GA4 Conversions are being changed to 'Key Events', now what?

If you've been tracking user data via Analytics you'll be used to the process of marking events up as conversions. maybe a purchase, a newsletter signup, or a completed form.

As of this month Google is changing the lingo. All of your existing and future conversions will now be called 'key events'.

What does this mean for you?

Very little. All your usual reports will be re-labelled, your explorations and areas you view conversions will simply be renamed.

All those important actions users take on your site are still being measured, though if you use Google Ads for marketing, conversions specifically linked to those campaigns will still be called conversions within the advertising section of Analytics.

What do I need to do?

The good news is, you most likely don't need to do anything. Here's why:

• Automatic Update: Google Analytics will automatically update the labels behind the scenes. So, you'll see "key events" where you used to see "conversions" in most reports.
  

• Data Stays the Same: All your past conversion data is safe and sound. It will just be categorized under "key events" now.

Conversions which you import into Google Ads will be marked as conversions still within their separate report.

Why are Google changing this?

Google's claiming they want to make things clearer, due to 'conversions' in Google Ads not matching up with 'conversions' in GA4 due to a huge range of factors, including how different platforms claim responsibility for a click.

None of that is being changed, except the term 'conversion' is now only used within Advertising reports, so you'll never see a mismatch.

Any Takeaways?

It's an odd solution to not a huge problem, but it does factor into a wider issue with GA4.

When Google removed 'Goals', they also removed a lot of accessible event and funnel data which allowed you to see which important actions other than a conversion users carried out. In GA4 a 'Conversion' is a very specific connotation, and not something people mark up lightly in fear of making their reports meaningless.

The name change reflects how we should be treating our data. Mark up more, track more mid-importance interactions. Filter your reports to show only the most key events as conversions, but those smaller events along the way are well worth recording.