Automatic Events In GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
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What events does GA4 (Google Analytics 4) track automatically?
When you install Google Analytics on your website, you will automatically collect a number of events into your reports. You can think of these built-in events as the foundations of your reports – they’re used to send critical details to your reports, including when somebody visits your website for the first time, when their session starts, and the pages they view. They’re also used to calculate how long people spend on your website and view your content.
Events that are automatically tracked into your GA4 property include:
| Event Name | Description |
|---|---|
| first_visit | This event is used to report if someone is a new visitor to your website. It’s collected when someone visits your website for the first time, and there’s no existing Google Analytics cookie in their browser. |
| page_view | This event is used to report on the different pages people view on your website. It’s collected when someone loads a page. |
| session_start | This event is used to report when someone lands on your website and starts a new session. It’s collected when someone visits your website and any previous session has timed out. |
| user_engagement | This event is used to calculate how long people spend viewing your website and to calculate the engagement metrics in Google Analytics. It’s collected when someone navigates to another page, or they close their browser. |
Automatic Events Tracked By Enhanced Measurement
When you create a web stream in GA4, the Enhanced Measurement feature will be enabled by default. You can disable and enable these automatic events in Google Analytics by opening the data stream and selecting the configuration icon for ‘Enhanced Measurement’. Here’s an example of what you’ll see for your data stream:
Enhanced Measurement will automatically track important actions people can take on your website. Events that can be collected by Enhanced Measurement include:
| Event Name | Description |
|---|---|
| click | This event is used to report when someone clicks an outbound link from your website to another website. It’s collected when a link is clicked that doesn’t match the current domain. |
| file_download | This event is used to report when someone downloads a file from your website. It’s collected when a link containing one of the pre-defined file extensions is clicked. |
| form_start | This event is used to report when someone engages with a form field. It’s collected when a field is selected within a form. |
| form_submit | This event is used to report when someone completes a form on your website. It’s collected when a form is submitted. |
| scroll | This event is used to report when someone scrolls a page on your website. It’s collected when someone scrolls 90% of a page. |
| video_complete | This event is used to report when someone finishes watching an embedded YouTube video on your website. It’s collected when the video ends. |
| video_progress | This event is used to report when someone watches 25%, 50%, or 75% of an embedded YouTube video. |
| video_start | This event is used to report when someone clicks to play an embedded YouTube video. |
| view_search_results | This event is used to track the internal search function on your website. It’s collected when someone views a URL on your website that contains a query parameter that’s been identified as providing search results on your website. |
To learn more about events in GA4, you can watch our video tutorial:
Plus, our GA4 course and these articles will help you learn even more about events in Google Analytics:
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