---
title: "What is Key events in GA4? | Kodalogic"
description: "Key events are the events in Google Analytics 4 that you mark as the ones that matter to the business: a purchase, a lead form, a sign-up, a call."
url: https://kodalogic.com/glossary/key-events
---

[Glossary](/glossary)/Key events

Google Analytics 4 · Metric

# What is Key events?

Key events are the events in [Google Analytics 4](/glossary/ga4) that you mark as the ones that matter to the business: a purchase, a lead form, a sign-up, a call. They were called conversions until March 2024, when Google renamed them to reserve the word conversion for Google Ads.

Sessions11,960

Key events318

Purchases74

A key event is the event you told GA4 counts as a result.

Data source

Google Analytics 4

Type

Metric

API field

[keyEvents](/reference/ga4-fields)

## Why it matters

Marking an event as key is what turns a behaviour log into a report about outcomes. Without key events a dashboard can only say how many people came and what they clicked; with them it can say how many did the thing you wanted, per channel, per page, per campaign.

## How to read it

Mark few and mark well: a site with fifteen key events has none. Check the counting method (once per event or once per session) because it changes the totals, and remember that key events imported into Google Ads become that account's conversions, which is where the two names meet.

## In a Data Studio report

In a Data Studio (formerly [Looker Studio](/glossary/looker-studio)) report key events are the second scorecard of the overview, the key event rate next to it, and the conversions page: key events by event name, over time, and by device, channel and city.

## Where to find it in Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4: Reports, then Engagement, then Key events; marked under Admin, then Data display, then Events, with the Mark as key event toggle.

Shown in these dashboards

* [![Google Analytics 4 Dashboard for Data Studio dashboard](https://kodalogic.com/cdn/templates_images/0222_0WG5IECFKCHKAUTGY4O1AIO8L0YIM9D5_0000.webp)](/template/google-analytics-4-template-for-looker-studio)  
[Google Analytics 4 Dashboard for Data Studio](/template/google-analytics-4-template-for-looker-studio)$129
* [![Web & SEO Dashboard for Data Studio — GA4 + Search Console dashboard](https://kodalogic.com/cdn/templates_images/0234_OWGD0CDWC95GHLYIXC8I0K97PT5ZRQVE_0000.webp)](/template/web--seo-performance-dashboard)  
[Web & SEO Dashboard for Data Studio — GA4 + Search Console](/template/web--seo-performance-dashboard)$214
* [![GA4 + Google Ads Dashboard for Data Studio dashboard](https://kodalogic.com/cdn/templates_images/0531_BAM0ZAK8YRLTQ9O5W39RPBLKDSW1GBON_0000.png)](/template/ga4--google-ads-dashboard)  
[GA4 + Google Ads Dashboard for Data Studio](/template/ga4--google-ads-dashboard)$214
* [![All-in-One Marketing Dashboard for Data Studio dashboard](https://kodalogic.com/cdn/templates_images/0235_VE78OLDV9VA3KZRHCCPIEFB0MQ7ZW8Y7_0000.webp)](/template/all-in-one-dashboard-looker-studio-web-seo-ads)  
[All-in-One Marketing Dashboard for Data Studio](/template/all-in-one-dashboard-looker-studio-web-seo-ads)$289
[See the dashboards](/templates)

![Key events on the Conversions page of the Google Analytics 4 Dashboard for Data Studio](/informes/2026-09-02/google-analytics-4-template-for-looker-studio/07.webp)

First scorecard, then broken down by event name.Page 7, Conversions, of the [Google Analytics 4 Dashboard for Data Studio](/template/google-analytics-4-template-for-looker-studio).[Open the live demo](https://lookerstudio.google.com/embed/reporting/fb97e8f9-0817-4b2b-9b0d-16cb50407e13/page/p%5Ffo1dxij6ld) to see it with real data.

## See it in a report

[Google Analytics 4 dashboard](/template/google-analytics-4-template-for-looker-studio)[GA4 + Google Ads dashboard](/template/ga4--google-ads-dashboard)

## Related terms

* [Looker Studio](/glossary/looker-studio)
* [GA4](/glossary/ga4)
* [Referral traffic](/glossary/referral-traffic)
* [Data stream](/glossary/data-stream)
* [Site search](/glossary/site-search)
* [Event count](/glossary/event-count)

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