Step-by-Step GA4 - 2

✅ 1. How to Read Attribution Reports in GA4

Goal: Find out which marketing channels help drive conversions.

Steps:

1. Go to your GA4 Property.

2. In the left-side menu, click Advertising.

3. Click Attribution > Attribution models.

4. Select the date range you want to analyze (top right).

5. Choose the conversion event you want to analyze (e.g. purchase, lead_submit).

6. Use the dropdown to compare two models:

   • Data-Driven

   • Paid & Organic Last Click

   • Google Paid Channels Last Click

7. Scroll down to the table:

   • It shows how many conversions and how much revenue each channel (like Paid Search, Organic Search, Direct) got under each model.

8. Use the Add filter button if you want to focus on a specific campaign, device, or region.

9. Analyze:

   • Which channels get more/less credit under different models?

   • Use this to decide which channels to scale or pause.

✅ 2. How to Set Up and Mark Conversion Events

Goal: Track key actions like form submissions or purchases.

Steps:

1. Go to Admin > Events.

2. Click + Create Event.

3. Name your event (e.g. form_submit).

4. Define when this event should fire:

   • Example: If page_location contains /thank-you

5. Click Save.

6. In the same Events list, find your event and click the star icon to mark it as a conversion (now called “key event”).

7. To check if it's working:

   • Go to Reports > Realtime

   • Trigger the event on your site (e.g., fill and submit the form)

   • Look for your custom event name in the Realtime report

✅ 3. How to Filter Out Internal Traffic

🅰️ Option A: By IP Address (Best for offices with fixed IP)

Steps:

1. Go to Admin > Data Streams > Your Web Stream.

2. Click Configure tag settings > Show more > Define internal traffic.

3. Click Create:

   • Name: Office Traffic

   • traffic_type = internal (default)

   • Condition: IP address equals your IP (find it at whatismyipaddress.com)

4. Save.

Now create a filter:
5. Go to Admin > Data Settings > Data Filters.
6. Click Create Filter:

• Type: Internal Traffic

• Operation: Exclude

• Value: internal

• State: Start with Testing mode

7. After verifying in reports, change the state to Active.

🅱️ Option B: Using GTM and Custom Parameters (for dynamic IPs)

Steps:

1. In Google Tag Manager, create a User-Defined Variable:

   • Name: user_type

   • Value: internal (set this only on your browser/computer)

2. In your event tag, send the parameter traffic_type = internal.

3. In GA4, repeat steps from Option A to define a rule based on traffic_type = internal.

4. Create a Data Filter using this rule (same steps as above).

5. Start in Testing mode → Switch to Active after confirming.

✅ 4. How to Adjust Session Timeout and Engaged Session Settings

Goal: Make sure GA4 tracks sessions and engagement properly for your type of content.

Steps:

1. Go to Admin > Data Streams > Your Web Stream.

2. Click Configure tag settings > Show more.

3. Click Adjust session timeout:

   • Set session timeout: e.g., 60 minutes for blogs or long content

   • Set engaged session threshold: e.g., 30–60 seconds instead of the 10-second default

4. Click Save.

📌 Tip: Use higher values if users take longer to read or interact with your content (like articles, tutorials, or product pages).

🔁 Summary Table