The History of Google Analytics（2026）

Updated: May 26, 2026

Google Analytics was not originally built entirely in-house by Google. Its foundation came from an existing web analytics platform called Urchin, which Google acquired in 2005. Many of the concepts still used in modern analytics today—such as campaign tracking, UTM parameters, and visitor segmentation—can be traced back to Urchin’s early innovations.

Urchin: The Beginning

The story of Google Analytics starts with Quantified Systems, the predecessor of Urchin Software Corporation.

Founded in 1995 in San Diego, California, the company initially focused on website development and server hosting services. The founding team included:

• Brett Crosby
• Scott Crosby
• Paul Muret
• Jack Ancone

While working with hosting clients, the team noticed a major problem: analyzing website traffic data was painfully slow. Processing a single day of server logs could take more than 24 hours.

To address this, they envisioned a much faster analytics platform capable of processing an entire day of data in just 15 minutes.

This idea led Paul Muret to develop the first version of Urchin in 1997, which was officially released in 1998. Originally, Urchin was simply a supporting tool for the company’s hosting business, but demand for analytics quickly grew.

In 1999, Quantified Systems officially rebranded as Urchin Software Corporation, signaling a strategic shift toward web analytics as its primary business focus.

Urchin Version History：

Urchin 4 was especially influential because it introduced UTM parameters, which later became the industry standard for campaign tracking across digital marketing platforms.

GA1：Google Analytics（urchin.js)

In April 2005, Google acquired Urchin Software Corporation. Following the acquisition, the product was temporarily branded as “Urchin from Google.”

In November 2005, Google officially launched the first version of Google Analytics, largely based on Urchin 7 technology.This first release used the JavaScript library is urchin.js

Example:

<script src=”http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
   _uacct="UA-123456-1″;
   _userv=2;
   urchinTracker();
</script>

The launch quickly became one of the most significant moments in digital marketing history.

Demand was so overwhelming that Google temporarily suspended new account registrations just one week after launch. To manage server capacity, Google introduced a lottery-style invitation system before eventually reopening public access.

By August 2006, the invitation system was removed, and Google Analytics became freely available to all users.

This fundamentally changed the web analytics industry, as enterprise-grade analytics tools had previously been expensive and inaccessible to many businesses.

GA2：Classic Analytics（ga.js）

In April 2007, Google introduced a synchronous tracking implementation using PageTracker and the new library ga.js.

Example:

<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "https://www.");

document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>

<script type="text/javascript">
try {
  var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-x");
  pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}
</script>

In June 2009,Google released Event Tracking, allowing websites to measure interactions beyond pageviews.

In December 2009, Google released asynchronous tracking using _gaq.push(), designed to improve page performance by reducing tracking latency.

Example:

<script type="text/javascript">

  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-123456-1']);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); 
    ga.type = 'text/javascript'; 
    ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 
              'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + 
              '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; 
    s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();

</script>

You can distinguish implementations by identifying PageTracker (synchronous) versus _gaq.push (asynchronous).

In October 2012, Google Tag Manager were released.

In December 2012, Google Analytics with Display Advertising was introduced. This update improved remarketing capabilities for display ads and added Enhanced Link Attribution,

GA3：Universal Analytics (analytics.js)

In October 2012, Google introduced Universal Analytics (UA), also known as GA3, which used the analytics.js library. the tracking code at this time is as follows:

<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-XXXXX-Y', 'auto');
ga('send', 'pageview');
</script>

In 2013, Google released Ecommerce Code, using the plugin:

ga('require', 'ecommerce');

In Mar 2013, Google releases Measurement Protocol.

In September 2013, with all Google searches moving to HTTPS, organic keyword data became unavailable in Analytics, causing the familiar “(not provided)” entries to appear in keyword reports.

In May 2014, Google released Enhanced Ecommerce, using the plugin:

ga（'require'，'ec'）

In March 2016, Google released Google Analytics 360, which included Analytics, Tag Manager, Optimize, Data Studio, Surveys, Attribution, and Audience Center.

In September 2016, Google Analytics 360 was rebranded as Google Analytics 360 Solutions.

GA4：Google Analytics 4 (gtag.js)

The evolution of GA4 can be divided into three stages:

• Global Site Tag (gtag.js)
• App + Web properties
• Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Global Site Tag (gtag.js)

In October 2017, Google introduced the Global Site Tag (gtag.js), unifying tagging across Google Ads, DoubleClick, and Google Analytics to simplify implementation. The tracking code at this time is as follows:

<script src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-XXXXX-X" async=""></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'UA-69988360-20');
</script>

At this stage, tracking still relied on the classic UA- format Tracking ID

In June 2018, Google launched the Google Marketing Platform, combining DoubleClick Digital Marketing and Google Analytics 360.

App + Web Property

In September 2019, Google introduced App + Web, enabling unified tracking for apps and websites. The tracking code at this time is as follows:

<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-HZ4RDGTX66"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'G-HZ4RDGTX66');
</script>

This marked the transition toward the G- format Measurement ID.

GA4 Launch

In October 2020, App + Web was officially rebranded as Google Analytics 4 (GA4), marking the next generation of Google Analytics.

In September 2021, Server-Side Tagging moved from beta to general availability, supporting multiple Google products—including GA4—while offering improved privacy controls and performance optimizations.

In July 2024, First-Party Mode (FPM)—later rebranded as Google Tag Gateway—was introduced to support first-party data collection and improve data durability.

In May 2025, First-Party Mode was officially renamed Google Tag Gateway, reinforcing Google’s focus on first-party measurement and privacy-centric tracking.

In May 2026, Google Tag Manager and Google Tag merged.

Referral

• https://urchin.biz/urchin-software-corp-89a1f5292999
• https://www.globalmediainsight.com/blog/google-analytics-tracking-code/