Google Analytics 4 Events Tutorial: Custom Events and Much More

This paragraph introduces the concept of events in Google Analytics, explaining how they are used to measure distinct user interactions on a website or app. It outlines the tutorial's agenda, which includes understanding events, creating events in Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, and reporting on events with Looker Studio. The difference between hits and sessions is clarified, with hits being interactions recorded and sent to Google Analytics, and sessions representing the period of time a user is active on a site or app.

This section delves into event parameters, which provide additional context to the events tracked in Google Analytics. It explains how event parameters like page location, page title, and link URL enrich the data associated with user interactions. The paragraph also discusses the difference between automatically collected event parameters and those that need to be set up manually. The use of Google Tag Manager to add event parameters to custom events is highlighted, along with how to view event parameters in GA4 reports.

This paragraph categorizes the four distinct types of events in GA4: automatically collected events, enhanced measurement events, recommended events, and custom events. It explains how automatically collected events are recorded by GA4 without additional code, while enhanced measurement events require toggling on in the GA4 interface. Recommended events are suggested by Google for specific industries and require custom code, often involving Google Tag Manager. Custom events are user-defined events that require setup in both GA4 and Google Tag Manager.

The paragraph discusses enhanced measurement events in GA4, which allow tracking of user interactions with content such as scrolling, PDF downloads, and YouTube video engagement. It details how these events can be toggled on or off in the GA4 interface and provides examples of such events, including page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, form interactions, video engagement, and file downloads. The process of setting up custom dimensions for event parameters like search terms and file names is also explained.

This section focuses on setting up and tracking custom events in GA4 and Google Tag Manager. It explains how to create a custom event for contact form submissions, using the built-in event creation tool in GA4 and the process in Google Tag Manager. The importance of event parameters is emphasized, along with the introduction of the event settings variable in Google Tag Manager, which streamlines the process of adding event parameters to GA4 custom events.

The final paragraph describes the process of building a reporting dashboard with events in Looker Studio. It outlines the steps to create a geomap displaying new visitors by country, a pie chart showing top conversion events, and how to add filters and controls for date range and event names. The dashboard is designed to provide insights into new visitor acquisition and the performance of key conversion events, with the option to customize the appearance and background color for clarity and visual appeal.