The Google Ads shift towards automation continues as “similar segments” will be removed from all ad groups and campaigns on August 1, 2023

The change is meant to help advertisers stay ahead of increasing restrictions around privacy by using automation strategies that tap into first-party data (not third-party cookies, which are being phased out).

Joshua Uebergang at https://www.digitaldarts.com.au/blog has some great suggestions: 

• If you have been using similar segments in Display, Discovery, or Video Action campaigns: Turn on Optimized Targeting.
• If you have been using similar segments in Awareness and Reach video or Consideration video campaigns: Use your first-party data segments and turn on Audience Expansion.
• If you have been using similar segments in Search and Shopping campaigns: Use Smart Bidding.

Google Optimize will no longer be available after September 30, 2023

Google Optimize launched over 5 years ago as a way for businesses to test and improve user experience (A/B testing). The email announcement to existing Optimize users suggests that some version of A/B testing will be integrated into GA4. We shall see.

Google Analytics data will be deleted by January 2024

If you want to backup your Universal Analytics (UA) data then there are developers familiar with the Google API who can help. The challenge is time and money. On Wed, Jan 25, 2023, I attended a demo of a new tool Analytics Canvas is working on. This will be the $99 USD solution you’re looking for, and the beta should be ready soon. The eta was Apr 2023.

ACTION: Get Big Query setup now and use it with your GA4 data because you’ll want to store your UA data in Big Query when the export tool is ready.

GA4 Ask Me Anything: How do I see full page URLs in GA4 instead of just part of the URL path?

A: If you want to track traffic to various subdomains in GA4 then it’s useful to know how to see the full URL, not just the last part of the URL (the request URI). Most GA4 reports will show the request URI, for example in the case of, canada.mydomain.com/contact and eu.mydomain.com/contact you would only see /contact/ in your reports. Not so useful, right?

In UA, there was a way to show the hostname instead of the request URI, which would then show you the full URLs in your reports. But, hooray, in GA4 you just need to use the Page Location dimension in an exploration report.

ACTION: Watch my 1-min marketing tip on using anExploration report to see the full URL. https://youtu.be/5d5jXIWbSOg