Google Analytics 4 is the version of Google Analytics that replaced Universal Analytics, which stopped processing data in July 2023 for standard properties. GA4 models everything a visitor does as an event, from a page view to a sign-up, and lets you mark important events as key events (what were once called conversions). For a SaaS company it is commonly the tool that links an organic visit to a trial or demo request.
How GA4 thinks about data
Every interaction is an event with optional parameters. Some events are collected automatically, such as page_view and session_start, and enhanced measurement can add scrolls, outbound clicks and file downloads. Others you define yourself, such as sign_up or demo_request, using Google’s recommended event names where they fit.
Sessions still exist, but they are built from events. Users are counted through device identifiers, and optionally a user ID you supply when someone logs in.
gtag('event', 'sign_up', {
method: 'google',
plan: 'free_trial'
});Seeing organic search in GA4
GA4 groups traffic into channels using its default channel group. Organic Search covers visits from search engines that were not paid ads. To see how organic visitors convert, look at the traffic acquisition report by session default channel group, or build an exploration that shows key events by landing page for organic sessions only.
GA4 does not show which search query brought a visitor; search engines do not pass it. Search Console fills that gap, and you can link the two products so some Search Console data appears inside GA4.
Setting it up for a SaaS funnel
Most of the value comes from the events you define. Default setup tells you about traffic; your own events tell you about customers.
- Track the actions that lead to revenue: sign_up, demo_request, trial_start, and an activation event that means the user got value.
- Mark those as key events so they appear in acquisition reports.
- Pass a user ID when people log in, so marketing-site visits and in-app activity can be joined where your privacy terms allow it.
- Send key events or user IDs to your CRM so you can follow a visit through to an opportunity.
- Configure consent mode if you need consent for analytics in the regions you serve.
Known gaps
Ad blockers, browser privacy features and declined consent mean GA4 undercounts real visits, by an amount that varies by audience. Reports with small numbers may also be thresholded or show modeled data. Use GA4 for trends and comparisons, and your billing or CRM system as the record of who actually became a customer.
Example
Following organic visitors to activation
Hypothetical company Draftbase tracks sign_up and a custom event, first_doc_shared, which its product team treats as activation. In a GA4 exploration it compares organic sessions landing on comparison pages with organic sessions landing on blog posts.
The comparison pages bring far fewer sessions but a larger share of sign-ups that go on to share a document. That shapes the next quarter’s content plan more than total traffic does.
Common mistakes
Tracking only page views
Without sign-up and activation events, GA4 can tell you about visitors but not about customers.
Using UTMs on internal links
Tagging links within your own site restarts attribution and makes organic visits look like they came from internal campaigns.
Treating it as the revenue record
GA4 undercounts and samples. Revenue and customer counts belong in billing and CRM systems.
Questions
No. Standard Universal Analytics properties stopped processing data in July 2023, and Google later removed access to the old properties and their data.
It is an event you mark as important to your business, such as a sign-up. Google renamed conversions in GA4 to key events in 2024, and uses “conversions” for what is shared with Google Ads.
Product analytics tools usually track in-app behavior well and marketing sources less well. Many SaaS teams use GA4 for the marketing site and a product analytics tool inside the app, joined by user ID.
