Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is powerful but overwhelming. Most business owners set it up, glance at it occasionally, and never really understand what they're looking at. This guide focuses on the metrics that actually matter and how to find them.
The Only Numbers That Matter
Before diving into GA4's many reports, let's establish what you should actually care about:
- How many people visit your site? (Users, Sessions)
- Where do they come from? (Traffic Sources)
- What do they do? (Pages viewed, Events)
- Do they take action? (Conversions)
Everything else is detail. Master these four questions first.
Navigating GA4
GA4 is organised into sections on the left sidebar:
- Home: Overview dashboard
- Reports: Where most useful data lives
- Explore: Custom analysis (advanced)
- Advertising: Paid campaign data
- Configure: Settings and setup
For most small businesses, the Reports section is where you'll spend 90% of your time.
Key Reports Explained
Report 1: Overview (Reports → Reports Snapshot)
Your quick-glance dashboard showing:
- Total users in selected period
- New users
- Average engagement time
- Total revenue (if tracking e-commerce)
What to look for: Trend direction. Are numbers going up, down, or flat compared to previous periods?
Report 2: Traffic Sources (Reports → Acquisition → Traffic Acquisition)
Where your visitors come from:
- Organic Search: People who found you via Google/Bing search
- Direct: People who typed your URL or used bookmarks
- Referral: Clicks from other websites
- Paid Search: Google Ads clicks
- Social: Social media platforms
- Email: Email marketing campaigns
What to look for: Which sources bring the most engaged visitors? Which drive conversions? Is organic search growing?
Report 3: Pages (Reports → Engagement → Pages and Screens)
Which pages people visit:
- Views per page
- Average engagement time per page
- Users per page
What to look for: Are service pages getting traffic? Is your blog driving visits? Which pages have high engagement vs high bounce?
Report 4: Conversions (Reports → Engagement → Conversions)
Actions you've defined as valuable:
- Form submissions
- Phone clicks
- Email clicks
- Purchases (for e-commerce)
What to look for: Total conversions, conversion sources, conversion rate trends
Important: You must set up conversion tracking for this to show meaningful data. Without it, you're flying blind.
Key Metrics Explained
Users vs Sessions
- Users: Unique people who visited
- Sessions: Total visits (one user can have multiple sessions)
If you have 1,000 users and 1,400 sessions, some people visited multiple times—a good sign.
Engagement Rate (Replaces Bounce Rate)
In GA4, "engagement rate" replaces bounce rate. An engaged session is one where the user:
- Stayed for 10+ seconds, OR
- Viewed 2+ pages, OR
- Triggered a conversion event
Good engagement rate: 50%+ for most sites, higher is better
Average Engagement Time
How long users actively engage with your site (not just leave a tab open)
Good engagement time: Depends on content type, but 1-3 minutes is typical for business sites
Setting Up What Matters
Essential Conversions to Track
You must tell GA4 what actions matter. Common conversions:
- Contact form submissions
- Phone number clicks
- Email link clicks
- Quote request submissions
- Booking completions
- Purchases (for e-commerce)
How to Set Up a Conversion
- Go to Configure → Events
- Either create a new event or find an existing one
- Toggle "Mark as conversion"
For form submissions, you'll typically need to create an event when users reach a "thank you" page or trigger a form submission event.
Practical Analysis Approach
Weekly Check (5 minutes)
- How many users this week vs last week?
- How many conversions?
- Any unusual spikes or drops?
Monthly Review (30 minutes)
- Compare to previous month and same month last year
- Review traffic sources—what's growing/shrinking?
- Check top pages—any surprises?
- Review conversion data—which sources convert best?
- Identify one thing to improve based on data
Common Questions
"My traffic dropped suddenly"
Check:
- Is tracking still working? (Verify in Realtime report)
- Did you change anything on the site?
- Was there a Google algorithm update?
- Is the drop in all sources or just one?
- Compare to the same period last year (could be seasonal)
"I have lots of traffic but no enquiries"
Check:
- Traffic quality—where is it coming from?
- What pages are they viewing?
- Is conversion tracking working?
- Are CTAs visible and compelling?
- Is the site working properly on mobile?
"What's a good conversion rate?"
Varies wildly by industry, but general benchmarks:
- E-commerce: 1-3%
- Lead generation: 2-5%
- B2B: 2-4%
Your best comparison is your own historical data.
Data Limitations to Remember
- Privacy tools block tracking: Some users won't appear in your data
- Cross-device tracking isn't perfect: Same person on phone and laptop may count as two users
- Not all conversions happen online: Phone calls from mobile may not show the source
- Attribution is complex: Someone might find you via Google, leave, then come back directly to convert
Getting More From Your Data
Connect Google Search Console
Shows which searches bring traffic and your rankings. Essential for SEO.
Enable Demographics
See age, gender, and interests of your visitors (aggregate data).
Set Up Custom Reports
Once comfortable, create reports showing exactly what you need.
The Bottom Line
Analytics exists to help you make better decisions. Focus on:
- Setting up conversion tracking properly
- Understanding where quality traffic comes from
- Identifying what's working and what isn't
- Making incremental improvements based on data
You don't need to understand every GA4 feature. You just need to understand your data well enough to answer: "Is my website working?"