11 Jun GA4’s Conversions to Key Events: How to Get Your Report Back

For those whose businesses involve an online aspect, you are likely to be using Google’s analytics tool GA4 to track everything from traffic to purchases. It is an incredibly useful tool and best of all, it is free.

However, since Google Analytics transitioned from Universal Analytics (UA) to GA4 there have been a few teething problems. Those teething problems have only been added to in the past couple of months as Google set out to align more of their platforms. Which resulted in some aspects being renamed, leaving users confused. Not only this, but they have also moved some important default reports.

Google Analytics 4 Revamps Conversions: What You Need to Know

Some of us certainly had a shock recently when logging into Google Analytics 4 and suddenly seeing our conversions had gone. Google quietly renamed conversions as key events. Google Analytics has been tracking all events since the launch of GA4 and we have been able to mark those events that are most important to us as ‘conversions’. These are then often imported into Google Ads as conversions. But now we are able to tell Google Analytics which events are key events and most important to our unique business in GA4. So it’s just a name change? Not quite!

Confused! I certainly was! I just wanted to look in my Analytics and see my conversions and suddenly this report was no longer there. But the data is still there, it’s got a new name and slightly different use.

If you were marking Google Events as conversions, these were now called Key Events. But the report to see Key Events previously named Conversions is no longer a default view in GA4 and needs setting up manually. Thanks for creating us extra work Google.

How to Get Conversions Report Back in GA4

As you can imagine, lots of people found this report very useful, including myself. It is critical to report on my client’s progress. Not everyone is going to know how to get this data back. This is why I’ve decided to put together this quick guide on how I managed to pull this report so that hopefully other businesses out there can do the same.

Creating the Conversions / Key Events Report

• Navigate to your Library, through your Reports tab.

• Click Create Report, select Detailed Report, and then click Blank.

• Under Report Data, click the Metrics option, select Key Events, and then press Apply.

• Then, click Dimensions (also under Report Data), select Event Name, and click Apply.

• Save report.

• Remember to Name your report. I’ve called it ‘Key Events / Conversions’

By following these steps you will be able to create the generic report/dashboard. You will be able to view all your events that when triggered count as a conversion. To access this report with ease, you need to move it so it is available in your drop-down menu. To do this, follow these steps.

Make the Report Easily Accessible.

• Head back into the Library, find the Life Cycle collection, and click Edit Collection

• In the Search Bar, type in the Name of your freshly made Report.

• Click and drag Report under the Engagement drop-down. Press Save.

What If My Key Events Aren’t Showing Up?

If you set up your desired events to be tracked a while ago, you may have not toggled all the appropriate options in order to have them appear under this report we’ve just created. To ensure all your desired events are deemed ‘Key Events’ follow these simple steps.

• Head to Admin > Click Data Display > Head into Events. 

• From here, make sure you toggle the slider for ‘Key Events’. In order to be pulled through into our report, only events with this toggled will appear.

Why This Report is Important to Businesses

It is a common misconception that conversion tracking is something exclusive to eCommerce businesses, however, they are incredibly useful for all types of businesses. As I’ve mentioned previously, a conversion isn’t just a purchase, it is whatever your business goal is. For example, this could be an email sign-up, a phone call button click, or simply a user clicking on your service page. It means different things to different businesses.

Whatever industry your business is in, tracking how your website performs for your business is key to growing online. It shows your strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of the consumer, which then gives you a place to start on improving that.

Google hasn’t just renamed Conversions to Key Events, they’ve also hidden the default report for showing these conversions. The rollout of this change is taking time so you might not see Key Events in your account just yet. I do hope that Google itself will make the change to automatically show Events and Key Events by default but until then. Use the steps above to

Why Has Google Made This Change?

As with anything with Google, most of their changes are done to hit their bottom line. Google Analytics might be free to use for us. But for our free use, Google collects heaps of useful data to aid their business to increase their own revenues.

For ages now, many people, like myself have been moving away from importing Google Analytics Conversions into Google Ads as the data discrepancies due to reporting differences. When we have data discrepancies between Google Analytics and Google Ads it’s really hard to explain to clients why these differences in reporting models occur.

In its most basic form, Google Ads might report when the ad that led to the conversion was clicked.

Whereas Google Analytics reports the conversion when it actually happened.

These are not necessarily the same date. This can lead to confusion and often a mistrust of Google’s data.

As we move forwards into an age without as much trackable Cookie Data many people are tracking conversions directly in Google Ads and in particular server-side tracking and moving away From conversion tracking in Google Analytics altogether. .

Google is trying to help close this gap and this new change from Conversions to Key Events might have more behind it than just a name change. Google Announced that it will be updating Google Analytics to improve paid search attribution. This change is aiming to fix conversion issues, and potentially attribute more conversions to paid sources and start to close that data discrepancy gap.

Conclusion

If Google isn’t showing as many conversions in GA4 coming from your hard-earned cash. You are going to start spending less. This change might finally start to address users’ confusion with different data depending on what platform you use. If they have a better picture of how their marketing budgets on Google are working in GA4 they might just spend more.

Need Help Growing Your Conversions?

If you’re looking to grow your business and make the most of your conversion tracking, why not get in touch? As an experienced PPC & SEO Consultant, I know what it takes to get your business growing. For examples of this, check out some of my case studies.