GA4 Custom Events: A Complete Guide

In the world of digital analytics, understanding how users interact with your website or app is the key to improving performance. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) gives you powerful flexibility to measure these interactions using events.

While GA4 automatically tracks many user interactions (like page views, scrolls, and clicks), sometimes you’ll need to measure actions unique to your business — things that GA4 doesn’t track by default.

That’s where GA4 Custom Events come in.

In this guide, we’ll explain what GA4 custom events are, how to create them, how to send them through Google Tag Manager (GTM), and how to analyze them in your reports.

💡 What Are GA4 Custom Events?

In simple terms, custom events in GA4 are events that you define yourself.

These are not automatically tracked by Google Analytics — you decide when they trigger, what they’re called, and what data they carry.

🔍 Example:

Let’s say you run an eCommerce website and want to track when users:

• Click the “Download Brochure” button
• Watch 75% of a product video
• Use a pricing calculator
• Submit a contact form (via AJAX)

GA4 doesn’t automatically track these, but with custom events, you can set up and measure them easily.

⚙️ Types of Events in GA4

Before diving deeper into custom events, let’s quickly understand the four types of events in GA4:

1. Automatically Collected Events – These fire by default (e.g., page_view, session_start).
2. Enhanced Measurement Events – Additional interactions GA4 can track automatically (e.g., scroll, file_download, video_start).
3. Recommended Events – Google’s predefined events for common business actions (e.g., sign_up, purchase, login).
4. Custom Events – Events you create yourself when none of the above fit your tracking needs.

🧠 Pro Tip: Always check Google’s recommended events list before creating a custom event. Using recommended names helps GA4 automatically populate relevant reports.

🎯 Why Use GA4 Custom Events?

Custom events help you:

• Track unique interactions specific to your website or business.
• Measure goals that GA4 doesn’t automatically record.
• Send custom parameters (like product type, plan name, or button location).
• Build more meaningful conversions and audiences.
• Get deeper insights into your marketing performance.

Basically, custom events let you tailor GA4 to your exact measurement needs — no limitations.

🪜 Step-by-Step: How to Create a Custom Event in GA4

There are two main ways to create and track custom events in GA4:

1. Directly inside the GA4 interface, or
2. Through Google Tag Manager (GTM) — which gives you much more control.

Let’s go through both methods 👇

🧩 Method 1: Create a Custom Event in GA4 Interface

If you already have a base event (for example, page_view or click) and just want to create a new one based on specific conditions, GA4 lets you do that inside the UI.

Steps:

1. Open your Google Analytics 4 property.
2. Go to Admin → Events → Create Event.
3. Click Create.
4. Enter a name for your new event, e.g., download_brochure.
5. Under Matching Conditions, choose the event you want to base it on (like click).
6. Add a condition (e.g., link_text equals “Download Brochure”).
7. Optionally, add parameters or modify existing ones.
8. Click Create.

Now GA4 will automatically log this new custom event every time the condition matches.

✅ Best for: Simple on-site interactions already tracked by another base event.

🧠 Method 2: Create GA4 Custom Events Using Google Tag Manager (Recommended)

For more control, flexibility, and reliability, use Google Tag Manager to send custom events to GA4.

Example: Track a “Download Brochure” button click

Step 1: Enable Click Variables

In GTM:

1. Go to Variables → click Configure.
2. Enable all under “Clicks” (Click ID, Click Classes, Click Text, etc.).

Step 2: Create a Trigger

1. Go to Triggers → New.
2. Choose Trigger Type → Just Links (or All Elements if needed).
3. Set it to fire on clicks where:
   • Click Text equals “Download Brochure”, or
   • Click URL contains brochure.pdf.
4. Name your trigger: Brochure Click Trigger.
5. Save.

Step 3: Create a GA4 Event Tag

1. Go to Tags → New.
2. Choose Tag Type → GA4 Event.
3. Select your GA4 Configuration Tag.
4. Under Event Name, enter: download_brochure
5. Add Event Parameters (optional but recommended):
   • Parameter name: file_type
     Value: pdf
   • Parameter name: page_title
     Value: {{Page Title}}
6. Under Triggering, choose Brochure Click Trigger.
7. Save.

Step 4: Test in Preview Mode

1. Click Preview in GTM.
2. Go to your site and click the “Download Brochure” button.
3. In the GTM debug panel, check that the tag fires.
4. Go to GA4 → DebugView to confirm the download_brochure event appears.

Step 5: Publish and Verify

If everything looks good, publish your GTM container.
Then, in GA4 → Reports → Engagement → Events, you’ll see your custom event listed within 24 hours.

📈 Turning a Custom Event into a Conversion in GA4

Once your event is being tracked successfully, you can mark it as a conversion.

Steps:

1. Go to Admin → Events in GA4.
2. Find your event (e.g., download_brochure).
3. Toggle the “Mark as conversion” switch.

From now on, every time that event fires, GA4 will count it as a conversion.

🧮 Example Custom Event Ideas

Here are some examples of useful GA4 custom events you can track:

By tracking such events, you’ll have more meaningful data to measure user engagement and conversion behavior.

🧠 Best Practices for GA4 Custom Events

Here are a few tips to ensure your custom events are clean and useful:

1. Use consistent naming:
   Use lowercase, underscores, and descriptive names (e.g., cta_click, not CtaClick).
2. Limit the number of custom parameters:
   GA4 only registers up to 50 event-scoped custom dimensions per property, so choose wisely.
3. Use recommended events first:
   If your action matches a recommended GA4 event, use that name instead of a new one.
4. Document your setup:
   Maintain a simple spreadsheet listing each event name, trigger condition, and parameters.
5. Always test before publishing:
   Use GTM Preview Mode and GA4 DebugView to ensure events fire correctly.

🔍 Viewing Custom Events in GA4 Reports

You can view your custom event data in several ways:

1. Realtime Report

• Go to Reports → Realtime.
• You’ll see your event fire immediately under “Event count by Event name.”

2. Events Report

• Go to Reports → Engagement → Events.
• Find your event in the list and click it for deeper analysis.

3. Explore (Custom Reports)

Use the Explore section in GA4 to create custom funnels or segment users who triggered specific events.

Example:
Create a funnel to see how many users who viewed your pricing page also triggered contact_form_submit.

⚡ Common Issues (and Fixes)

1. Event not appearing in GA4:
   • Wait up to 24 hours (GA4 batch processes data).
   • Check DebugView for real-time confirmation.
   • Make sure your tag is linked to the correct GA4 Measurement ID.
2. Duplicate events firing:
   • Ensure your trigger fires once per interaction.
   • Avoid multiple overlapping triggers (e.g., All Clicks + specific Click Trigger).
3. Missing event parameters:
   • Register custom dimensions in Admin → Custom definitions if you want them visible in reports.

✅ Final Thoughts

GA4 custom events give you full flexibility to measure what truly matters to your business — not just what Google tracks automatically.

By defining your own events, you can measure key interactions like form submissions, downloads, video views, and custom conversions with precision.

Here’s the quick recap:

1. Identify the user actions you want to track.
2. Create a trigger in GTM for those interactions.
3. Send a GA4 Event tag with a clear, descriptive name.
4. Test in DebugView and publish.
5. Mark important events as conversions.

With this setup, you’ll move beyond basic analytics and start collecting actionable insights that help you make smarter marketing decisions.

Vrushang Patel

Vrushang Patel is an experienced SEO Analyst and Freelance SEO Specialist with over three years of expertise in boosting online visibility, rankings, and organic growth. Skilled in On-Page, Off-Page, Technical, and Local SEO, he focuses on creating sustainable strategies that deliver real results. When he’s not optimizing websites, Vrushang shares practical SEO insights to help businesses stay ahead in the digital world.