytics, allowing for advanced customization and implementation options. In October 2020, Google introduced the next generation of Google Analytics called Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which builds upon the features of Universal Analytics and adds new capabilities for cross-platform measurement, machine learning, and data privacy. It's recommended for new users to start with GA4, but existing Universal Analytics users can continue using it or consider upgrading to the latest version of GA4.