Conversion

Conversion is the completion of an action you have defined as valuable, such as a purchase, a form submission, a newsletter sign-up, a phone call, or a file download. Tracking conversions turns raw traffic into a measure of business outcomes, letting you judge whether visitors are doing what you want rather than simply arriving.

Conversions split broadly into two types. A macro conversion is a primary goal that maps directly to revenue or a core objective, like a checkout. A micro conversion is a smaller step that signals progress toward that goal, such as adding to a cart, watching a product video, or creating an account. Tracking both shows where people advance and where they drop off.

In GA4 the underlying unit is the event. You mark the events that matter most as key events (the term that replaced "conversions" in the GA4 interface during 2024), and the platform then reports how often they occur and which channels drive them. This event-based approach is more flexible than the goal system in the older Universal Analytics, because almost any tracked interaction can be promoted to a key event.

Conversion data underpins most other analysis. Conversion rate, the share of sessions or users that convert, helps compare pages and campaigns, while attribution decides which channels earn credit when several touchpoints contribute. Define conversions carefully and consistently, because every downstream report and budget decision inherits whatever you chose to count.

Related: Attribution, Assisted Conversions, GA4