Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is Google’s free web analytics platform. It tracks how people find and use your website, including how many arrive from organic search, which pages they land on and whether they complete valuable actions such as enquiries, calls or purchases. GA4 replaced Universal Analytics in 2023.

Written by Paul Hoda, SEO consultant since 2005. Last updated 8 November 2026.

Why GA4 matters for SEO

Google Search Console tells you how you perform in Google before the click. GA4 tells you what happens after. Together they show whether SEO is bringing the right visitors and whether those visitors become customers. Without analytics, you cannot connect SEO work to business results.

How GA4 tracks data

GA4 is event-based. Every interaction, such as a page view, scroll, click, form submission or purchase, is recorded as an event. You mark important events as key events (previously called conversions) so they appear in reports and can be attributed to traffic sources.

Setting up GA4 for SEO

  1. Create a GA4 property and add the tracking tag to your site, directly or through Google Tag Manager.
  2. Check that Enhanced measurement is enabled for scrolls, outbound clicks, site search and file downloads.
  3. Define key events: form submissions, phone clicks, bookings, purchases and other valuable actions.
  4. Link GA4 to Search Console to see query and landing page data together.
  5. Set up consent mode where required by UK and EU privacy law, and understand how consent affects reported numbers.
  6. Exclude internal traffic from your office and team.
  7. Set data retention to the maximum available.

Key GA4 reports for SEO

  • Traffic acquisition: sessions by channel, including “Organic Search”. Filter to see engagement and key events from organic visitors.
  • Landing page report: which pages organic visitors enter on, their engagement and conversions.
  • Search Console reports (once linked): queries and landing pages from Google organic search.
  • Explorations: custom analyses, for example comparing organic landing pages over time or building funnels.

Useful SEO metrics in GA4

  • Organic sessions and users.
  • Engagement rate and average engagement time.
  • Key events and conversion rate from organic traffic.
  • Revenue from organic search for ecommerce.
  • Referral traffic from AI tools such as ChatGPT (ChatGPT Search).

See SEO KPIs for how to choose the right metrics.

Common GA4 mistakes

  • No key events configured, so SEO cannot be linked to results.
  • Duplicate tracking codes inflating page views.
  • Cross-domain or payment gateway referrals overwriting organic attribution.
  • Not accounting for consent rejections, which reduce reported traffic.
  • Comparing GA4 numbers directly with Search Console clicks; they measure different things and will never match exactly.

GA4 and Search Console differences

Search Console counts clicks from Google results. GA4 counts sessions that loaded the tracking code and, where required, gave consent. Ad blockers, consent choices and tracking setup all create gaps. Use each tool for what it measures best, and look at trends rather than exact matches. For presenting results to stakeholders, see SEO Reporting.

Key Takeaways

  • GA4 shows what organic visitors do after they arrive.
  • Set up key events for enquiries, calls and sales.
  • Link GA4 with Search Console.
  • Expect GA4 and Search Console numbers to differ.
  • Track AI referral traffic as a separate segment.

Related Terms

Wondering what to fix first on your site? Get a free check of your site’s SEO, or keep learning in the SEO Encyclopedia.