Tracking Website Engagement in Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 is a game changer for engagement strategy.

Whereas Universal Analytics based its measures on views, Google Analytics 4 bases its measures on actions that people take on your website. These actions are called events.

For clients viewing our new dashboards, and anyone else wanting a quick overview of Google Analytics 4 for non-e-commerce brands, here is a VERY basic explainer video. Note that there are additional measures for both e-commerce and apps. 

View time: 54 seconds

Beyond the basics, Google Analytics 4 events are infinitely customizable through Google Tag Manager. 

Key Events in Google Analytics 4 for Non E-Commerce Brands

For non-e-commerce brands without apps, these are the key events we recommend tracking:

• file_download: Users downloaded a PDF, video, or other files
• scroll: Users scrolled at least 90% of the page
• user_engagement: Users stayed on a page for more than 10 seconds
• clicks: Clicks on buttons, internal links, and external links
• Form measures: starts and completions
• Video measures: starts; progress of at least 10%; completion

Other Google Analytics 4 Events

There are two additional events that are similar, but distinguish between users and sessions (see below for definitions)

• page_view: each time the page loads or the browser history state is changed by the active site
• session_start: when a user engages the website

There are two additional built-in events: 

• first_visit
• view_search_results

Google Analytics 4 Definitions

Users: Individuals

Sessions: Duration of a visit until 30 minutes of inactivity. One user may have several sessions.

Engaged Sessions: These are defined as sessions lasting more than 10 seconds OR viewed at least two pages OR had a conversion event.

Engagement Rate: Engaged sessions / total sessions