The short answer
Start from what a good visitor does that makes you money: a purchase, a booking, a quote request, a call. Pick one to three main conversions, count each real-world outcome once, and check the monthly total against your inbox, calendar and call log. Page views and scrolls are not conversions.
Start with a pen, not the analytics tool
Do not start in the analytics tool. Start with a plain question: what does a good visitor do that makes you money? For a clinic it is a booked appointment. For a law firm it may be a consultation request. For a B2B software company it may be a demo booking. For a shop it is a purchase.
Then ask how that outcome shows up on the website. It might be a thank-you page, a button tap, a phone call or a message in a chat window. Whatever it is, that is a candidate conversion. GA4 records some events on its own, such as file downloads and form interactions, but nothing is a conversion until someone decides it is and marks it. That decision belongs to you, and it is the reason this page exists.
The definitions behind it, such as main versus micro conversions, conversion rate and how ad platforms count them, live in the Learn section. For the full explanation, read Conversion rate math and Conversion tracking and attribution. The rest of this page is about choosing for your business.
What to count, by business type
Use this table as a starting list, then cross out anything that does not fit how your business takes work on.
| Business type | Main conversions | Useful supporting steps | Often forgotten | How to confirm it was real |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local service (plumber, clinic, salon) | Phone call, booking, contact form | Directions tap, opening hours view | Calls from mobile; calls from Google Business Profile | Call log and booking calendar |
| Professional services | Consultation request, call | Case study view, team page view | Which page the enquiry came from | Your CRM or inbox, with the source noted |
| Online shop | Purchase, with value | Add to cart, checkout started | Refunds and returns that cancel the sale | Orders in the shop admin |
| B2B or SaaS | Demo booking, trial start | Pricing view, resource download | Qualification: not every form is a real lead | Sales team count of qualified leads |
| Restaurant or venue | Table booking, order, call | Menu view, map tap | Bookings through third-party platforms | The booking system itself |
| Content or membership site | Subscription, signup | Newsletter signup, return visit | Paid versus free signups | Member list in your platform |
When you have more than one goal
Many businesses have two or three ways to get work, and the report has to pick a headline. The question is which outcome you would be happiest to see more of, not which is easiest to count.
| Your situation | Headline conversion | Count separately | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most work arrives by phone | Calls, with form enquiries beside them | Taps on the number versus tracked calls | Calls usually close faster, and a form-only report hides them |
| Forms and calls both matter | A combined enquiries line | Each source underneath it | You see the total and which door people use |
| Long sales cycle | Qualified enquiries, not all forms | Raw form fills as a supporting line | Many forms never become real leads |
| Bookings through a third party | Clicks to the booking page, labeled as such | Real bookings from the third-party report | The site only sees the click, not the booking |
| Shop with many returns | Net orders after returns | Gross orders as a supporting line | Gross orders overstate what the site earned |
Resist marking every event as a conversion. If everything is a conversion, nothing is. Page views, scrolls and time on page are not conversions for most businesses.
Check the total against what you really received
Once a month, take ten minutes to compare the report's conversion total with your own records. This is the single best check you have, because it needs no technical knowledge.
- 1Pick a recent full month and note the conversion total in the report, split by source if it is split.
- 2Count the form emails in your inbox for the same dates, leaving out obvious spam and test messages.
- 3Count the calls from your phone log or call-tracking provider, and the bookings in your calendar or booking system.
- 4Write the real total next to the reported total.
- 5If they are close, move on. A small gap is normal, because tracking can miss visitors who decline cookies.
- 6If the report is far above reality, or the gap grows month after month, send us both numbers and the dates.
Where inflated totals come from on a small business site
When a total is too high, the cause is nearly always that one real outcome was recorded more than once, or that something that was not an outcome was counted as one. These are the ones we look at first.
- A visitor reloads the thank-you page or returns to it from a bookmark, and the conversion fires again.
- The same phone call is counted by a tap on the number and again by a call tracking number.
- A form sends both a submit event and a thank-you page view, and both are counted.
- Spam or test submissions are counted as real enquiries.
An example
Example: Illustrative example only: the numbers are made up
A physiotherapy practice reported "62 conversions" a month. Digging in, they were counting form submissions (21), taps on the phone number (24), and page views of the booking thank-you page (17), where some people reloaded or revisited. The real bookings, checked against the practice calendar, were 29. The fix was to keep one booking trigger and count calls separately as their own main conversion. The corrected report showed 21 form enquiries and 24 call taps. Conversions looked lower on paper, but the numbers could finally be trusted, and the practice could see that calls, not forms, were the bigger channel.
Decisions we need from you
Choosing conversions is partly a business decision, and we cannot make it for you. When we set up or review your tracking, these are the questions we will ask. Having answers ready makes the work quicker.
- Which outcome would you be happiest to see more of this quarter?
- What does a good enquiry look like, and what do you want kept out of the count?
- Do you want calls counted, and how do you log them today?
- Is there a value you can put on an enquiry, even a rough one, that you are comfortable seeing in reports?
- Do any services matter more than others, so they deserve their own line?
When to ask us
Ask us if you are not sure what to count, if your conversion total is far above what you actually received, or if a new service or form needs tracking. A person on our team can review what is currently counted and suggest what to change. Send it through the support form and choose Report or analytics question. Any change to tracking on your site goes to a preview link for your approval before it goes live.
- Which outcomes matter most to you, in your own words.
- Your own count of enquiries or sales for a recent month, so we can compare.
- The pages or forms involved, as links.
- Never send passwords. Attachments go as Google Drive, Dropbox or Loom links.
