Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers dozens of metrics, but for most websites the essential ones are:
- Users and sessions: traffic volume, broken down by channel (organic, direct, social, paid).
- Engagement rate: replaces bounce rate in GA4. It measures the percentage of sessions that lasted more than 10 seconds, triggered a conversion event, or viewed more than 1 page.
- Conversions (key events): form submissions, WhatsApp clicks, downloads. Set up custom events for every important action.
- Most visited pages: identify which content generates the most traffic and conversions.
- Traffic sources: where your visitors come from (Google, social media, referral, direct).
A common mistake is looking only at pageviews and total users. These vanity metrics say nothing about business results. Focus on metrics that connect traffic to revenue: conversions, value per session, and attribution by channel.