Understanding Event Parameters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Event Parameters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) are the additional information about an event that is sent along with the event.
There are three types of event parameters in Google Analytics 4
#1 Automatically Collected Parameters
#2 Custom Parameters
#3 User properties
#1 Automatically Collected Parameters
Some parameters are automatically collected by GA4. Such parameters are called automatically collected parameters.
For example, by default, GA4 records the following parameters with every event:
- language
- page_location
- page_referrer
- page_title
- screen_resolution
How to see automatically collected parameters in GA4 reports?
Follow the steps below:
Step-1: Navigate to your GA4 reporting view.
Step-2: Click on ‘Events’ (under ‘Engagement’):

Step-3: Scroll down and then click on an event name. Let’s click on the ‘page_view’ event:

You should now see the detailed report about the ‘page_view’ event:

Step-4: Click on the ‘PARAMETER NAME’ drop-down menu on the right hand side:

Step-5: Scroll down the drop-down list and then you should be able to see all the automatically collected parameters:

#2 Custom parameters
You can also manually send one or more parameters along with an event via GTM. Such parameters are called ‘Custom parameters’.
There are two types of custom parameters:
#1 Text parameters
#2 Number parameters
#2.1 Text parameters
The value of such parameters is not a number.
You can register text parameters as custom dimensions in the GA4 user interface. But you should not register them as custom metrics.
If you want to use text parameters in your GA4 reports then you would need to register them as custom dimensions in the GA4 user interface.
#2.2 Number parameters
The value of such parameters is a number.
You can register number parameters as custom metrics in the GA4 user interface. But you should not register them as custom dimensions.
If you want to use number parameters in your GA4 reports then you would need to register them as custom metrics in the GA4 user interface.
Note: Event category, Event action, Event label and Event Value parameters are used in GA3 but not in GA4. However, you can still pass such information about an event in GA4. You just don’t use the ‘category-action-label-value‘ format in GA4.
#3 User properties (also known as user dimensions)
User properties are like user scoped custom dimensions of Universal Analytics. They are used to describe the attributes of your website/app users.
There are two types of user properties:
#1 Predefined user properties.
#2 Custom user properties
#3.1 Predefined user properties
These are automatically collected user properties.
You don’t need to write any special code or add a tag to collect such user properties. You also don’t need to register them in the GA4 user interface before you can use them in your reports.
Following are examples of predefined user properties:
- Age
- Country
- Gender
- Interests
- Language
- Device category etc
#3.2 Custom user properties
These are the user properties defined by you. You would need to register them in the GA4 user interface before you can use them in your reports.
Note: You can create up to 25 unique user properties per GA4 property.
To learn more about user properties, check out this article: How to create user properties in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Best practice for naming custom events and parameters
Use lower case for event/parameter names. And if your name has got two or more words then separate the words by an underscore.
For example:
- webinar_signups (instead of Webinar Signups)
- excel_chart_optins (instead of Excel Chart options)
- website_leads (instead of website-leads)
The following event names are reserved and cannot be used as the name of custom events:
- ad_activeview
- ad_click
- ad_exposure
- ad_impression
- ad_query
- adunit_exposure
- app_clear_data
- app_install
- app_update
- app_remove
- error
- first_open
- first_visit
- in_app_purchase
- notification_dismiss
- notification_foreground
- notification_open
- notification_receive
- os_update
- screen_view
- session_start
- user_engagement
The following parameter name is reserved and cannot be used as names for custom parameters:
- firebase_conversion
Your parameter names can not begin with:
- google_
- ga_
- firebase_
Best practice for naming user properties
The following user property names are reserved and cannot be used as the names for custom user properties:
- first_open_time
- first_visit_time
- last_deep_link_referrer
- user_id
- first_open_after_install
Your user properties names can not begin with
- google_
- ga_
- firebase_
How to send an event along with a parameter to GA4
Let’s track clicks on a button as event and then send this custom event to GA4 via GTM. Let’s also pass the button caption as additional information, along with the event via a parameter.
This exercise will help you gain a better understanding of the concept of events and parameters.
Follow the steps mentioned in this article: How to set up Custom Events in GA4 via Google Tag Manager
Measurement Protocol and event parameters
The measurement protocol is a set of rules which your application must follow in order to send event data directly to the Google Analytics servers from any device/system which can be connected to the internet.
The basic understanding of how measurement protocol works can help you greatly in understanding event parameters.
You can find more details about measurement protocol from here: Introduction to Measurement Protocol in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – Version 2
Frequently asked questions about Event parameters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
What are the event parameters in Google Analytics 4?
Parameters are the additional information about an event that is sent along with the event.
What are Automatically Collected Parameters?
These are the parameters which are automatically collected by GA4.
What are Custom parameters?
These are the parameters which you manually send along with an event via GTM.
Register for the FREE TRAINING...
"How to use Digital Analytics to generate floods of new Sales and Customers without spending years figuring everything out on your own."
Here’s what we’re going to cover in this training…
#1 Why digital analytics is the key to online business success.
#2 The number 1 reason why most marketers are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales.
#3 Why Google and Facebook ads don’t work for most businesses & how to make them work.
#4 Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
#5 The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
#6 How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
#7 How to learn and master digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.
Event Parameters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) are the additional information about an event that is sent along with the event.
There are three types of event parameters in Google Analytics 4
#1 Automatically Collected Parameters
#2 Custom Parameters
#3 User properties
#1 Automatically Collected Parameters
Some parameters are automatically collected by GA4. Such parameters are called automatically collected parameters.
For example, by default, GA4 records the following parameters with every event:
- language
- page_location
- page_referrer
- page_title
- screen_resolution
How to see automatically collected parameters in GA4 reports?
Follow the steps below:
Step-1: Navigate to your GA4 reporting view.
Step-2: Click on ‘Events’ (under ‘Engagement’):
Step-3: Scroll down and then click on an event name. Let’s click on the ‘page_view’ event:
You should now see the detailed report about the ‘page_view’ event:
Step-4: Click on the ‘PARAMETER NAME’ drop-down menu on the right hand side:
Step-5: Scroll down the drop-down list and then you should be able to see all the automatically collected parameters:
#2 Custom parameters
You can also manually send one or more parameters along with an event via GTM. Such parameters are called ‘Custom parameters’.
There are two types of custom parameters:
#1 Text parameters
#2 Number parameters
#2.1 Text parameters
The value of such parameters is not a number.
You can register text parameters as custom dimensions in the GA4 user interface. But you should not register them as custom metrics.
If you want to use text parameters in your GA4 reports then you would need to register them as custom dimensions in the GA4 user interface.
#2.2 Number parameters
The value of such parameters is a number.
You can register number parameters as custom metrics in the GA4 user interface. But you should not register them as custom dimensions.
If you want to use number parameters in your GA4 reports then you would need to register them as custom metrics in the GA4 user interface.
Note: Event category, Event action, Event label and Event Value parameters are used in GA3 but not in GA4. However, you can still pass such information about an event in GA4. You just don’t use the ‘category-action-label-value‘ format in GA4.
#3 User properties (also known as user dimensions)
User properties are like user scoped custom dimensions of Universal Analytics. They are used to describe the attributes of your website/app users.
There are two types of user properties:
#1 Predefined user properties.
#2 Custom user properties
#3.1 Predefined user properties
These are automatically collected user properties.
You don’t need to write any special code or add a tag to collect such user properties. You also don’t need to register them in the GA4 user interface before you can use them in your reports.
Following are examples of predefined user properties:
- Age
- Country
- Gender
- Interests
- Language
- Device category etc
#3.2 Custom user properties
These are the user properties defined by you. You would need to register them in the GA4 user interface before you can use them in your reports.
Note: You can create up to 25 unique user properties per GA4 property.
To learn more about user properties, check out this article: How to create user properties in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Best practice for naming custom events and parameters
Use lower case for event/parameter names. And if your name has got two or more words then separate the words by an underscore.
For example:
- webinar_signups (instead of Webinar Signups)
- excel_chart_optins (instead of Excel Chart options)
- website_leads (instead of website-leads)
The following event names are reserved and cannot be used as the name of custom events:
- ad_activeview
- ad_click
- ad_exposure
- ad_impression
- ad_query
- adunit_exposure
- app_clear_data
- app_install
- app_update
- app_remove
- error
- first_open
- first_visit
- in_app_purchase
- notification_dismiss
- notification_foreground
- notification_open
- notification_receive
- os_update
- screen_view
- session_start
- user_engagement
The following parameter name is reserved and cannot be used as names for custom parameters:
- firebase_conversion
Your parameter names can not begin with:
- google_
- ga_
- firebase_
Best practice for naming user properties
The following user property names are reserved and cannot be used as the names for custom user properties:
- first_open_time
- first_visit_time
- last_deep_link_referrer
- user_id
- first_open_after_install
Your user properties names can not begin with
- google_
- ga_
- firebase_
How to send an event along with a parameter to GA4
Let’s track clicks on a button as event and then send this custom event to GA4 via GTM. Let’s also pass the button caption as additional information, along with the event via a parameter.
This exercise will help you gain a better understanding of the concept of events and parameters.
Follow the steps mentioned in this article: How to set up Custom Events in GA4 via Google Tag Manager
Measurement Protocol and event parameters
The measurement protocol is a set of rules which your application must follow in order to send event data directly to the Google Analytics servers from any device/system which can be connected to the internet.
The basic understanding of how measurement protocol works can help you greatly in understanding event parameters.
You can find more details about measurement protocol from here: Introduction to Measurement Protocol in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – Version 2
Frequently asked questions about Event parameters in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
What are the event parameters in Google Analytics 4?
Parameters are the additional information about an event that is sent along with the event.
What are Automatically Collected Parameters?
These are the parameters which are automatically collected by GA4.
What are Custom parameters?
These are the parameters which you manually send along with an event via GTM.
Register for the FREE TRAINING...
"How to use Digital Analytics to generate floods of new Sales and Customers without spending years figuring everything out on your own."
Here’s what we’re going to cover in this training…
#1 Why digital analytics is the key to online business success.
#2 The number 1 reason why most marketers are not able to scale their advertising and maximize sales.
#3 Why Google and Facebook ads don’t work for most businesses & how to make them work.
#4 Why you won’t get any competitive advantage in the marketplace just by knowing Google Analytics.
#5 The number 1 reason why conversion optimization is not working for your business.
#6 How to advertise on any marketing platform for FREE with an unlimited budget.
#7 How to learn and master digital analytics and conversion optimization in record time.
My best selling books on Digital Analytics and Conversion Optimization
Maths and Stats for Web Analytics and Conversion Optimization
This expert guide will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of maths and statistics in order to accurately interpret data and take actions, which can quickly improve the bottom-line of your online business.
Master the Essentials of Email Marketing Analytics
This book focuses solely on the ‘analytics’ that power your email marketing optimization program and will help you dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition and increase marketing ROI by tracking the performance of the various KPIs and metrics used for email marketing.
Attribution Modelling in Google Analytics and Beyond
Attribution modelling is the process of determining the most effective marketing channels for investment. This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling. It will teach you how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to allocate marketing budget and understand buying behaviour.
Attribution Modelling in Google Ads and Facebook
This book has been written to help you implement attribution modelling in Google Ads (Google AdWords) and Facebook. It will teach you, how to leverage the knowledge of attribution modelling in order to understand the customer purchasing journey and determine the most effective marketing channels for investment.