Google Analytics 4 for beginners: set-up, key events and reports

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google’s free tool for understanding what visitors do on your website or app. It replaced Universal Analytics in 2023, and it works differently: instead of sessions and pageviews at the centre, everything in GA4 is an event.

Events and parameters

An event is something that happens: a page view, a scroll, a click, a form submission, a purchase. Each event can carry extra details called parameters, such as the page, the button text or the value of a sale. Some events are collected automatically, some are added by “enhanced measurement”, and important business actions are tracked with custom events.

Setting up GA4 correctly

1. Create a property in Google Analytics and add a web data stream for your site.
2. Install the tag using Google Tag Manager, your website platform’s integration, or the Google tag code.
3. Check enhanced measurement is on, so scrolls, outbound clicks, site search and file downloads are recorded.
4. Set data retention to the longest option available (14 months for standard properties), because the default is shorter.
5. Filter internal traffic so your own team’s visits do not distort reports.
6. Link Google Search Console and Google Ads for a fuller picture.

Key events: tracking what matters

GA4 calls important actions key events (previously called conversions). Decide which actions mean business value, for example:

• contact or enquiry form submitted;
• click on a phone number or WhatsApp button;
• purchase completed;
• signup for a demo class or newsletter.

Track each with a clear event, mark it as a key event, and test it in DebugView before trusting the numbers.

Reports to check first

• Acquisition > Traffic acquisition: which channels bring visitors and which lead to key events.
• Engagement > Pages and screens: which pages people view most and how engaged they are.
• Engagement > Events: whether your key events are firing.
• Explore: custom funnels and paths when the standard reports are not enough.

UTM tags

Add UTM parameters to links in emails, social posts and WhatsApp messages so GA4 can tell exactly which campaign brought each visit. Keep naming consistent, for example always lowercase “instagram” rather than a mix of spellings.

Privacy and consent

Tell visitors what you collect in your privacy policy and respect consent where required. GA4 has settings for data sharing, IP handling and consent mode that should be reviewed during set-up.

Common mistakes

• Installing the tag twice, which doubles page views.
• Not tracking any key events, so reports show traffic but not results.
• Leaving data retention at the default.
• Judging channels only by traffic instead of enquiries and sales.

Learn GA4, Tag Manager and reporting hands-on in our Google Analytics 4 Course.