GA4 key event (formerly conversion)

A key event is an action in Google Analytics 4 that you've marked as mattering, such as a form submission or a phone tap.

Google renamed conversions to key events in GA4 to separate them from Google Ads conversions, which are counted differently.

The 2 systems can legitimately report different totals for the same thing, because they attribute credit differently.

GA4 gives credit across the journey by default, while Google Ads credits the click it charged you for.

Being clear on which system a number came from prevents a lot of confusion in a reporting meeting.

Mark only the events that represent real business outcomes, because marking page views as key events makes every report look excellent and mean nothing.

What this means for you

When 2 reports disagree, they're usually both right and measuring different things. The number to act on is the one tied to an enquiry you can actually find in your inbox.

This one sits under SEO.

Related terms

Conversion tracking

Conversion tracking is the code that tells Google which clicks turned into enquiries, so it can bid toward the ones that do.

Bounce rate and engagement rate

Bounce rate was the share of visits where someone viewed 1 page and left, and Google Analytics 4 replaced it with engagement rate.

Cost per lead (CPL)

Cost per lead is your total ad spend divided by the number of genuine enquiries it produced.

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