Last month, Google released the much needed ability to move Google Analytics properties between accounts. Why is this useful? Given that Google Analytics is now over 10 years old, the organization of your Google accounts may be a bit different than it was in when you first started using the service. But it used to be impossible to move a property between accounts without starting over and losing all of your data. That’s where this new feature comes in. Before I explain how to use it, it’s very important to understand the terminology and organization of Google Analytics. This is where I was initially tripped up, because there’s quite a bit of inaccurate information out there.

Terminology

Google Account: What you sign into on Google’s website. Essentially an email address and a password which allows you to use all of Google’s many services.

Google Analytics Account: The account that houses properties within Google Analytics. Useful for specifying account-level permissions that stay the same even when new properties are added.

Property: The website or app that you’re collecting tracking data on.

Organization

You may have read elsewhere that Google Analytics is organized like so:

Google Account > Google Analytics Account > Properties

This is not correct and will make it difficult to conceptualize the move process. The actual organization is as follows:

Google Analytics Account, managed by Google Accounts > Properties

The key here is that Google Accounts don’t own or contain a Google Analytics Account. Instead, think of a Google Analytics Account as a separate entity that’s managed by one or more Google Accounts that have specific permissions. A Google Account that has all available permissions can be referred to as an “administrative account” for that Google Analytics Account.

Got it? Good.

How to move properties

I’ll describe how to continue by way of example. Let’s say you’re moving a property from a personal Google Account (john@example.com) to a generic company account (admin@company.com).

First, in your personal account’s admin settings, create a new Google Analytics account (see below).

Creating new Google Analytics Account

Because a Google Analytics Account must have at least one property, you’ll need to create a new property during the account creation process. If you have no new properties you need to create, just call the property “Fake” and give it a fake URL—you’ll be able to delete it later.

Next, give the company (aka “destination”) Google Account full permissions for the new Google Analytics Account. This can be done through the “User Management” link (shown below).

Adding permissions

Now, find the property you want to transfer, click the “Property Settings” link, then the “Move property” button (shown below).

Moving the property

The move process may take a few minutes to complete. Once it does, return to the Admin section of Google Analytics and delete your personal account from the “User Management” section of the new Google Analytics Account.

At this point, your personal Google Account (john@example.com) no longer has any permissions to manage the new Google Analytics Account. Instead, it is exclusively managed by the company’s Google Account (admin@company.com).

By the way, if you created a fake property, you can remove that now too.

Conclusion

In summary, what you’re really doing is moving the property between Google Analytics Accounts, then changing the users who manage that account. It’s quite simple, as long as you understand what’s going on.