GA4 without the panic: the reports that actually matter
GA4 replaced a model everyone understood with one almost nobody was taught. Here is the short version, and the four reports worth opening.
GA4 did not just change the interface. It changed the underlying model, from sessions and pageviews to a stream of events. If you learned Universal Analytics, most of your instincts now point slightly wrong.
Everything is an event
A pageview is an event. A scroll is an event. A form submission is an event. There is no separate category of "goal" any more — you mark an event as a key event, and it becomes what you report on.
The four reports worth your time
- Traffic acquisition — where users came from. Start here, always.
- Pages and screens — what they actually read.
- Events — what they did, and whether the important actions are firing at all.
- Explorations — where real analysis happens. Everything else is a summary.
Attribution: pick a model and stay honest
Last click is simple and consistently undervalues everything that introduced the customer. Data-driven attribution is better but needs volume. Whichever you choose, compare like with like over time rather than switching models when the numbers disappoint.
The number nobody wants to check
Incrementality. Not "how many conversions did this channel get credit for", but "how many would we have got anyway". It is the difference between reporting and knowing.
If a channel's numbers look excellent and nobody can explain the mechanism, assume attribution before assuming genius.
Want to learn this properly?
Our live batches cover this and much more, with graded tests and a verifiable certificate.
