diff --git a/googleanalytics.admin.inc b/googleanalytics.admin.inc
index 4449077..f185890 100644
--- a/googleanalytics.admin.inc
+++ b/googleanalytics.admin.inc
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ function googleanalytics_admin_settings_form($form_state) {
     '#default_value' => variable_get('googleanalytics_account', 'UA-'),
     '#size' => 15,
     '#maxlength' => 20,
-    '#required' => TRUE,
     '#description' => t('This ID is unique to each site you want to track separately, and is in the form of UA-xxxxxxx-yy. To get a Web Property ID, <a href="@analytics">register your site with Google Analytics</a>, or if you already have registered your site, go to your Google Analytics Settings page to see the ID next to every site profile. <a href="@webpropertyid">Find more information in the documentation</a>.', array('@analytics' => 'http://www.google.com/analytics/', '@webpropertyid' => url('https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/concepts/gaConceptsAccounts', array('fragment' => 'webProperty')))),
   );
 
@@ -502,7 +501,7 @@ function googleanalytics_admin_settings_form_validate($form, &$form_state) {
   // Replace all type of dashes (n-dash, m-dash, minus) with the normal dashes.
   $form_state['values']['googleanalytics_account'] = str_replace(array('–', '—', '−'), '-', $form_state['values']['googleanalytics_account']);
 
-  if (!preg_match('/^UA-\d+-\d+$/', $form_state['values']['googleanalytics_account'])) {
+  if (!empty($form_state['values']['googleanalytics_account']) && !preg_match('/^UA-\d+-\d+$/', $form_state['values']['googleanalytics_account'])) {
     form_set_error('googleanalytics_account', t('A valid Google Analytics Web Property ID is case sensitive and formatted like UA-xxxxxxx-yy.'));
   }
 
diff --git a/googleanalytics.variable.inc b/googleanalytics.variable.inc
index 6a65735..777a857 100644
--- a/googleanalytics.variable.inc
+++ b/googleanalytics.variable.inc
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ function googleanalytics_variable_info($options) {
     'title' => t('Web Property ID', array(), $options),
     'default' => 'UA-',
     'description' => t('This ID is unique to each site you want to track separately, and is in the form of UA-xxxxxxx-yy. To get a Web Property ID, <a href="@analytics">register your site with Google Analytics</a>, or if you already have registered your site, go to your Google Analytics Settings page to see the ID next to every site profile. <a href="@webpropertyid">Find more information in the documentation</a>.', array('@analytics' => 'http://www.google.com/analytics/', '@webpropertyid' => url('https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/concepts/gaConceptsAccounts', array('fragment' => 'webProperty'))), $options),
-    'required' => TRUE,
     'group' => 'googleanalytics',
     'localize' => TRUE,
     'multidomain' => TRUE,
@@ -45,7 +44,7 @@ function googleanalytics_validate_googleanalytics_account($variable) {
   // Replace all type of dashes (n-dash, m-dash, minus) with the normal dashes.
   $variable['value'] = str_replace(array('–', '—', '−'), '-', $variable['value']);
 
-  if (!preg_match('/^UA-\d+-\d+$/', $variable['value'])) {
+  if (!empty($variable['value']) && !preg_match('/^UA-\d+-\d+$/', $variable['value'])) {
     return t('A valid Google Analytics Web Property ID is case sensitive and formatted like UA-xxxxxxx-yy.');
   }
 }