How to Create a Metrics Dashboard in Google Analytics

Wrestling with Google Analytics 4 to find a few key numbers can feel like digging for buried treasure without a map. There are hundreds of metrics and dozens of standard reports, but all you want is a simple, scannable view of what actually matters to your business. This guide will show you exactly how to create your own custom metrics dashboard directly within GA4, cutting through the clutter to place your most important data front and center.

Why Create a Custom Dashboard in Google Analytics 4?

The standard reports in GA4 are powerful, but they’re built for everyone, which means they might not be perfect for you. Customizing your own dashboard solves a few common headaches and lets you monitor your performance far more efficiently.

It saves a ton of time. Instead of bouncing between three different reports to check your traffic sources, user engagement, and conversion numbers, you can pull all of that information into a single screen.
It helps you focus on what's important. It’s easy to get lost in vanity metrics that don't actually impact your business goals. A custom dashboard forces you to select only the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) truly relevant to your success, cutting out the noise.
It makes sharing insights easier. Need to give your boss or a client a quick performance update? A clean, focused dashboard communicates the story much faster than a collection of messy screenshots or confusing data exports.
It provides an immediate pulse-check. A well-designed dashboard is perfect for those quick, daily or weekly check-ins to make sure everything is trending in the right direction without requiring a deep analytical dive.

Before You Start: GA4 Reports vs. Explorations

In Google Analytics 4, there are two main ways to visualize your data, and understanding the difference is key. For this tutorial, we will focus on what most people think of as a "dashboard" - a high-level, at-a-glance summary.

Reports: This is the main section you see when you click "Reports" on the left-hand navigation. Your primary dashboard is a specific report called the Reports snapshot. It’s made of small summary "cards" that you can customize, add, or remove. This is the simplest and fastest way to create a dashboard.
Explorations: This is an advanced analysis hub where you can build highly specific, detail-oriented reports like sales funnels, path explorations, and cohort analyses. While extremely powerful for deep-dive investigations, it isn’t ideal for an everyday performance overview.

Today, you’ll learn how to customize the main Reports snapshot to serve as your go-to performance dashboard.

How to Customize Your GA4 Reports Snapshot Dashboard

Ready to build a dashboard that’s tailored specifically for you? It only takes a few steps. Follow along, and in ten minutes, you'll have a custom view of your most important metrics.

Step 1: Navigate to Your Reports Snapshot

First things first, log into your Google Analytics 4 property. In the navigation menu on the left side of your screen, click on Reports. The default page that loads is the Reports snapshot. This is your canvas.

Step 2: Click the 'Customize Report' Pencil Icon

Look to the top-right corner of the Reports snapshot page. You will see a small pencil icon next to the "Share" and "Insights" buttons. This is the Customize report button. Click it to enter editing mode.

You'll now see the current layout of your dashboard, and each card will have slightly different controls, allowing you to modify the view.

Step 3: Add or Remove Cards

Your dashboard is built using "cards" - self-contained widgets that display a specific metric or dimension. The default setup includes cards like "Users in last 30 minutes," "Views by Page title," and "New users." Now’s your chance to clear out what you don’t need and add what you do.

To remove a card: Simply hover over any card you don't find useful and click the "X" that appears in its corner. Maybe you aren’t running ads this month and don't need to see "Sessions by Google Ads campaign." Click the "X" and it's gone.
To add a new card: On the right-hand panel, click the blue + Add cards button. This opens up a gallery of pre-built cards you can add to your dashboard.

GA4 provides dozens of cards to choose from, often categorized by theme. Think about the story you want your dashboard to tell. Here are a few valuable cards you might want to add:

For Traffic Acquisition

New users by First user default channel group: See where your new visitors are coming from (e.g., Organic Search, Direct, Social).
Sessions by Session default channel group: Understand the traffic sources for all sessions, not just first-time users.

For User Engagement

Views by Page title and screen class: Instantly see your most popular pages and content.
Engagement rate: A key GA4 metric that shows what percentage of sessions involved an actively engaged user.
Conversions: Keep an eye on your most important user actions, whether it's signups, downloads, or contact form submissions.

For eCommerce

Total revenue: The ultimate performance metric for any online store.
Ecommerce purchases: Track the sheer volume of transactions.
Items purchased by Item name: Find out which of your products are selling the most.

Select the cards that align with your business goals and click Add card to place them on your dashboard.

Step 4: Organize Your Dashboard Layout

Once you’ve added all the cards you need, it's time to arrange them in a way that makes sense. A good layout helps you absorb information quickly. Simply click and drag any card to move it around the grid. Think of it like organizing apps on your phone’s home screen.

Consider grouping related metrics together. For example, place all your traffic acquisition cards in one row, engagement metrics in the next, and monetization or conversion metrics at the bottom. This creates a logical flow - users come from a source, they engage with your site, and then they convert.

Step 5: Save Your Changes

Once your dashboard looks perfect, click the blue Save button in the top-right corner. Google will give you two options:

Save changes to current report: This will overwrite the default Reports snapshot for all users in your GA4 property.
Save as a new report: This is the recommended option for your first time. It creates a brand new, separate report and leaves the original one untouched.

Choose "Save as a new report" and give it a descriptive name, like "Marketing KPI Dashboard" or "Weekly Performance Overview." Click Save. You’ve officially created a brand new metrics dashboard!

Bonus Tip: Make Your Dashboard Easily Accessible

After you save a report as 'new', it gets stored in the "Library" - which isn't very convenient for quick check-ins. To make it a primary navigation item, you need to add it to a "Collection."

Navigate to the Library link at the very bottom of the left-hand navigation menu.
Find the "Life cycle" or "User" collection and click Edit collection.
In the "Drag reports to create a collection" screen, you'll see a list of available reports on the right. Find the dashboard you just created (e.g., "Marketing KPI Dashboard").
Drag your report from the right panel over to the collection structure on the left. You can place it wherever you'd like it to appear in the menu.
Click Save and then Save changes to current collection.

When you go back to your main "Reports" view, you will now see a clickable link to your new dashboard directly in the navigation menu. Now it functions as a true, custom dashboard you can access with one click.

Best Practices for a Great Dashboard

Building a dashboard is easy, but building a useful one requires a little thought. Keep these principles in mind:

Define a clear purpose. Before you add a single card, ask yourself: What question does this dashboard need to answer? Is it about campaign performance? Content engagement? Overall business health? A clear goal prevents dashboard clutter.
Aim for simplicity. A great dashboard isn’t one with the most charts, it's one that communicates insights with the least friction. Resist the urge to add every metric available. Stick to 8-12 core metrics to keep it scannable.
Tell a story with your layout. Place the most critical, high-level number (like Revenue or User numbers) at the top-left, as that's where the eye naturally goes. Use the rest of the layout to guide the viewer from general trends down to more specific details.
Know your audience. Build the dashboard for the person who will be viewing it. An executive might need a 30,000-foot view (Users, Revenue, Conversions), while a marketing manager needs more granular data on campaign and channel performance.

Final Thoughts

Building a custom metrics dashboard in Google Analytics 4 is one of the quickest ways to bring focus and clarity to your data. By swapping out generic reports for a view tailored to your specific goals, you can stop wasting time hunting for numbers and spend more time acting on them.

While a GA4 dashboard is a powerful starting point for understanding your website's performance, the complete picture often requires data from your other vital tools. To get the full story, you have to connect website traffic to marketing campaigns, sales pipelines, and customer behavior. That’s an area where we designed Graphed to excel. We make it easy to connect Google Analytics with all your other platforms like Shopify, Facebook Ads, or HubSpot, so you can build dashboards that tell the entire story from first click to final sale using simple, natural language.