Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is an advanced analytics tool developed by Google to provide webmasters and marketers with comprehensive insights into user engagement on their websites. It is the successor to Google Analytics’ Universal Analytics and brings with it a variety of new functions and measurement methods. A central element of GA4 is understanding the differences between two core concepts: event and conversion.

Event in GA4: Definition #

Let’s start with the events in GA4. These are defined as actions or occurrences that take place on a website. This can be a variety of things such as button clicks, downloads, purchases, scrolling activities or page views. GA4 has a number of automatically tracked events. Examples include first visit (First_visit), page views (Page_view), session start (Session_start) and user engagement (User_engagement). These automatic events provide a valuable basis for website analysis because they are recorded without any additional effort. Interestingly, these events cannot be disabled, which shows how important Google considers them to be in understanding user interaction.
In addition to these automatic events, GA4 offers the option for enhanced measurements. These include things like scrolling activity, outbound clicks, page searches, video engagement, and file downloads. These advanced measurements allow webmasters to develop a deeper understanding of their website visitors’ behavior and preferences.

Additionally, users can create custom events in GA4. These are particularly valuable because they can be tailored to specific goals or needs of a website. For example, an eCommerce store could create a custom add-to-cart event to better understand how customers interact with their products.

Conversion in GA4: Definition #

Conversions in GA4, unlike events, are actions that are considered particularly important to the business. This includes, for example, form submissions, purchases on the website or subscriptions to newsletters. These conversions are crucial because they are directly linked to the success of a business. In GA4, conversions essentially replace the goals previously used in Universal Analytics.
To measure a conversion in GA4, you need to create a custom event and mark it as a conversion. This is an important step because it allows companies to identify specific actions that have a direct impact on their business goals. Common events marked as conversions include phone calls, meeting goals, purchases, downloads, and appointment bookings. It’s interesting to note that for some conversions, such as phone calls, an event must first occur on the website before it can be marked as a conversion. This highlights the complexity and interconnectedness of events and conversions in the world of web analytics.

The key difference between GA4 event and conversion #

Although events and conversions can overlap, there are specific differences:

Events track any user action on the site, while conversions track specific, valuable actions.

Events are used to understand user behavior, conversions measure success and results.

Events are counted every time they occur, while conversions are counted only once per session.

Multiple events can occur on a page, but typically only 1-2 conversions.

Events can be tracked automatically in GA4, but conversions must be configured.