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Key Events in GA4: Tracking What Really Matters
Chris Wright
Associate Director, Training and Development
Purchases show where you have already won. To improve, you need to track when you are close to winning, moments where users show clear intent but have not yet converted. These are signals that your tactics are working. Spotting them lets you double down on what works and fix what does not.
Key events in GA4 surface these moments. They highlight the actions that move users toward a win so you can measure, repeat, and improve them. This could be creating an account, subscribing to a newsletter, visiting the contact page, downloading a product spec sheet, or watching a promo video. Tracking these actions shows you when you are building the conditions for success, even before a purchase happens or a lead is verified.
Why Key Events Matter
In GA4, key events take the place of goals from Universal Analytics. You can designate any event as a key event directly in the interface, signaling to Google that it's important for reporting, attribution, and conversion analysis.
Key events tell GA4, "This interaction matters more than the rest." Purchases are one type of key event, but you choose the others based on your goals.
By elevating your most important signals to key events, you can:
Isolate them in reports for easier analysis
Compare them directly against metrics like engagement rate and sessions
Measure the impact of campaigns, traffic sources, or content on your most valuable actions
Give early credit to tactics that contribute meaningfully before revenue is earned
Set up well, key events reveal which efforts are delivering value, whether that value is sales, sign-ups, leads, or engagement.
Configuring Key Events in GA4
Go to Admin → Data Display → Events
Choose “Recent events” → Search for an event
Select the actions that best represent meaningful progress toward your goals. Be selective, three to five strong key events are better than twenty.Mark as key event by clicking the star
Click the star in the Events table for each chosen action. These will now appear in the Conversions report and as "key event" metrics across GA4.
Note: Key Events are global changes, they impact all users of a property.
This configuration will not change historical data. An event will only be designated as a key event after the configuration is made, no historical data will be changed.
If you aren’t able to make a key event you may lack the appropriate Edit permissions for the property
Examples of Useful Key Events
Here’s some examples of useful GA4 key events that span across business types:
purchase– captures completed transactionsgenerate_lead– tracks form submissions or lead inquiriessign_up– marks successful account or newsletter registrationslogin– identifies returning, authenticated usersfile_download– useful for gated content or resource engagementvideo_complete– signals strong content consumptionbegin_checkout– early signal of purchase intent in eCommerce
Key Events Utility
Once your key events are set, the next step is putting them to work.
Analyzing Key Events in Reports - In reports like Traffic Acquisition, use the Key Event dropdown in the data table to zero in on one action and see how it performs across different channels or campaigns.
Comparing key event performance in Reports- Use key events to see how different user groups or tactics perform on the same key event. This makes it easier to spot engaged user groups that are doing important interactions on your site/app.
Conversion Modeling and Attribution - Marking an event as a key event feeds into GA4’s conversion modeling algorithms, including those used in data-driven attribution. This improves accuracy in how credit is assigned to channels, campaigns, or touchpoints—even when user paths are partially obscured by privacy controls or consent restrictions.
Audience Creation and Activation - Key events can be used as conditions or triggers in GA4 audiences. For example, you can build an audience of users who:
Viewed at least 3 pages and
Triggered a key event like
file_downloadorsign_up
These audiences can then be exported to Google Ads or other destinations for remarketing, exclusion, or tailored experiences.
Campaign Optimization in Google Ads - When GA4 key events are shared with Google Ads, they become eligible as conversion goals that can be used for:
Smart Bidding
Campaign targeting
Conversion-based campaign success metrics
This makes your ad spend more efficient by optimizing toward meaningful business outcomes, not just clicks.
Looking at key events is a great next step once you are comfortable with basic revenue reporting. It shifts your focus toward the behavioral signals that often come before a purchase. With practice, you can start to see patterns and spot the actions that consistently lead to conversions.
For ecommerce, you might notice that a paid search campaign drives a lot of lead generations or logins, even if purchases are average. These actions usually mean strong interest and often lead to higher lifetime value.
For non-ecommerce sites, you might find that certain blog posts or landing pages account for most “contact us” submissions or newsletter sign-ups. Doing this in the tool is very straight-forward, create a session segment using the contact us or newsletter signup key event (or both using an OR statement!) as the definition and then look at page engagement.
Those actions show the content is reaching and engaging the right audience.
Key events are also a powerful way to build and activate audiences. You can create audiences around people who complete specific high-value actions, then use that group for remarketing or targeted messaging by leveraging that audience in Google Ads. This keeps your efforts focused on the people most likely to convert.
By tracking and analyzing these signals, you get a more complete picture of what is working, even before revenue shows up in your reports.
Bringing It All Together
Not every outcome is a conversion, but that doesn’t make it less important. Key events help you track the moments that matter, whether that’s engagement, exploration, signups, or something else entirely. They surface meaningful signals, keep them visible, and make them measurable over time. Define them carefully and treat them with the same discipline you bring to your top-line metrics, and you'll get a clearer, more complete view of how your site or app is performing.
Open GA4, review your events, and decide which actions deserve elevation. Mark them as key events and start tracking their results. You will be able to spot wins earlier, give credit where it is due, and make better decisions about where to focus next.
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Key Events in GA4: Tracking What Really Matters
Chris Wright
Associate Director, Training and Development
September 10, 2025
Purchases show where you have already won. To improve, you need to track when you are close to winning, moments where users show clear intent but have not yet converted. These are signals that your tactics are working. Spotting them lets you double down on what works and fix what does not.
Key events in GA4 surface these moments. They highlight the actions that move users toward a win so you can measure, repeat, and improve them. This could be creating an account, subscribing to a newsletter, visiting the contact page, downloading a product spec sheet, or watching a promo video. Tracking these actions shows you when you are building the conditions for success, even before a purchase happens or a lead is verified.
Why Key Events Matter
In GA4, key events take the place of goals from Universal Analytics. You can designate any event as a key event directly in the interface, signaling to Google that it's important for reporting, attribution, and conversion analysis.
Key events tell GA4, "This interaction matters more than the rest." Purchases are one type of key event, but you choose the others based on your goals.
By elevating your most important signals to key events, you can:
Isolate them in reports for easier analysis
Compare them directly against metrics like engagement rate and sessions
Measure the impact of campaigns, traffic sources, or content on your most valuable actions
Give early credit to tactics that contribute meaningfully before revenue is earned
Set up well, key events reveal which efforts are delivering value, whether that value is sales, sign-ups, leads, or engagement.
Configuring Key Events in GA4
Go to Admin → Data Display → Events
Choose “Recent events” → Search for an event
Select the actions that best represent meaningful progress toward your goals. Be selective, three to five strong key events are better than twenty.Mark as key event by clicking the star
Click the star in the Events table for each chosen action. These will now appear in the Conversions report and as "key event" metrics across GA4.
Note: Key Events are global changes, they impact all users of a property.
This configuration will not change historical data. An event will only be designated as a key event after the configuration is made, no historical data will be changed.
If you aren’t able to make a key event you may lack the appropriate Edit permissions for the property
Examples of Useful Key Events
Here’s some examples of useful GA4 key events that span across business types:
purchase– captures completed transactionsgenerate_lead– tracks form submissions or lead inquiriessign_up– marks successful account or newsletter registrationslogin– identifies returning, authenticated usersfile_download– useful for gated content or resource engagementvideo_complete– signals strong content consumptionbegin_checkout– early signal of purchase intent in eCommerce
Key Events Utility
Once your key events are set, the next step is putting them to work.
Analyzing Key Events in Reports - In reports like Traffic Acquisition, use the Key Event dropdown in the data table to zero in on one action and see how it performs across different channels or campaigns.
Comparing key event performance in Reports- Use key events to see how different user groups or tactics perform on the same key event. This makes it easier to spot engaged user groups that are doing important interactions on your site/app.
Conversion Modeling and Attribution - Marking an event as a key event feeds into GA4’s conversion modeling algorithms, including those used in data-driven attribution. This improves accuracy in how credit is assigned to channels, campaigns, or touchpoints—even when user paths are partially obscured by privacy controls or consent restrictions.
Audience Creation and Activation - Key events can be used as conditions or triggers in GA4 audiences. For example, you can build an audience of users who:
Viewed at least 3 pages and
Triggered a key event like
file_downloadorsign_up
These audiences can then be exported to Google Ads or other destinations for remarketing, exclusion, or tailored experiences.
Campaign Optimization in Google Ads - When GA4 key events are shared with Google Ads, they become eligible as conversion goals that can be used for:
Smart Bidding
Campaign targeting
Conversion-based campaign success metrics
This makes your ad spend more efficient by optimizing toward meaningful business outcomes, not just clicks.
Looking at key events is a great next step once you are comfortable with basic revenue reporting. It shifts your focus toward the behavioral signals that often come before a purchase. With practice, you can start to see patterns and spot the actions that consistently lead to conversions.
For ecommerce, you might notice that a paid search campaign drives a lot of lead generations or logins, even if purchases are average. These actions usually mean strong interest and often lead to higher lifetime value.
For non-ecommerce sites, you might find that certain blog posts or landing pages account for most “contact us” submissions or newsletter sign-ups. Doing this in the tool is very straight-forward, create a session segment using the contact us or newsletter signup key event (or both using an OR statement!) as the definition and then look at page engagement.
Those actions show the content is reaching and engaging the right audience.
Key events are also a powerful way to build and activate audiences. You can create audiences around people who complete specific high-value actions, then use that group for remarketing or targeted messaging by leveraging that audience in Google Ads. This keeps your efforts focused on the people most likely to convert.
By tracking and analyzing these signals, you get a more complete picture of what is working, even before revenue shows up in your reports.
Bringing It All Together
Not every outcome is a conversion, but that doesn’t make it less important. Key events help you track the moments that matter, whether that’s engagement, exploration, signups, or something else entirely. They surface meaningful signals, keep them visible, and make them measurable over time. Define them carefully and treat them with the same discipline you bring to your top-line metrics, and you'll get a clearer, more complete view of how your site or app is performing.
Open GA4, review your events, and decide which actions deserve elevation. Mark them as key events and start tracking their results. You will be able to spot wins earlier, give credit where it is due, and make better decisions about where to focus next.
More Insights
Key Events in GA4: Tracking What Really Matters
Chris Wright
Associate Director, Training and Development
Sep 10, 2025
Read More
GA4 Reporting Basics: How to Use the Traffic Acquisition Report
Chris Wright
Associate Director, Training and Development
Sep 3, 2025
Read More
Why Manual Data Checks are Essential for Accurate CLTV Predictions
Shreya Banker
Data Scientist
Aug 20, 2025
Read More
More Insights
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