The GA4 events you should set up immediately

GA4's event-based tracking is powerful, but it's also easy to miss important actions because nobody told you what to configure. Let me save you from that.

Here's what you should have set up from day one, organized from automatic to custom.

Understanding GA4 event types

Before we dive in, know that GA4 has four categories of events:

Let's go through each.

Automatically collected events

These fire no matter what. You can't turn them off.

Action required: Nothing. Just know they exist.

Enhanced measurement events

These are automatic BUT you can toggle them. They're enabled by default for new data streams.

Where to configure

Admin → Data Streams → [Your Stream] → Enhanced measurement

What each event tracks

About form interactions

I recommend disabling form interactions. It's the least accurate enhanced measurement and often triggers false positives and misses real submissions. Use GTM for proper form tracking instead.

How to verify enhanced measurement

1. Go to Admin → DebugView
2. Navigate your site
3. Watch for scroll, click, file_download events
4. Trigger a search and look for view_search_results

Recommended events to implement

Google defines "recommended events" for common use cases. Using their exact naming conventions unlocks enhanced reporting and integrations.

For all websites

For e-commerce

For detailed e-commerce setup, see our e-commerce quick start guide.

For lead generation

For content sites

Custom events you likely need

Beyond Google's recommendations, here are events I set up for almost every client:

CTA clicks

Track when users click important buttons:

gtag('event', 'cta_click', {
  'cta_text': 'Get Started',
  'cta_location': 'header',
  'page_path': '/pricing'
});

Newsletter signup

gtag('event', 'newsletter_signup', {
  'form_location': 'footer',
  'page_path': window.location.pathname
});

Contact form submission

gtag('event', 'contact_form_submit', {
  'form_type': 'contact',
  'page_path': window.location.pathname
});

Scroll depth milestones

Enhanced measurement only tracks 90% scroll. For deeper analysis:

// Track at 25%, 50%, 75%
gtag('event', 'scroll_milestone', {
  'scroll_depth': '50',
  'page_path': window.location.pathname
});

External link clicks (specific destinations)

Enhanced measurement tracks all outbound clicks. But you might want to track specific valuable ones separately:

gtag('event', 'partner_link_click', {
  'partner_name': 'PartnerCo',
  'link_url': 'https://partner.com/signup'
});

Event naming conventions

Follow these rules to avoid data chaos:

Important: Event names are case-sensitive. form_submit and Form_Submit are different events. Stick to lowercase.

Registering event parameters

If you send custom parameters, you need to register them in GA4 to use them in reports.

Step-by-step

1. Go to Admin → Custom definitions
2. Click Create custom dimension
3. Enter:
   • Dimension name (e.g., "Form Location")
   • Scope: Event
   • Event parameter name (e.g., form_location)
4. Save

Limits

Priority setup checklist

Day one, get these configured:

Enhanced measurement:

• Page views enabled
• Scrolls enabled
• Outbound clicks enabled
• File downloads enabled
• Site search enabled (if applicable)
• Form interactions DISABLED (use GTM instead)

Key events to mark:

• Your primary conversion (purchase, sign_up, generate_lead)
• Secondary conversions (add_to_cart, form_start)

Custom tracking (via GTM):

• Primary form submissions
• CTA button clicks
• Newsletter signups
• Any other business-critical actions

Custom dimensions:

• Register parameters you're sending
• Only register what you'll actually analyze

Testing everything

DebugView is your friend

1. Enable GA Debug extension
2. Go to Admin → DebugView
3. Perform each action you're tracking
4. Verify events fire with correct parameters

GTM Preview Mode

If using Tag Manager:

1. Click Preview in GTM
2. Enter your site URL
3. Perform actions
4. Verify tags fire when expected
5. Check that parameters are populated

What's next?

Once your events are configured:

1. Mark important events as key events
2. Set up GTM properly for advanced tracking
3. Build dashboards to monitor your events

Need a cleaner way to see what's working? Try Analayer. We make GA4 data actually make sense.