How to View Google Analytics Reports

Accessing your website data is the fastest way to understand where your visitors are coming from, what content they engage with, and where you should focus your optimization efforts. Google Analytics organizes this information into powerful, detailed reports that give you a complete picture of your site's performance, from high-level summaries down to granular user actions. In this guide, we'll walk through exactly where to find and how to navigate the most critical reports inside Google Analytics 4.

Where Are Reports Located in Google Analytics 4?

If you're used to the older Universal Analytics, the GA4 interface might feel a little different at first. The left-hand navigation is cleaner and more streamlined. Your core reports, previously scattered across sections like Audience, Acquisition, and Behavior, are now consolidated in one place.

On the left-hand navigation menu, click the charts icon labeled "Reports." As soon as you click, you'll see GA4's default report collections organized around a user's lifecycle: Acquisition, Engagement, and Monetization.

Think of it like telling a story about your user:

• Acquisition: How did they discover my website? (e.g., Google search, social media, paid ad)
• Engagement: What did they do after they arrived? (e.g., view pages, watch videos, fill out forms)
• Monetization: Did they take an action with commercial value? (e.g., make a purchase, view sponsored content)

Let's dive into each of these core collections, looking at the key reports you'll want to check regularly.

Acquisition Reports: How Users Find Your Site

Understanding where your traffic comes from is the first step in measuring your marketing efforts. Acquisition reports show you exactly which channels, campaigns, and sources are delivering visitors so you can see what’s working and what isn’t.

Traffic Acquisition Report

The Traffic Acquisition report is where most people spend their time because it provides a bird's-eye view of your traffic sources.

How to find it: In the left menu, navigate to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.

By default, this report is grouped by the "Session default channel group," which buckets your traffic into recognized channels like:

• Direct: Users who typed your URL directly or have an unknown referral source.
• Organic Search: Visitors from search engines like Google or Bing.
• Organic Social: Visitors from links posted on social media platforms (not paid social ads).
• Paid Search: Traffic coming from your Google Ads or other PPC campaigns.
• Referral: Visitors who clicked a link to your site from another website.
• Display: Visitors from display ad campaigns.
• Email: Traffic driven from links in email newsletters.

Look at the columns next to these channel names. You'll see key metrics like Users, Sessions, Engaged sessions, and any conversion events you’ve defined. These reports will help you immediately answer those key user questions such as "Is my recent blog post driving organic search engine (SEO) traffic?", or "Is our last paid Google ad campaign actually sending us engaged users or just a bunch of quick clicks that leave fast?"

User Acquisition Report

Subtly different but hugely important, the User Acquisition report focuses on how new users first discovered your site. The Traffic Acquisition report looks at the source of each individual session, but this report focuses only on a single user's first visit, giving a better representation of where your customer acquisition efforts really originate from in the long term.

Engagement Reports: Learn How Customers Interact with Your Site

Once visitors land on your site, Engagement reports help you understand what happens next. Are they finding what they hoped for, or are they leaving quickly? Did the calls to action work, are they scrolling, clicking more, and triggering the conversion event you wanted?

Events in My Site Report

This report tells the story of a user's session, showcasing successful or unsuccessful interactions. Clicks, form submissions, and video views are tracked, so you can understand how users engage. You'll find it in the left menu under Reports > Engagement > Events.

• First Visit: Tracks when a new visitor first accesses your web page.
• Session Start: Captures when a user begins their browsing session.
• Scroll: Indicates the depth a user scrolls on a page.
• Video Progress: Shows how far a video on your page was watched.

Create custom events to track interactions specific to your business's goals, like form submissions or clicks on a special feature.

Monetization Reports: Show Us the Money

1. eCommerce Purchases: Shows how specific items perform in terms of sales and engagement.
2. Ad Revenue: For businesses running ads, these reports track impressions and interactions.

Custom Reports and Dashboards

The Customize section allows you to build personalized reports or dashboards, tailoring the experience to your business's needs. Using tools like the Google Sheets connector can enable a more dynamic way to interact with your data, pulling fresh insights without needing direct GA access.

Final Thoughts

By learning how to view and interpret the standard Acquisition, Engagement, and Monetization reports, you're taking back control of your website's performance data. Diving into Explorations lets you customize analysis, get the real user's custom story, and find answers to questions your core reports may not fully address. Now you can confidently use your data to inform every business move, paving the way for ongoing success.

When faced with excessive menu options and manual data pulling from GA, consider leveraging products like Graphed to streamline your analytical processes. With its AI capabilities, Graphed provides immediate insights by answering queries in plain English and creating interactive charts promptly. This allows every team member, regardless of their data expertise, to quickly gain clarity on important metrics and insights.