7 GA4 set-up mistakes that hide your real leads

Google Analytics 4 is installed on most business websites, yet many owners still cannot answer a simple question: how many enquiries did we get last month, and where did they come from? Usually GA4 is there, but set up in a way that hides the answer. Here are seven common mistakes and how to check for each one.

1. No key events (conversions) set up

Out of the box, GA4 counts visits and page views. It does not know that a form submission or a phone click matters more than a page view. Until you mark these actions as key events, every report treats a casual visitor and a new customer the same.

Check: in GA4, go to Admin, then Events, and see which events are marked as key events. If you only see the defaults, nothing important is being counted.

2. Counting form views instead of form submissions

A common shortcut is to count visits to the contact page as leads. But many people open a contact page and never send anything. Count the actual submission: the form’s sent event, or a visit to the thank-you page that only appears after sending.

3. Phone and WhatsApp clicks not tracked

For many local businesses, most enquiries arrive by phone or WhatsApp, not forms. If clicks on your phone number and WhatsApp button are not tracked, your reports can show “no leads” while your phone is ringing. Track clicks on links starting with tel: and on links to wa.me or api.whatsapp.com.

4. Your own visits mixed in

You and your staff visit your website every day. Without filtering internal traffic, your visits inflate the numbers, and test form submissions can look like real leads. Define internal traffic by IP address in GA4 and activate the filter.

5. Two tracking codes on the same page

When a website has GA4 added by a plugin and again through Google Tag Manager or the theme, every page view and event can be counted twice. Your traffic looks better than it is and your conversion rate looks worse. Check your page source or use Google’s Tag Assistant to see how many times the tag fires.

6. Data retention left at two months

GA4 keeps detailed event data for only two months by default. After that, you cannot build detailed reports on older data. Change it to 14 months under Admin, Data collection and modification, Data retention. It takes ten seconds and cannot be applied retrospectively, so do it now.

7. GA4 not linked to Google Ads and Search Console

Without the links, you cannot see which ads and which search queries led to enquiries. Linking Google Ads lets you import your key events as conversions, so Google can optimise for leads instead of clicks. Linking Search Console shows which searches bring visitors to each page.

A quick health check you can do today

• Send yourself a test enquiry and check it appears as a key event in GA4’s real-time report.
• Click your phone number and WhatsApp button on your mobile and check those events appear too.
• Look at last month’s key events by source: can you see how many leads came from Google search, ads, social media and direct visits?

If you can answer that last question, your tracking is in good shape. If not, every marketing decision you make is partly a guess.

Need it fixed?

Our GA4 Set Up starts at $79 one-time: GA4, Google Tag Manager, key events for forms, calls and WhatsApp, and the Search Console link. The Advanced package adds custom conversions, the Google Ads link and a Looker Studio dashboard. If you run Facebook or Instagram ads, pair it with Meta Pixel and Conversions API set up.