Despite switching to a new Google Analytics tracking code 16 months ago, Google says it has “no immediate plans” to stop supporting the old code. Royal Pingdom raised the issue when it found that 40% of the most popular web sites that use Google Analytics are still using the old urchin.js code.

We contacted Google today, and a spokesperson gave us this statement:

“We have no immediate plans to decommission urchin.js. But there will come a time when we do and at that point, we will make sure users get clear advanced notification from us and time to switch. In the meantime, there are plenty of good reasons to switch to ga.js now anyhow, so feel free to get started early.”

Related Topics: Google: Analytics

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. See more articles by Matt McGee

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