How to Set Up Google Analytics 4 and Track Website Enquiries

To track enquiries in Google Analytics 4, you need three things working together: a GA4 property with a web data stream, a tag that sends data from every page (Google Tag Manager is the cleanest way to install it), and key events for the actions that matter to your business, such as form submissions, WhatsApp clicks and phone clicks. Once those are in place, you can see which channels and campaigns bring in enquiries, not just visitors.

This guide walks through the full setup in order. It assumes you have a Google account, permission to edit your website or add a tag to it, and about an hour. The tools are free, and the setup only needs doing once, though it is worth checking every few months.

Step 1: Create a GA4 property and web data stream

1. 1Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with a Google account the business owns. Avoid using a freelancer's or employee's personal account, because whoever owns the account controls the data.
2. 2Open Admin, choose Create, then Property. Give it a clear name, set the reporting time zone to Pakistan and the currency to Pakistani Rupee.
3. 3Fill in the business details and objectives. These mainly affect which reports appear by default, so pick what fits best and move on.
4. 4When asked to choose a platform, select Web. Enter your website URL and a stream name, and leave enhanced measurement switched on.
5. 5Copy the Measurement ID that starts with G-. You will need it in the next step.

One property per website is usually right. If you run separate sites for different businesses, give each its own property so the data stays clean.

Step 2: Install GA4 through Google Tag Manager

You can paste the Google tag code directly into your site, but Google Tag Manager (GTM) is easier to maintain. Once the GTM container is installed, you can add WhatsApp and phone tracking, a Meta Pixel and other tags later without asking a developer to edit the site each time.

1. 1Create a free account at tagmanager.google.com and a Web container for your domain.
2. 2Install the two GTM snippets as instructed: one in the head of every page and one immediately after the opening body tag. On WordPress, a reputable plugin can add these for you.
3. 3In GTM, create a new tag of type Google tag, enter your G- Measurement ID as the Tag ID, and set the trigger to Initialization - All Pages.
4. 4Click Preview to test it, then Submit and Publish. Nothing goes live until you publish the container.

Step 3: Check enhanced measurement

Enhanced measurement collects common interactions automatically, with no extra tags. You find it under Admin, Data streams, then your web stream. It can track:

• Page views, including page changes on single-page sites that use browser history
• Scrolls, when a visitor reaches about 90 percent of the page depth
• Outbound clicks to other domains
• Site search, if your search result URLs use a query parameter
• Engagement with embedded YouTube videos
• File downloads, such as a PDF brochure or price list
• Form interactions, recorded as form_start and form_submit

Treat form interactions with caution. It relies on standard browser form behaviour, and many contact forms built with plugins or JavaScript either do not trigger it or trigger it even when validation fails. Do not use it as your main enquiry count until you have tested it on your own forms.

Step 4: Track form submissions, WhatsApp clicks and phone clicks

For most service businesses in Pakistan, enquiries arrive through three routes: a website form, a WhatsApp chat and a phone call. Each needs its own event.

Form submissions

The reliable approach is to send an event only when the form has actually been sent. There are three common options, in order of preference:

1. 1Ask your developer to push an event to the data layer when the form submits successfully, for example dataLayer.push({ event: 'generate_lead', form_name: 'contact' }). In GTM, use a Custom Event trigger for that event name and attach a Google Analytics: GA4 Event tag.
2. 2If the form redirects to a thank-you page, create a page view trigger where Page Path equals that thank-you URL.
3. 3Use GTM's built-in Form Submission trigger with the Check Validation option enabled, and test it carefully with both valid and invalid entries.

Google recommends the event name generate_lead for enquiries. Using it keeps your data consistent with Google's own reports and documentation.

WhatsApp clicks

Most WhatsApp buttons link to wa.me or api.whatsapp.com. In GTM, enable the built-in Click URL variable, then create a Just Links click trigger that fires when Click URL contains wa.me, plus a matching condition for api.whatsapp.com. Attach a GA4 Event tag with an event name such as whatsapp_click.

Phone clicks

Phone links start with tel:. Create another Just Links trigger where Click URL starts with tel: and send an event such as phone_click. This counts taps on your number, mostly from mobile visitors. It does not confirm that a call connected, but it is a useful signal of intent.

Mark them as key events

GA4 calls important actions key events. They were called conversions in GA4 until 2024, and Google Ads still uses the word conversions. In GA4, go to Admin, then Data display, then Key events, and create a new key event using the exact event name you set in GTM, such as generate_lead, whatsapp_click and phone_click. Once an event has been received, you can also mark it as a key event from the Events list. New events can take up to a day to appear there, so creating the key event by name saves waiting.

Step 5: Tag your campaign links with UTM parameters

GA4 identifies traffic from search engines and most websites automatically, but it cannot tell a link in your Instagram bio from one in a WhatsApp broadcast or an email newsletter unless you label it. UTM parameters do that labelling.

• utm_source: where the click came from, such as facebook, instagram, newsletter or whatsapp
• utm_medium: the type of traffic, such as social, email or referral
• utm_campaign: the specific campaign, such as eid-offer-2026
• utm_content (optional): to tell apart two links or ads within the same campaign

A tagged link looks like this: https://example.com/services?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=eid-offer-2026. Keep everything lowercase and agree on one naming list for the whole team, because GA4 treats Facebook and facebook as different sources. Google's Campaign URL Builder helps you build links without typing errors. Never put UTMs on links between pages of your own site, as that overwrites the original source of the visit.

Step 6: Link Google Ads and Search Console

Linking other Google products brings their data into GA4 and lets GA4 data flow back to them. Both links are made from the Product links section of GA4 Admin.

• Google Ads: choose Google Ads links and connect your Ads account. With auto-tagging switched on in Google Ads, your ads do not need UTM parameters. You can then import your GA4 key events into Google Ads as conversions and use them for bidding.
• Search Console: choose Search Console links and select your verified site and web stream. The Search Console reports are not shown in GA4 navigation by default, so publish them from the Library in the Reports section.

You need enough permissions in both products for a link to work. For Search Console, that means being a verified owner of the site, so do the linking from an account that has full access to everything.

Step 7: Check your data in Realtime and DebugView

Do not wait a week to find out tracking is broken. Test it on the day you set it up.

1. 1Open GTM Preview mode, which launches Tag Assistant and connects it to your site.
2. 2Submit a test enquiry, click your WhatsApp button, and click or tap your phone number.
3. 3In Tag Assistant, confirm the right tags fired on each action and did not fire on unrelated clicks.
4. 4In GA4, open Admin, Data display, DebugView. Events from Preview mode appear there within seconds, along with their parameters.
5. 5Check the Realtime report too. It shows activity from the last 30 minutes, including visitors who are not in debug mode.

Test on a phone as well as a laptop. WhatsApp and phone links behave differently on mobile, and that is where most of these clicks happen.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Leaving data retention at the default of two months. Under Admin, Data collection and modification, change it to 14 months so explorations can look further back.
• Counting your own team. Define your office IP addresses as internal traffic and activate the filter, or staff testing will inflate your enquiry numbers.
• Installing the tag twice, through both a plugin and GTM.
• Relying on enhanced measurement form tracking without testing it.
• Making changes in GTM and forgetting to publish the container.
• Inconsistent UTM naming, which splits one channel into several rows in your reports.
• Building everything under a personal account that leaves with an employee or agency. Make the business owner an administrator in both GA4 and GTM.
• Treating a WhatsApp click as a sale. It is a lead signal. Compare clicks with the chats you actually receive to see how many turn into real conversations.

With this in place, you can open the Traffic acquisition report, look at the key events column, and see which channels produce enquiries rather than just traffic. That gives you a sound basis for deciding where to spend your marketing budget. Revisit the setup whenever your site, forms or WhatsApp number change. If you would like help setting up or auditing your tracking, Parwaz Digital can help.