This guide is for small business owners, bloggers and agency staff who already have Google Analytics 4 (GA4) on a website and want it to report the actions that matter: enquiries, sign-ups and sales. If you have not installed GA4 yet, start with our guide on setting up a Google Analytics account for a website. Everything below is based on Google’s own Analytics Help pages, and where those pages are silent, this article says so.
Events versus key events
GA4 records everything as an event. Google groups events into four categories: automatically collected events, enhanced measurement events (collected when enhanced measurement is on), recommended events with predefined names and parameters, and custom events you define yourself. Google advises creating custom events only when no other event fits your use case.
A key event is simply an event you have flagged as important to the business. Per Google, any collected event can be marked this way. Most events (scrolls, page views, file downloads) stay as ordinary events. Only the handful that represent a real outcome should become key events.
The rename from conversions to key events
Google’s help page “Conversions vs. key events in Google Analytics” explains that Google unified how conversions are defined to simplify measurement across Google Ads and Analytics. Before the change, events marked as conversions in Analytics were measured differently from Google Ads conversions, which caused discrepancies between the two platforms. Events that track important business actions are now called key events, while “conversion” now refers to an important action used to measure ad campaign performance and optimise bidding.
One point to be upfront about: the page that was checked does not state the date the rename took effect, so this article does not give one. Google also says historical conversion data stays available as key event data, so year-over-year comparisons still work.
Which actions to mark
Mark the few actions that show a visitor did what your site exists to get them to do. Google’s guidance on marking events also warns against marking page_view, because that would turn every page view into a key event. Instead, create a separate event for a specific page, such as a confirmation page. Common candidates:
| Business action | Possible event | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Contact or quote form submitted | form_submit (enhanced measurement) or a custom event built from it | Google’s example builds a custom lead_form_submit event with conditions on form_name |
| Thank-you page reached | Custom event created from page_view with the confirmation page URL | Works when the form redirects to a thank-you page |
| Purchase | purchase | Marked as a key event by default on all properties |
| Newsletter or account sign-up | Custom event, or a thank-you page event | Pick one event per sign-up, not several |
| Phone call click | Custom event sent via code or Google Tag Manager | The Google pages reviewed do not describe a built-in call event, so test this setup carefully |
Be selective. Standard properties allow up to 30 key events (50 for Analytics 360). More important than the limit, a long list makes reports harder to read and can distort anything you later send to Google Ads.
How to mark or create a key event
Mark an event that already exists
- Go to Admin > Data display > Events.
- In the Recent events tab, or the search section on the right, find the event.
- Click the star icon next to it.
Google’s page says marking an existing event requires Editor access or above at the property level, and that new events appear in Recent events only after Analytics has processed them.
Create a new event and mark it at the same time
- Go to Admin > Data display > Events and click + Create event.
- Enter an event name (special characters are not allowed) and turn on the “Mark as key event” toggle.
- Choose a default key event value and a counting method.
- Under “Choose how to create an event”, pick Create without code or Create with code.
- Without code, choose
page_viewas the event name and enter the confirmation page URL, then click Create.
You can mark a new event as a key event before any data arrives, so Analytics treats it as one from the first hit. That needs Marketer access or above at the property level. Google also says not to modify page_view, or it will stop collecting pageviews for other pages.
A small wrinkle: one Google page describes a Key events screen under Admin > Data display with a New key event button, while the main marking page uses the Events screen and a Key events tab.
Use enhanced measurement for forms
Enhanced measurement collects extra events without code. To turn it on, go to Admin, then under Data collection and modification click Data streams, click your stream’s name, and use the switch under Enhanced measurement (Editor access or above is required). Its form interactions option fires form_start the first time someone interacts with a form in a session, and form_submit when a form is submitted. Both carry form_id, form_name and form_destination parameters, and you must create custom dimensions to use those parameters in reports.
Two cautions. First, Google requires you to ensure that no personally identifiable information is collected, so do not pass names or email addresses into event parameters. Second, events start sending as soon as the option is on, so review each toggle first. Because form_submit relates to forms generally, filter it by form_name as Google’s lead-generation example does, so a search box or newsletter field does not get counted as a lead. If spam bots submit your forms, those submissions can inflate your count; our guide to stopping contact form spam in WordPress helps keep the numbers cleaner.
Test before you trust the numbers
Realtime report
After a test submission, open Reports > Realtime and check the “Event count by Event name” and “Key events by Event name” cards. Google says realtime reports update a few minutes after the key event is triggered, while standard reports can take up to 24 hours.
DebugView
DebugView shows events from a single device as they arrive, but debug mode must be enabled first. On your own device you can use Tag Assistant or preview mode; for gtag.js you can add 'debug_mode': true to the config or to specific events. Open it by going to Admin and, under Data display, clicking DebugView. The middle seconds stream lists events from the last 60 seconds; click one to see its parameters. Events will not appear if client-side privacy controls are in place, or if consent mode is used and the visitor has not consented to Analytics cookies. Filter out developer traffic afterwards so test data does not skew reports.
How key events relate to Google Ads conversions
According to Google, a conversion starts as a Google Analytics event. You mark it as a key event, then create a Google Ads conversion from it, which requires a linked Google Ads account. Creating the Google Ads conversion also creates a conversion in Analytics that is shared between the two platforms. Google adds that this may not be available for every property.
The two are used differently. Key events serve traffic acquisition and behaviour analysis in standard reports, while conversions measure ad performance across channels, which Google gives as the reason for most reporting differences. Google Ads conversions do not appear in standard Analytics reports; look in Google Ads or in the Advertising section of Analytics. If your key events show a low rate, our article on why organic traffic isn’t converting covers likely causes.
Common mistakes
- Marking
page_viewinstead of a specific confirmation page. - Marking too many events, so every report looks like a success.
- Expecting old data to change. Marking an event affects reports only from that point forward.
- Checking standard reports an hour later and assuming it failed. Allow up to 24 hours.
Key takeaways
- Key events are GA4’s new name for what used to be called conversions; Google unified the definition with Google Ads.
- Mark only the few events that represent real outcomes, never
page_view. - Use Admin > Data display > Events to star an existing event or create a new one with the key event toggle.
- Enhanced measurement gives you
form_submitwithout code, but filter it by form and keep personal data out of parameters. - Test in Realtime and DebugView, then allow up to 24 hours for standard reports.
- Create Google Ads conversions from key events only if you run ads and have linked accounts.
FAQ
Did GA4 remove conversions?
Not exactly. Google renamed the Analytics concept to key events and now reserves “conversion” for actions used to measure ad performance and bidding. Historical conversion data remains available as key event data.
How many key events can I have?
Google’s page says up to 30 for standard properties and 50 for Analytics 360 properties.
Why is my key event missing from reports?
Allow up to 24 hours for standard reports. Check Realtime first, and confirm the event was processed and marked before the test.
Do I need Google Ads to use key events?
No. Key events work in Analytics alone. A linked Google Ads account is only needed to create Google Ads conversions from them.
