How to Create a Summary Report in Google Analytics

Google Analytics 4 is packed with more data than you could ever possibly need, but sometimes all you want is a simple, high-level summary. Getting a quick snapshot of your website's health shouldn't require delving into complex reports. This guide will walk you through how to create clear and actionable summary reports directly in GA4, from using the default snapshots to building your own custom dashboards from scratch.

Why a Summary Report Isn't Just "Nice to Have"

In a world of information overload, a good summary report is your best friend. Instead of drowning in endless rows of data, a summary report lets you spot trends, answer common questions, and check on key performance indicators (KPIs) in seconds. Think of it as the executive summary for your website's performance.

Most teams run on a familiar, painful cycle: spend Monday downloading CSVs from a dozen platforms, wrestle with them in a spreadsheet to build charts, present the findings in a Tuesday meeting, and then spend Wednesday scrambling to answer the follow-up questions that inevitably arise. By the time you get answers, half the week is gone.

A well-designed summary report in GA4 changes that. It helps you:

Save Time: Get the most important numbers without clicking through multiple detailed reports.
Communicate Clearly: Easily share top-level performance with stakeholders, clients, or your boss without overwhelming them with jargon.
Stay Focused: Keep your essential metrics front-and-center so you can monitor progress toward your goals at a glance.
Spot Problems and Opportunities: A high-level view makes major spikes or dips in traffic, conversions, or engagement immediately obvious.

First, Know Your Way Around: GA4 Reporting Basics

Before building, it's helpful to know the layout. The main area for reporting in the GA4 left-hand navigation is the Reports tab. Within it, you'll see a few key sections:

Reports snapshot: This is GA4's default summary report. It's your starting point and often the quickest way to get a bird's-eye view.
Realtime: See what's happening on your site right now.
Life cycle: This collection contains reports on how you acquire users (Acquisition), how they interact with your site (Engagement), and how they convert (Monetization).
User: These reports provide insights into user demographics and the technology they use (e.g., browser, device).

For creating summary reports, we'll mostly be working with the Reports snapshot and a hidden-in-plain-sight feature called the Library.

Method 1: Customize the Default "Reports Snapshot"

The easiest way to get a quick summary is to use what Google already gives you. The "Reports snapshot" is a dashboard of pre-built summary "cards," each showing a high-level metric.

By default, it shows things like Users in the last 30 minutes, New users by channel, Sessions by country, and Conversions over time. It's a great starting point, and you can even customize it to better suit your needs.

How to Customize the Snapshot:

On the main "Reports snapshot" page, look for the pencil icon in the top-right corner labeled "Customize report." Click it.
A panel will slide out on the right, showing you all the current cards on your dashboard.
You can rearrange cards by dragging and dropping them, or remove ones you don't care about by clicking the "x" on each card.
Click "Add cards" to see a gallery of other pre-built summary cards you can add. You can find cards for ecommerce purchases, event counts, user demographics, and more.
Once you're happy with the layout, click the blue "Save" button in the top-right and choose "Save changes to current report."

This method is fantastic for a quick, personalized overview without having to build anything from the ground up.

Method 2: Create a Custom Summary Report from Scratch

While the snapshot is useful, its customization options are limited. For full control, you can build your own dedicated summary report (called an "Overview Report" in GA4 lingo) using the Library feature. This lets you choose exactly which data cards you want to see and in what order, creating a perfect dashboard for your marketing meetings or weekly check-ins.

Here’s how to do it step-by-step.

Step 1: Go to the "Library"

At the very bottom of the left-hand navigation menu in the Reports tab, you'll see a folder icon labeled Library. This is where all reports—both pre-built and custom—are managed. Click on it.

Step 2: Create a New Report

Inside the Library, you'll see a blue button that says "+ Create new report." Click it and then select Create overview report from the dropdown menu. An overview report is GA4's term for a dashboard-style summary report composed of summary cards.

Step 3: Build Your Dashboard with Summary Cards

You'll now be presented with a blank canvas and the "Add cards" panel on the right. This is where the magic happens. A "card" is simply a widget that displays a specific metric and dimension.

Click "Add cards" and browse the available options. Here are some of the most useful cards to build a powerful marketing summary report:

For Overall Health & Traffic:

Users and New users: Choose these cards and set the dimension to "Audience name" if you have specific audiences set up, or just view the total count.
Sessions: Add this with the dimension "Session default channel group" to see which channels are driving traffic (e.g., Organic Search, Direct, Paid Social).

For Channels & Campaigns:

New users by First user default channel group: This is crucial. It tells you which marketing channels brought new people to your site for the very first time.
Sessions by Session Campaign: If you're running ads or email campaigns with UTM parameters, this card shows you exactly which campaigns are driving sessions.

For Engagement & Content:

Views by Page title: See your top-performing pages and blog posts at a glance.
Event Count by Event name: This is great for tracking key interactions like button clicks, video plays, or form submissions without classifying them as full conversions.

For Conversions & Revenue:

Conversions by Event name: The most important card for most businesses. This shows you how many of your key goals (like generate_lead or purchase) have been completed.
Total Revenue: Essential for ecommerce stores, this gives you the top-line revenue number.

Simply click on the cards you want to add to your report. You can select multiple cards at once before closing the panel.

Step 4: Arrange, Save, and Publish Your Report

Once you've added your desired cards, you can drag and drop them on the canvas to arrange them logically. A good practice is to put your most important KPIs (like Sessions, Users, and Conversions) at the top.

When you're happy with the layout, click the blue Save button. Give your report a descriptive name like "Marketing Weekly Snapshot" or "Website Performance Overview."

After saving, you’re not quite done. The report exists in your Library, but it won't appear in your left-hand navigation yet. To make it easily accessible:

In the Library, find the "Collections" section. You can choose to edit an existing collection (like "Life cycle") or create a new one.
Click "Edit collection," find your newly created summary report in the right-hand panel, and drag it into the collection on the left.
Save the collection, and voilà! Your custom summary report will now appear as a clickable link in your main GA4 menu, ready for one-click access.

Best Practices for a Great Summary Report

Building the report is just one part. Building it effectively is what matters.

Know Your Audience: Is this report for you, your team, or your CEO? Tailor the complexity and the metrics to what the end-user actually cares about. Your CEO might just want Users and Revenue, while your content team will want to see top pages and engagement.
Less is More: A cluttered dashboard is an ignored dashboard. Stick to 6-8 core metrics that give a clear, high-level picture.
Use the "Comparison" Feature: In the top-right of your report, always compare your data to the "previous period" or the "same period last year." A number on its own is meaningless, a number with context tells a story. Seeing that traffic is "up 15%" is infinitely more useful than just seeing "10,000 users."
Annotate and Add Context: When sharing this report, don't just send a screenshot. Explain what the numbers mean. "Organic traffic is down this week, which is likely because of the holiday weekend." Data provides the "what," it's your job to provide the "why."

Final Thoughts

Google Analytics 4 can feel intimidating, but creating a useful summary report is entirely achievable. By customizing the default snapshot or building your own overview report in the Library, you can turn endless data points into a clear, scannable dashboard that keeps you and your team focused on what truly matters for your business.

While GA4 reports are great for understanding website performance, the challenge is that your data doesn't live in just one place. Putting together the full story often means manually pulling data from Google Ads, Facebook Ads, your CRM, and your e-commerce platform. At Graphed, we built a tool to solve this exact problem. We securely connect to all your marketing and sales sources, allowing you to build real-time, cross-platform dashboards instantly just by describing what you need in plain English - no tricky interfaces or spreadsheet wrangling required.