GDPR is set to cause some major changes in how we use Google Analytics. Over the past month, we've been investigating how these changes affect our Analytics data. And we've delved deep into some of the bigger GDPR compliance problems. Read Full Post - www.jeffalytics.com/gdpr-ip-addresses-google-analytics/ Join our free Google Analytics Mini-Course - goo.gl/8PXXE1 But many Analytics account owners just want to know: Can I use Google Analytics without violating GDPR? The answer to that question is, maybe. Google Analytics tracks personal data, like IP addresses. Tracking the personal data of your EU based users without consent can cause a GDPR violation. So you need to understand what type personal data your collecting in Google Analytics. And you may also want to adjust your tracking to eliminate personal data from your Analytics account. In this post and video we are going to review: If the basic "out-of the-box" Google Analytics tracking is compliant with GDPR? What type of personal information Google Analytics collects? How GDPR compliance impacts Google Analytics data? And, what you'll lose if you eliminate personal data from your Google Analytics account? Is Google Analytics GDPR complaint out of the box? The answer is, No. It's my understanding that the standard Google Analytics setup does not comply with GDPR. And that's because Google Analytics automatically tracks personal data. The basic Google Analytics tracking setup does not collect very much personal data. But, it records enough personal information to cause a GDPR problem. What type of personal data does Google Analytics collect? The standard Google Analytics tracking installation collects your users' IP addresses. Now, you might be thinking: "What are you talking about, I can't see my users IPs in my analytics account." When users land on your website, your Google Analytics tracking code collects their IP addresses. But Google strips the IP data from your user information before it enters your reports. So although you can't see user IPs in Google Analytics, your account still collects and analyzes this data. Under GDPR, IP addresses are considered personal data. Tracking the IPs of your EU based users without their consent can cause a costly GDPR violation. Advanced Google Analytics installs and personal data Advanced Google Analytics installations track many forms of personal and third-party data. These installations can track demographics, display features, user IDs, custom dimensions, etc. The takeaway is that even basic installations of Google Analytics track personal data. That tracking occurs during your user's first point of contact with your website. And the personal data that’s collected is your user's IP address. So how do you use Google Analytics without causing GDPR compliance problems? Anonymizing your users' IP addresses will eliminate a lot of the personal data your collecting in Google Analytics. How to anonymize IP addresses in Google Analytics You can anonymize your users' IP addresses by adding a function to your analytics tracking code. Here's how this function works. The anonymize function sets the octet (the fourth string of numbers in an IP address) to zero. By stripping the octet from your IPs, you are concealing your users' personal data. Let's look at how to add the anonymize function to your Google Analytics Javascript tag. The syntax for this function will be different depending upon which version of the Analytics tracking code you're using. Read Full Post - goo.gl/auqARg Conversion Works IP anonymization study -goo.gl/TuVzGD

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