GA4 Conversion Tracking: How to Set Up Key Events Properly

Google Analytics 4 measures user actions as events. Conversions, which Google now calls key events in GA4, are the events that matter most to your business, such as form submissions, purchases, calls or bookings. Setting them up correctly is what allows you to see which channels, campaigns and pages produce results. Without them, GA4 shows traffic but not outcomes.

Key events versus conversions

In 2024 Google renamed conversions in GA4 to key events, to distinguish them from conversions used in Google Ads. In practice, you mark important GA4 events as key events, and you can import them into Google Ads as conversions for bidding. Terminology may continue to evolve, but the principle is the same: identify the actions that matter and track them reliably.

Decide what to track

List the actions that represent business value:

• Lead generation: form submissions, quote requests, booking confirmations, phone call clicks, chat starts.
• Ecommerce: purchases, plus add-to-cart and begin-checkout for funnel analysis.
• SaaS: trial sign-ups, demo requests, account creation.
• Content: email sign-ups, downloads.

Mark only meaningful actions as key events. Marking page views or scrolls as key events inflates numbers and confuses reporting.

Ways to create events

Enhanced measurement

GA4 automatically tracks some interactions, such as scrolls, outbound clicks, file downloads and some form interactions. The automatic form tracking is often unreliable for confirming successful submissions, so most businesses set up form tracking more deliberately.

Thank-you page events

If forms redirect to a confirmation page, create an event when that page loads. This is simple and reliable, provided the thank-you page cannot be reached without submitting. See our guide to thank-you pages.

Google Tag Manager

Tag Manager lets you fire GA4 events based on triggers such as form submission events, button clicks or data layer pushes from form plugins. It is the most flexible method. See our guide to Google Tag Manager.

Platform integrations

Shopify, WooCommerce and many form and booking tools have integrations that send ecommerce or conversion events to GA4 automatically. Check that they do not duplicate events created elsewhere.

Create events in the GA4 interface

GA4’s “Create event” feature can generate a new event from an existing one, for example a page_view on a specific URL.

Mark events as key events

In GA4’s Admin, under Events or Key events, mark the relevant events. They will then appear in conversion reports and can be used in attribution analysis.

Test before relying on data

Use GA4’s DebugView and Tag Manager’s Preview mode to confirm events fire once, at the right moment, with correct parameters. Submit test forms and complete test purchases. Compare GA4 counts with real enquiries or orders over a week; large differences indicate problems.

Common problems

• Duplicate events from multiple tracking methods.
• Events firing on page load instead of successful submission.
• Spam submissions counted as leads. See our guide to form spam.
• Cross-domain journeys breaking sessions, for example when booking or payment happens on another domain.
• Consent settings blocking tracking without Consent Mode configured. See our guide to cookie consent.
• Phone calls not tracked at all; consider click-to-call events or call tracking services.

Connecting to advertising

Link GA4 to Google Ads to import key events as conversions, or use Google Ads’ own conversion tag. Be consistent, so you are not counting the same conversion twice. For Meta, use the Meta Pixel and Conversions API separately. See our guide to attribution differences between platforms.

Reporting on conversions

Use GA4’s Traffic acquisition and Landing page reports with key events added to see which sources and pages produce results. Explorations allow deeper funnel and path analysis. Our guide to website analytics setup covers broader configuration.

Measuring what matters

Accurate conversion tracking turns GA4 from a traffic counter into a decision-making tool. It is the foundation for judging SEO, ads and website changes.

If you are not confident your conversions are tracked correctly, our website design and development service can set up and test GA4 key events, Tag Manager and ad platform integrations.