Guide 181 · Conversions · GA4 + Tag Manager
Key event rate by channel in GA4: compare organic, paid, and direct on the same key event
One property-wide rate hides the channels. Organic search can convert at twice the rate of paid search, or the other way round, and the blended rate shows neither. This guide reads the session key event rate per channel in Traffic acquisition, compares organic, paid, and direct on generate_lead, and works out which channel earns the next dollar.
After the steps, the generate_lead key event appears under the Key events tab in Admin, and the standard reports show it within a day. The worked example below gives the count and the rate to expect.
Download the reference: the generate_lead key-event reference (JSON) (953 bytes, MD5 a1e9cb15f7bcdc5c2569b826de121e74). It holds the event name, the counting method, the worked-example figures recomputed for this guide, and the checkpoints that prove the key event is recording. The figures in the file are the same figures shown on this page.
What you need
- Editor access or above at property level in GA4. Marking an event as a key event is a property setting, and the star in the Events table does not appear for a Viewer.
- At least one key event marked, so every channel row has a numerator. In this guide the marked event is generate_lead.
- Traffic tagged so the channels are real: auto-tagging on for Google Ads, and UTM parameters on the other campaigns. Untagged paid traffic lands in the wrong row.
The trace
- Open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. The table lists sessions by Session default channel group, with Sessions and Sessions with key events on each row.
- Filter the key event dropdown to generate_lead. The table must count one key event on every row. Without the filter, the rows count all marked events together, and the comparison is meaningless.
- Read the organic row. In the worked example organic search shows 1,100 sessions and 165 sessions with a key event, which is 165 / 1,100 = 15.00%.
- Read the paid row. Paid search shows 800 sessions and 72 sessions with a key event, which is 72 / 800 = 9.00%. Organic converts at 15.00% against paid at 9.00%, a gap of 6.00 percentage points.
- Read the direct row. Direct shows 500 sessions and 35 sessions with a key event, which is 35 / 500 = 7.00%. The three rows add to 2,400 sessions and 272 sessions with a key event, which is a blended rate of 272 / 2,400 = 11.33%.
- Check the share of key events, not just the rate. Organic holds 165 of the 272 sessions with a key event, which is 165 / 272 = 60.66%. Paid holds 72, which is 72 / 272 = 26.47%. The rate says how well a channel converts; the share says how much of the result it supplies.
Dead ends
DEAD END — COMPARING RATES WITHOUT THE FILTER. An unfiltered table mixes purchase with generate_lead, and a channel that sells well looks like a channel that generates leads well. Filter to one key event, then compare.
DEAD END — JUDGING A CHANNEL ON A DOZEN SESSIONS. A channel with 12 sessions and 3 key events shows a rate of 25.00%, which says nothing. The rows in this guide run from 500 to 1,100 sessions, which is the smallest size worth comparing.
DEAD END — CALLING DIRECT TRAFFIC A CHANNEL STRATEGY. Direct is the bucket for visits GA4 cannot attribute, including returning visitors and untagged campaigns. A direct rate of 7.00% describes the bucket, not a campaign, and it moves when tagging improves.
End state
Organic search converts best on generate_lead at 15.00%, ahead of paid search at 9.00% and direct at 7.00%. The blended rate across the three channels is 11.33% on 2,400 sessions.
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Organic sessions | 1,100 |
| Organic sessions with a key event | 165 |
| Organic session key event rate | 15.00% |
| Paid sessions | 800 |
| Paid sessions with a key event | 72 |
| Paid session key event rate | 9.00% |
| Direct sessions | 500 |
| Direct sessions with a key event | 35 |
| Direct session key event rate | 7.00% |
| All sessions | 2,400 |
| All sessions with a key event | 272 |
| Blended session key event rate | 11.33% |
The channel rates are 165 / 1,100 = 15.00%, 72 / 800 = 9.00%, and 35 / 500 = 7.00%, and the blended rate is 272 / 2,400 = 11.33%, all recomputed in Python 3 and rounded to two places. Organic holds 165 / 272 = 60.66% of the sessions with a key event, and paid holds 72 / 272 = 26.47%. The figures are a worked example, not a real property.
Sources
- Analytics Help — Conversions vs. key events in Google Analytics — what a key event is, the event to key event to conversion flow, and where Google Ads conversions appear
- Analytics Help — About key events — marking an event as a key event, the 30-event limit for a standard property, and 50 for Analytics 360
Checked 11 November 2026. The click path above is the one in Google's help pages, read 11 November 2026. The Key events column and the key event dropdown in Traffic acquisition, and session key event rate as sessions with a key event divided by sessions, are as Google documents them. No step in this guide was run inside a live Analytics property, because the reports need a Google sign-in and this site does not sign in as anyone. The figures on this page are a worked example recomputed in Python 3 with decimal arithmetic, not numbers from a real property. Google moves menu items without warning; if a path on this page no longer matches, the linked help page is the current map.