Guide 69 · Reports · GA4 + Tag Manager
Build a segment in Explorations: define a group once, reuse it everywhere
A segment is a saved subset of users, sessions, or events that match conditions you set. Build it in Explorations, then apply it to any technique as a comparison.
After step 6, the segment is saved and applied to a free-form table, where its sessions, engagement rate, and key event rate sit beside the All users baseline.
Download the report reference: the Free-form with segments reference (JSON) (1325 bytes, MD5 9a4044ccad2c12fc7dcb370f5839a744). It holds the report or exploration definition and the worked example with the recomputed figures shown on this page.
What you need
- Viewer access or above on the property to build a segment.
- The entry point: Explore in the left navigation, then any blank exploration.
- The group defined in one sentence first — for example, users who completed a purchase within 7 days of their first visit. A segment that cannot be said in one sentence cannot be built cleanly.
The trace
- Open Explore and start a blank exploration. Click Explore in the left navigation, then click the create icon for a blank exploration. The Variables panel on the left holds a Segments section.
- Create the segment. In the Variables panel, click the add icon beside Segments. The segment builder opens with three scopes to choose from.
- Pick the scope that matches the sentence. A user segment groups people by conditions across all their sessions. A session segment groups visits. An event segment groups individual events. Users who purchased is a user segment; sessions that included a purchase is a session segment. Picking the wrong scope changes every number the segment returns.
- Set the condition. Add the condition that defines the group — for example, event name equals purchase, with a time condition of within 7 days of first visit. Name the segment after the condition, for example, Purchased within 7 days. A segment named Test 1 is impossible to find a week later.
- Apply it to a tab. Double-click the segment in Variables, or drag it into Tab Settings. The segment applies to the current tab as a comparison against All users. You can apply up to 10 segments per exploration.
- Save the exploration. Save the exploration so the segment is kept with it. Segments built in an exploration are available to other explorations in the same property.
Dead ends
DEAD END — BUILDING A USER SEGMENT WHEN YOU MEANT A SESSION SEGMENT. A user segment includes all of a person's sessions, even the ones before the condition. A session segment includes only the sessions that match. The scope is the answer; picking it wrong changes it.
DEAD END — A SEGMENT WITH NO NAME. An unnamed segment is lost the moment the exploration closes. Name it after its condition the moment you build it.
DEAD END — APPLYING MORE THAN 10 SEGMENTS. An exploration takes up to 10 segments. An eleventh cannot be added; split the analysis across two explorations instead.
End state
A segment is a reusable definition of a group. The worked example below recomputes engagement and key event rates for two segments, so the group can be compared with the property baseline on quality, not volume.
Worked example — stated inputs, recomputed results. The segments below are stated inputs for the example. Every rate in the table was recomputed from them.
| Row | Sessions | Engaged sessions | Engagement rate | Key events | Key event rate | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purchased within 7 days | 480 | 432 | 90.0% | 480 | 100.0% | $0.00 |
| All users | 4,390 | 2,551 | 58.1% | 260 | 5.9% | $5,420.50 |
| Total | 4,870 | 2,983 | 61.3% | 740 | 15.2% | $5,420.50 |
Revenue per session is $5,420.50 ÷ 4,870 sessions = $1.11. Engagement rate is 2,983 ÷ 4,870 = 61.3%.
Sources
- Analytics Help — Get started with Explorations — segments are subsets of users; apply a segment by double-clicking it or dragging it into Tab Settings; up to 10 segments per exploration; you can create new segments from your data
- Analytics Help — Confirm that you are collecting data — many reports and explorations can take 24 to 48 hours to process data
Checked 11 November 2026. The click paths above are the ones in Google's help pages, opened or read 11 November 2026 (the Explorations and detail-report pages were opened in full; the report, library, navigation and thresholds pages were read from Google's help results the same day, after the browser hit a rate limit). No step in this guide was run inside a live Analytics property, because that needs a Google sign-in and this site does not sign in as anyone. The worked-example figures on this page were recomputed in Python with decimal arithmetic, and the downloadable JSON file carries the same recomputed figures. Google moves menu items without warning; if a path on this page no longer matches, the linked help page is the current map.