Google Analytics 4 replaced Universal Analytics in 2023, and many businesses still find it confusing. Reports moved, terminology changed and everything is built around "events". The good news: you don't need to master every report. A handful of reports, plus a few properly configured key events, answer most of the questions that matter. Here's where to focus.
How GA4 is different
| Universal Analytics (old) | GA4 |
|---|---|
| Sessions and pageviews at the centre | Everything is an event |
| Goals | Key events (previously called conversions) |
| Bounce rate as a headline metric | Engagement rate and engaged sessions |
| Separate web and app properties | Web and app data can live in one property |
| Lots of standard reports | Fewer standard reports, plus Explorations |
Key terms in plain English
- Event: anything that happens, such as a page view, click, scroll or form submission
- Key event: an event you've marked as important, such as a purchase or enquiry
- Engaged session: a session lasting longer than 10 seconds, with a key event, or with two or more page views
- Engagement rate: the share of sessions that were engaged
- Source / medium: where traffic came from, such as google / organic or newsletter / email
Set up the essentials first
- Install GA4 through Google Tag Manager, your CMS integration or the site's code.
- Turn on enhanced measurement for scrolls, outbound clicks, site search and file downloads.
- Define key events for the actions that matter: form submissions, calls, bookings, purchases.
- Configure consent mode if you use a cookie banner, so data respects choices while staying as complete as possible.
- Link Google Ads and Search Console for a fuller picture.
- Exclude internal traffic so your team's visits don't skew results.
The reports that matter
| Question | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Where do visitors come from? | Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition |
| Which channels bring enquiries or sales? | Traffic acquisition, filtered to key events |
| Which pages do people view most? | Reports → Engagement → Pages and screens |
| Which pages do people land on first? | Reports → Engagement → Landing page |
| Are key events happening? | Reports → Engagement → Key events (or Events) |
| What do mobile vs desktop users do? | Add a comparison for device category |
| Which campaigns work? | Traffic acquisition by session campaign (needs UTM tags) |
Using UTMs for accurate attribution
Emails, social posts and partner links often show up as "direct" or "referral" without tags. Add UTM parameters to every campaign link with our free campaign URL builder, and read our guide to UTM parameters.
A 20-minute monthly routine
- Traffic acquisition: compare this month with last month and the same month last year.
- Key events by channel: which sources bring enquiries or sales?
- Landing pages: which pages attract visitors, and which convert?
- Device split: does mobile convert much worse than desktop? That often points to UX problems.
- Note actions: two or three changes to make next month.
Common GA4 problems
- Key events not set up, so you only see traffic, not results
- Duplicate tracking, counting each event twice and inflating numbers
- Missing consent mode, leaving large gaps after adding a cookie banner
- Internal traffic counted, skewing small sites' data
- Untagged campaigns, misattributing results
GA4 and Search Console together
GA4 shows what visitors do on your site; Search Console shows how you perform in Google before people click. Use both. Our Search Console beginner's guide explains the other half.
Setting up a key event: a worked example
Goal: track contact form submissions as a key event.
- Show a thank-you page after the form is submitted, or fire an event when the form succeeds.
- Create the event: in Google Tag Manager, trigger a
generate_leadevent on the thank-you page or on form success. - Publish and test: submit the form yourself and check the event appears in GA4's real-time or DebugView report.
- Mark it as a key event in GA4's admin settings.
- Import it into Google Ads if you run campaigns, so bidding can optimise for real enquiries.
- Check after a few days that the numbers roughly match the enquiries you actually received.
Building a simple dashboard
A one-page dashboard in Looker Studio, connected to GA4 and Search Console, can show:
| Panel | Metric |
|---|---|
| Traffic trend | Sessions by week, compared with last year |
| Channels | Sessions and key events by default channel group |
| Top landing pages | Sessions and key events by landing page |
| Search performance | Clicks and impressions from Search Console |
| Devices | Key event rate by device |
Share it with your team so everyone looks at the same numbers each month.
When to get help
If your numbers don't add up, key events aren't firing, or you're running paid campaigns without reliable data, a tracking audit usually pays for itself quickly. Our analytics and conversion tracking service sets up GA4, Tag Manager and ad tracking properly, and our monthly performance reporting turns the data into clear next steps.
The short version
GA4 tracks everything as events. Set up key events for the actions that matter, enable enhanced measurement and consent mode, link Ads and Search Console, tag campaigns with UTMs, and focus on a few reports: traffic acquisition, key events by channel, landing pages and device comparison.
