To measure a key event, you must create or identify an event that measures the important user interaction and then mark the event as a key event. After you mark an event as a key event, you can begin to report on the key events to understand user behavior.
You can also create one or more conversions in Google Ads based on the Google Analytics key event to help optimize your bidding strategy.
Before you begin
Before you mark an event as a key event, you must:
- Make sure you're a marketer or above to mark an event as a key event in GA4. Learn more about Access and data-restriction management.
- Set up the event you want to mark as a key event.
Mark events as key events
If Google Analytics has already received an event from your website or app, you can mark the event as a key event. New events, on the other hand, might not show up right away, but you can still mark them as key events ahead of time so that Google Analytics starts to treat the events as key events when they're collected.
You can mark up to 30 events as key events for standard properties and 50 events as key events for Analytics 360 properties. Learn more about the property limits
purchase
(web and app)first_open
(app only)in_app_purchase
(app only)app_store_subscription_convert
(app only)app_store_subscription_renew
(app only)
When you enable Ads Personalization with a linked Google Ads account, these events are also marked as key events in your Google Analytics 4 property:
add_to_cart
add_to_wishlist
begin_checkout
session_start
view_item
view_item_list
view_search_results
Mark an existing event as a key event
- In Admin, under Data display, click Events.
Note: The previous link opens to the last Analytics property you accessed. You can change the property using the property selector. You must be an Editor or above at the property level to mark an existing event as a key event.
- In the Existing events table, select the toggle under Mark as key event.
If you can't select the toggle, you don't have the necessary permissions
Mark a new event as a key event
- In Admin, under Data display, click Key events.
Note: The previous link opens to the last Analytics property you accessed. You can change the property using the property selector. You must be a Marketer or above at the property level to make a new event as a key event.
- Click New key event.
If you don't see the button, you don't have the necessary permissions.
- Enter the name of the new event.
- Note: Special characters can't be used when naming a new event.
- Click Save.
Stop collecting key event data
To stop collecting key event data, unmark the event as a key event on the Events page. If the event isn't on the Events page, go to the Key events page instead. Turning off a key event doesn't affect the data you've already collected; past events still show in reports as key events.
Results
Marking an event as a key event affects reports from time of creation. It doesn't change historic data. When you mark an event as a key event, allow for up to 24 hours for it to show up in standard reports. Realtime reports update sooner, at some time after a user triggers a key event.