How to Add an Event in Google Analytics 4

Tracking specific user actions on your website is fundamental to understanding what's working and what isn't. Google Analytics 4 uses an 'event-based' model, making it powerful but sometimes confusing to set up. This guide will walk you through exactly how to create custom events in GA4, both through the built-in interface and with Google Tag Manager.

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First, Understand the GA4 Event Model

Unlike its predecessor, Universal Analytics, which was built around sessions and pageviews, GA4 treats virtually every interaction as an 'event'. A page view is an event, scrolling down the page is an event, and an ecommerce purchase is an event. This model gives you a much more flexible and granular way to measure what users are doing on your site.

The key here is that before you create a brand-new custom event from scratch, you need to check if GA4 is already tracking it for you. Creating duplicate events is a common mistake that can lead to messy and inaccurate data. GA4 categorizes events in a specific hierarchy, and you should review them in this order.

The Four Types of GA4 Events

Take a few minutes to make sure the user action you want to track doesn't already fall into one of these categories. You might just need to enable a setting or find the right report.

1. Automatically Collected Events

These are events that GA4 collects by default as soon as you install the tracking code. You don't have to do anything to enable them. They form the foundation of your basic reports and include essential interactions.

• session_start: Fires when a user begins a new session.
• first_visit: Fires the very first time a user visits your site.
• page_view: Fires each time a new page loads. This is the cornerstone for creating many modified events.
• user_engagement: Fires when the session lasts longer than 10 seconds, has a conversion event, or has at least 2 pageviews.

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2. Enhanced Measurement Events

This is a group of valuable events you can turn on (or off) with a single toggle in your GA4 property settings. They are enabled by default for new GA4 properties and track common website interactions that used to require custom code.

You can find them under Admin > Data Streams > Click Your Web Stream > Enhanced measurement.

• scroll: Fires once per page when a user scrolls 90% of the way down.
• click: Tracks outbound link clicks (links that lead away from your domain).
• view_search_results: Tracks when a user performs a search on your website.
• video_start, video_progress, video_complete: Tracks interactions with embedded YouTube videos on your site.
• file_download: Fires when a user clicks a link to a common file type (like a PDF, DOCX, or CSV).

3. Recommended Events

Google has provided a long list of suggested event names for common business scenarios across different industries (like ecommerce or B2B lead gen). These aren't tracked automatically, but Google recommends using their predefined names and parameters when you create events for these actions. Following these conventions allows you to take advantage of future reporting features Google might release.

• For E-commerce: add_to_cart, begin_checkout, purchase, view_item_list.
• For Lead Generation: generate_lead, sign_up.
• For All Properties: login, share, search.

4. Custom Events

This is any event you create and name yourself. If the interaction you want to track is not covered by the automatic, enhanced, or recommended event types, you'll need to create a custom event. This is what we'll cover in the next two sections.

Method 1: Create an Event in the GA4 Interface

The simplest way to create a new event is by modifying an existing event - most often, a page_view. This method is perfect when the user action you want to track is directly tied to a user viewing a specific URL, like a 'thank you' page after submitting a form.

Use Case: You want to track every time a user successfully submits your contact form, which directs them to the page yourwebsite.com/thank-you.

Step 1: Navigate to the Events Section

In your Google Analytics account, click on the Admin gear icon in the bottom-left corner. Under the 'Property' column, click on Events.

Step 2: Choose to Create an Event

On the Events page, click the blue Create event button. This will take you to the Custom Events builder.

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Step 3: Define Your Conditions

This is where you tell GA4 how to identify the specific action you want to track.

• For 'Custom event name', type in a name for your new event. Follow Google's convention of using lowercase letters with underscores for spaces. For our example, we'll use contact_form_submission.
• Under 'Matching Conditions', you'll set the rules.

You can leave the 'Parameter configuration' section alone for now. Ensure 'Copy parameters from the source event' is checked.

Step 4: Create and Wait

Click the Create button in the top-right corner. That's it! From this point forward, anytime a user lands on a URL containing /thank-you, GA4 will log both a standard page_view event and your shiny new contact_form_submission event. It can take up to 24 hours for new events to start showing up in your reports, so be patient.

Method 2: Create an Event with Google Tag Manager

What if the action you want to track isn't a simple page view? For things like button clicks, form submissions that don't redirect, or video plays, you'll need a more powerful tool: Google Tag Manager (GTM).

Use Case: You want to track every time a user clicks the "Download Case Study" button on your services page.

Step 1: Create a Trigger in GTM

A trigger is your rule for when the event should be recorded. Since we want to track a button click, we need a click trigger.

• In GTM, go to Triggers and click New.
• Give your trigger a name, like "Click - Download Case Study Button".
• Choose "Click - Just Links" or "Click - All Elements" as the trigger type.
• Set it to fire on Some Clicks.
• Now define the unique condition for the button. You might choose Click Text contains "Download Case Study" or Click ID equals "case-study-download-btn". Whichever identifier is unique to that specific button.
• Save the trigger.

Tip: Make sure the click variables you need are enabled in GTM under the 'Variables' section.

Step 2: Create Your Event Tag

The tag is what actually sends the data to Google Analytics when the trigger fires.

• In GTM, go to Tags and click New.
• Name your tag, something like "GA4 Event - Case Study Download".
• Under 'Tag Configuration', choose Google Analytics: GA4 Event.
• Select your main GA4 Configuration Tag.
• For the 'Event Name', enter the new name using snake_case syntax, like case_study_download.

Step 3: Link Your Trigger to Your Tag

Under the 'Triggering' section, click to add a trigger. Select the trigger you just created ("Click - Download Case Study Button"). Click Save.

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Step 4: Preview, Test, and Publish

This is the most important step! Click the Preview button in GTM. Your website will open in a new tab with the GTM debug console. Navigate to the page with your button and click it. You should see an event that corresponds to your trigger fire on the left-hand side. Confirming this means it's working correctly.

Once you've verified it works, go back to GTM, click Submit, and publish your changes.

Confirm and Mark as Conversion

After creating your event using either method, you'll want to verify it in GA4. The best way to do this in real-time is with DebugView, found in the Admin section. It will show you events from your own browser session as they happen.

Once you have a business-critical event being tracked, like contact_form_submission or case_study_download, you'll likely want to treat it as a conversion.

In GA4, this is incredibly simple:

1. Go to Admin > Events.
2. Find your new event in the list (you may need to wait 24 hours for it to appear).
3. Simply toggle the switch in the 'Mark as conversion' column.

Once marked, it will start being counted in your 'Conversions' report, making it easier to analyze attribution and the impact of your marketing efforts.

Final Thoughts

Tracking custom interactions is one of the most powerful features of Google Analytics 4. By understanding the event types and choosing the right creation method - either directly in the GA4 interface for page-based goals or via Google Tag Manager for more complex clicks - you can gain clear insight into how users truly engage with your site.

Of course, getting reliable event data in GA4 is only one part of the challenge. Making sense of it alongside data from your ad platforms, CRM, and sales tools often means hours spent manually pulling reports and wrangling spreadsheets. This is actually why we built Graphed. We connect all your data sources in one click and let you create real-time dashboards and get answers just by asking questions in plain English, turning a painful weekly process into a 30-second conversation.