A client asked me to review landing page performance. GA4 showed the homepage had a higher conversion rate than a detailed landing page with case studies and testimonials.
The next move? Right. “Simplicity wins — let’s remove the extra content.”
But...
In GA4, conversion rate isn't just one thing. It can mean:
• User Key Event Rate — % of users who converted
• Session Key Event Rate — % of sessions with a conversion
Depending on context, GA4 changes the denominator:
• In page reports - sessions where the page was viewed
• In user reports - user visits
And GA4 labels which one it’s using. But everything people see is the “Conversion rate”. Without deeper explanation.
GA4 didn’t break — it did exactly what it was told. But no one clarified how it calculated conversion rate.
Now, before trusting any number, I:
• Confirm the denominator — user, session, or something new?
• Check which events count as conversions — and where they fire.
• Avoid comparing CR in GA4 UI — I export to BigQuery
• Recalculate manually in BI - % of unique users in the particular cohort who performed a conversion event.
That's it.
Conversion rate is powerful — but only if you know what’s behind it. If you don’t know the formula, the insight is just a guess.
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