Events in Google Analytics 4 explained | Understand custom and recommended events in GA4 | 2022

Do you want to understand exactly how events in GA4 function so you can implement them yourself? Learn everything you need to know about custom events and recommended events in Google Analytics 4.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:48 Hits in UA vs Events in GA4
03:35 Different types of events in GA4
05:44 Event parameters
08:39 Event best practices
Google Analytics 4 is largely based on events which is a big swing for Google. But it is fantastic for users as events make the whole Google Analytics experience much cleaner and much more intuitive.
There are 4 different types of events in Google Analytics 4
1. Automatically collected events definition - basic pre-defined events that most businesses will want to track on their website
Examples of automatically collected events: First visit, Session start and user engagement
2. Enhanced Measurement events definition - they enable marketers to capture even more web behaviour data without the need for technical help which again means there is no requirement to set these events up in Google Tag Manager.
Examples of enhanced measurement events: Page view, Scroll, Outbound link click, Site search, Video Engagement and File Download
3. Recommended events definition - They are slightly different from custom events because Google has already done some of the thinking for you. As you can imagine the list of recommended events includes quite a few.
Example of recommended events: purchase, a user completes a purchase, refund and search.
Link to full list: www.analyticsmania.com/post/r...
4. Custom events definition - Custom events are very similar to recommended events, but essentially you can create any data point that you want.

[@JimNZ]

great great and simple explanation. Thank you for that

[@Mars.2024]

Highly recommend 🍃

[@WeAreFunnel]

Glad you liked it!

[@curious_gage]

Best explanation I’ve found. Good work!

[@ainaalharthy9747]

Well Explained 👍👍 Thank You

[@WeAreFunnel]

Thanks for the feedback Aina! Glad you liked it☺

[@user-lo2gq6ws9r]

Hi there! Thank you for your great video! One question, though. Are you sure that pag_view is an Enhanced Measurement Event? I though it was an Automatically Collected Event.

[@mostafakatongo9602]

Hi, you really did great

[@WeAreFunnel]

Thanks Mostafa!☺️

[@laxmenjo]

Hi! Really good video. What do you think about splitting some labels from created customEvents for GA U and use them as parameters for GA 4?

[@mariaaladyeva3504]

Great content as always guys! Question here: so we do not need to register custom dimensions for Automatically collected, Enhanced measurement, Recommended events (in case we enrich these types of events with own new ones we register them). We only need to do it for Custom events, correct? Thank you very much.

[@kyrylotaranenko3678]

Hi there! Thank you for your video. At 8:10 you mention creating custom dimensions and metrics to be able to use the events in the Explore section. Coul you elaborate on the topic?
For example, we're switching to GA4, and there is an issue with displaying custom events in the funnel exploration. They are selectable as a Step option, but once I hit Apply the funnel is just empty. This is not the case with events pre-defined by Google. I assume it may be relevant to the case you mentioned?
I can see the events being recorded in the Reports section.

[@WeAreFunnel]

Hi Kyrylo, it sounds like you're a Funnel user :). Have you been able to reach out to support on this question? They'll be able to help you with your account mapping to see if there is something happening that's giving you empty rows.