diff --git a/googleanalytics.variable.inc b/googleanalytics.variable.inc
index 59fd3af..7a415f5 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{4,}-\d+$/', $variable['value'])) {
+  if (!empty($variable['value']) && !preg_match('/^UA-\d{4,}-\d+$/', $variable['value'])) {
     return t('A valid Google Analytics Web Property ID is case sensitive and formatted like UA-xxxxxxx-yy.');
   }
 }