How to Mark an Event as a Conversion in Google Analytics 4

Setting up conversion tracking is arguably the most important thing you’ll do in Google Analytics 4. While GA4 tracks many user actions automatically as "events," a conversion is an event you’ve specifically identified as critical to your business success - like a purchase, a form submission, or a lead. This article will show you exactly how to mark an event as a conversion in GA4, whether that event already exists or you need to create it from scratch.

First, What's the Difference Between Events and Conversions in GA4?

To understand conversions, you first need to understand GA4’s data model. Unlike its predecessor, Universal Analytics, which was based on sessions and pageviews, GA4 is built around events. Almost every user interaction is captured as an event: from a page_view when someone lands on your site, to a scroll when they move down the page, or a click when they interact with an element.

A conversion is simply an event that you’ve told Google Analytics is especially valuable. By marking an event as a conversion, you’re flagging it for more prominent reporting and enabling its use in things like attribution and ad bidding in Google Ads.

Think of it like this: all the people who walk into a retail store are "traffic" (events), but only the people who make a purchase are "customers" (conversions). You care about everyone, but you measure your success based on the customers.

Before you start, it helps to know that GA4 has four types of events:

• Automatically Collected Events: These are events GA4 collects by default, like session_start and first_visit.
• Enhanced Measurement Events: These are also automatic if you enable the setting. They include actions like scroll, click, file_download, and form_start.
• Recommended Events: Google provides a list of suggested event names for common scenarios (like purchase for e-commerce or generate_lead for B2B) that unlock special reporting features.
• Custom Events: These are events you define and name yourself for actions specific to your website or business needs.

You can turn any of these event types into a conversion. Here's how.

How to Mark an Existing Event as a Conversion in GA4

This is the fastest and easiest method. It’s perfect when GA4 is already tracking an action you care about, such as a file download or a specific outbound click. You simply need to find the event and flip a switch.

Step 1: Navigate to the 'Events' Report

Conversions are managed from your GA4 Admin settings. Go to the bottom left of your screen and click on Admin. In the Property column, find the section called Data display and click on Events.

Step 2: Find Your Event and Toggle

You'll see a table listing all the event names GA4 has collected from your site in the specified time period. This list might include automatically collected events like page_view, scroll, and click, as well as any custom events you’ve set up.

Find the event you want to treat as a conversion. On the far right side of that event's row, you'll see a toggle under the column labeled "Mark as conversion."

Step 3: Turn on the Toggle

To enable conversion tracking for that event, simply click the toggle to turn it on (it will turn blue). That's it! Google Analytics will now start tracking that event as a conversion going forward. Any event you mark here will automatically appear in your Conversions report.

Pro Tip: Newly marked conversions can take 24-48 hours to start showing data in your Conversions report and other parts of GA4. If you don't see it immediately, give it a day or two before you start troubleshooting.

How to Create a New Conversion Event from Scratch in GA4

Sometimes, the exact action you want to track doesn't have a default event. The most common example is tracking a specific "thank you" page visit after a user fills out a lead form. While GA4 has a form_submit event, it can sometimes be unreliable across different form types. A more foolproof method is often to track the confirmation page.

In this case, you need to first create a new event rule in GA4 and then mark that new event as a conversion.

Part 1: Defining a New Event in the GA4 Interface

This process might seem technical, but it’s just a matter of telling Google what to look for.

1. Navigate back to the Events hub: Admin > Data display > Events.
2. Click the blue Create event button in the top right.
3. On the next screen, click the Create button again. This takes you to the event configuration panel.

Now, you'll define the rule for your new event. Let's stick with our example of tracking anyone who lands on a page with /thank-you in the URL.

Custom event name

In the "Custom event name" field, give your event a descriptive, unique name. It is best practice to use snake_case (all lowercase with underscores). For our example, we'll use lead_submission_thankyou.

Matching Conditions

This is where you tell GA4 when to fire your new event. You need to set conditions that are met when the user completes the action.

• For the first condition, set Parameter to event_name, Operator to equals, and Value to page_view. This tells GA4, "Start by looking at every page view."
• Now, click Add condition to add a second rule.
• For this condition, set Parameter to page_location (this contains the full URL), Operator to contains, and Value to /thank-you. This tells GA4, "Of those page views, only pay attention to the ones where the URL includes /thank-you."

When both of these conditions are met, GA4 will create your new lead_submission_thankyou event.

Leave the "Parameter configuration" as is (Copy parameters from the source event) and click Create in the top right corner.

Part 2: Marking the New Event as a Conversion

You created a rule for a new event. But GA4 will not be able to mark this event as a conversion until it actually happens on your site at least once.

To speed things up, open a new tab and go through the conversion action on your own website. In our example, you would submit your form to land on the /thank-you page. This sends a signal to Google Analytics that your new event is active.

Then, follow the same simple process from the first section of this article:

1. Wait for your new event name (lead_submission_thankyou) to appear in the events list at Admin > Data display > Events. Again, this might take a few minutes or up to a day.
2. Once it appears, simply find it and turn on the "Mark as conversion" toggle.

How to Verify Your Conversions are Tracking Correctly

After setting up your conversions, you need to confirm that GA4 is receiving the data as expected. There are a few places to check.

1. The Realtime Report and DebugView

The fastest way to test is with GA4's Realtime report. Perform the conversion action on your site (e.g., submit the form). Then in GA4, navigate to Reports > Realtime. Look for your event name in the “Events” widget and, if set up correctly, in the “Conversions” widget. For even more detailed testing, use DebugView (found in the Admin panel), which gives you a granular, second-by-second stream of events from your test device.

2. The Conversions Report

Over the next day or two, conversion data will begin to populate the main report. You can find this at Reports > Engagement > Conversions. This dashboard shows you a list of every conversion enabled and the total count for each over your selected date range. This is your primary source of truth for all conversion KPIs you have identified.

Common Mistakes and Best Practices

Setting up conversions is straightforward, but a few simple tips can save you headaches later.

• Don't Be Conversion-Happy: A standard GA4 property is limited to 30 custom conversion events per property. This might sound like a lot, but they can add up. Be selective and only mark high-value, business-critical actions as conversions. An event like a 90% scroll is useful for measuring page engagement, but is it a core business conversion? Probably not.
• Be Patient with Data: Remember that GA4 is not always instantaneous. Data can take 24-48 hours to be fully processed and reflected in standard reports. Wait for at least a full day before assuming something is broken.
• Use Good Naming Conventions: For any custom events you create, stick to a consistent snake_case naming format, like complete_registration or schedule_demo. This makes your reports clean, organized, and easy for everyone on your team to understand.
• You Can Un-mark Conversions: If you have made a mistake or want to free up a spot for a different conversion, you can always go back to Admin > Data display > Events and turn off the toggle. The historical data won't go away, but GA4 will stop tracking that event as a conversion moving forward.

Final Thoughts

Configuring conversion events is the foundation of meaningful analysis in GA4. By telling Google which user actions truly matter to your business, you transform an overwhelming stream of event data into actionable insights about what drives growth. Whether it’s marking an existing event or defining a new one based on user behavior, the process is quick and unlocks deeper reporting abilities.

Once you’ve set up key conversions in tools like GA4 or Shopify, the next big step is putting all that data in one place - to see the connection between your ad spend and your sales, for example. At Graphed, we created a single platform where you connect your key sources just once, then use natural language to create dashboards and ask questions. Instead of jumping tab-to-tab, you can instantly answer key questions like "show my traffic from Facebook versus my GA4 conversions per campaign" in seconds.