GA4 Conversions and Key Events: Complete Guide and Everything You Need to Know

Have you noticed that Conversions in Google Analytics 4 have now changed to Key Events? If you haven’t yet, you soon will, as this feature change is being rolled out to all GA4 accounts over time. So, what does this mean for your GA4 account? Honestly, nothing at this point. I’ll explain.

• Q: What Are Key Events in Google Analytics 4?
  • A: Key Events are, for all intents and purposes, the same thing as Conversions, or Goals were in past versions of Google Analytics. Key Events are all recorded based on your Events in GA4.
• Q: What Happened to Conversions in GA4?
  • A: “Conversions” will only be associated with Google Ads “Conversions”. Key Events are now the GA4 term for what was previously called “Conversions”.
• Q: Do I need to do anything?
  • A: No, it is only a name change in GA4 – no actions are required at this time.
• Q: Will this impact my GA4 connection with Google Ads?
  • A: If you use GA4 to push your “Key Events” or “Conversions” to Google Ads, they will be moved over as “Conversions” even though their naming convention has changed.
• Q: Could there be a Key Event and Conversion at the same time?
  • Yes! An event can work both ways. It can be both a Key Event and a Conversion simultaneously. In the world of GA4, you get to spotlight certain events as Key Events. Then, these Key Events can also transform into Conversions within Google Ads, drawn directly from your designated GA4 events. Here’s how the magic happens:
    • First, you designate the event as a Key Event in GA4.
    • Second, you go to Google Ads, where you create a Conversion, choosing your previously made GA4 Key Event as its source.

Whenever you sign into your Google Analytics 4 admin account, you can see if the change has already rolled out to that property, by going to the Admin panel:

This change to your GA4 account is a universal name change. Specifically, Google intends to redefine what we traditionally understand by “conversion” to be more closely aligned with Google Ads. Instead, “Key Events” will become the new nomenclature within Google Analytics, encompassing any action deemed crucial to your business’s online success. These Key Events could be any event that you consider an important action such as a form fill, contact request, subscription, etc. These can be what we consider a “conversion” or an action of high value. We at Solutions Digital Consulting will continue to only use Key Events as conversions and rely on our Event tracking to report on important actions outside of a true conversion/key event.

The section previously designated as “Conversions” within Google Analytics 4 is now referred to as “Key Events”. This change marks a pivotal shift in how events are categorized and emphasizes the importance of identifying actions that are crucial to the success of your objectives.

Throughout the evolution of Google Analytics, we have witnessed a significant shift in how user interactions are categorized and tracked. Initially, in Universal Analytics, these were referred to as “Goals,” a term that was later updated to “Conversions” with the addition of Google Analytics 4.

For those managing a GA4 account, it’s important to note that this update requires no manual intervention on your part. The transition from “Conversions” to “Key Events” within GA4 has been designed to be seamless. Furthermore, if you have integrated your GA4 account with your Google Ads account—a highly recommended best practice—the “Conversions” you previously designated to be pushed to Google Ads will continue to be recognized as such within the Google Ads platform. This means that despite the change in terminology within GA4, the functionality and reporting in your Google Ads account will not be affected. There is no need for any action on your part at this time; this update is part of Google’s broader strategy to enhance the analytics platform’s utility and user experience while ensuring continuity in reporting and analysis for advertisers.

Here is a look at what reporting with the Key Events change will look like in your GA4 account:

The question still remains:  why the change? We’ve not seen anything official from Google, but our opinion is that Google wants to associate the term “Conversion” with paid Ads and “Key Events” with actions on a website. Potentially, they are addressing concerns of how GA4 conversion data never quite matched Google Ads conversion data – which is due to different data attribution settings. This distinction now with GA4’s Key Events and Google Ads’ Conversions has Google hoping the separation will clear up confusion. It will likely always be somewhat of a pain point when reporting to clients, but now there is only ONE place where they will match exactly, and that is not in Google Ads, but in GA4. The Advertising section, in which the data is powered by Google Ads directly. All other places will still have mismatches – GA4 reports, GA4 Explorations, or Looker Studio. Again, this is due to different methods of attribution.

Here is a tip – if you have multiple Key Events from GA4 that you push to Google Ads, but some of those Key Events (conversions) are of a higher value than others, then consider setting up Secondary Conversions. For example, you have two Key Events, where one is a form-fill for a sales inquiry, and the other is a PDF download where you capture user info. Both are important, but in the situation with the form-fill, that user is more likely to “convert” and make a purchase, whereas the user downloading the PDF may just be in the exploratory, or informational stages of their buying process. To capture and catalog both events effectively, you could change the PDF Conversion to a Secondary Conversion in Google Ads. You can track what approach is bringing which type of actions, when talking about Primary or Secondary Conversions, and make optimizations based on this data. You can set your bidding strategies to utilize the Primary Conversions as the strongest signal indicators.

All of these changes to Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads data gathering are very exciting to see, and ever-changing. Keep a close eye on our blog to catch all the latest changes, and see how to adapt effectively.

If our blog just lit a bulb of “aha!” moments over your head, imagine what we can do when we team up! Solutions Digital Consulting isn’t just about sharing knowledge; we’re here to transform it into tangible results for you and your business needs. Ready to elevate your digital game? Contact us today, and we’ll make sure you’re completely up to speed on your analytics tools so you can reach your clients effectively! Let’s see what Google has up their sleeve next!