Set up GA4 and mark your conversion

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the free analytics platform that tells you what visitors do once they land — and, most importantly, whether they convert into a lead or sale.

Image slotScreenshot: GA4 Admin → Events with a key event toggled on

Why this matters

Rankings and traffic are only a means to an end. GA4 ties your SEO work to actual business outcomes, which is the single number that justifies the whole campaign to you or a client. Vanity traffic that never converts isn't a win.

✓ How to do it

Go to analytics.google.com and create a new GA4 property for your site.
Create a Web data stream for your domain and grab the measurement tag.
Install the tag — paste the gtag snippet into your site's <head>, or use Google Tag Manager, or your CMS's analytics field.
Visit your own site and confirm you show up in the Realtime report. If you do, tracking works.
Decide your one primary conversion — a form submit, a phone-tap, or a purchase.
In Admin → Events, find or create that event, then toggle it on as a Key event (GA4's term for a conversion).
Test it: complete the action yourself and watch it register in Realtime.

Tips & pitfalls

Keep one primary conversion for clean reporting; track the rest as secondary.
If you'll ever run Google Ads, link GA4 to it now so data flows both directions.

Done with this step? Mark it complete to track your campaign progress.