In spring 2024, Google decided to change the terminology used in Analytics. To distinguish them from the conversions used by Google Ads, Google Analytics events previously labeled “conversion” become key events.
For advertisers who have their Google Ads account linked with Analytics, Google Ads conversions created from key events in Analytics will appear as conversions in the “Advertising” section in Analytics.
Key events
Key events in Google Analytics measure interactions that are important from the perspective of the site or app owner. This could be, for example, a product purchase, adding it to the cart, or a newsletter subscription.
The Analytics account administrator decides which of the reported events are key events for them, marking them in the Analytics account settings. The exception is the purchase event, which will always be a key event.
For key events, a wider range of reports can be created than for “regular” events. In particular, attribution modeling in Google Analytics is available only for events marked as key events.
The attribution model defined in the Analytics settings is used to attribute traffic sources to key events.
See also the Google Analytics help article.
Conversions
Conversions can be created from key events to enable performance measurement and optimization of Google Ads campaigns. In other words, these are key events imported into Google Ads that can serve as a campaign goal used to optimize toward that goal.
If a conversion is created from an event that isn’t a key event, that event automatically becomes a key event.
For attributing Google Ads campaigns to conversions, the attribution model specified in the conversion settings is used, taking into account the channel settings that can be credited with conversions (paid and organic channels or Google paid channels only). More on this in the article on attribution in Google Analytics.
Conversions in Google Analytics
A conversion created from a key event in Analytics will be visible in the Analytics reports related to Google Ads.
Google announced [April 2024] the introduction of new features and tools for advertisers in Analytics, as well as additional reports on conversions in GA4.
The goal of the changes is to unify conversion reporting across Google Ads and Analytics.
