Google Data Studio GA4 Report | How to Make a Report On ALL Links Clicked

Google Analytics 4 reporting becomes much more powerful when it's done through Google Data Studio. Learn how to do GA4 reporting in Data Studio in this video tutorial.
We build a Google Data Studio reporting dashboard with GA4 data to measure all links clicked on the site.
Please note: measuring ALL link clicks (both external and internal) does involve creating a custom event for internal link clicks. Here is a video tutorial to creating that GA4 event tag: • How to Set Up GA4 Link...
You'll need to do that if you want to have the same data as I do for the Data Studio report. You can also read the steps in the blog below.
Google Analytics Link Click Tracking: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/go...
Here's a link to the template of the report in Data Studio. You'll need to change the data source if you want to use it: datastudio.google.com/reporti...
Have questions or comments? Leave them in the comments. I'm always up for learning more...and for new video ideas.
There's typically a new video every week or two about GA4 or Google Tag Manager or Looker Studio or sometimes Google Ads or SEO. If you want to follow along with what I'm learning (trying to learn) you can subscribe at the link below:
kzbin.info...
🔗 Links to 📖📖📖 BLOGS: These are the most popular blogs on the Root and Branch site from KZbin visitors
✭ Do These 10 Steps to Install AND Configure GA4 Properly: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga...
✭ Events in GA4 and How it Compares to UA: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ev...
✭ GA4 Reports Explained: Standard Reports, Explorations, Custom Reports: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga...
✭ Google Analytics 4 vs. Universal Analytics: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/go...
✭ A Practical Guide to Event Parameters: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga...
✭ GA4 Problems (And What You Can Do About Them): www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga...
✭ Google Analytics 4 Link Click Tracking: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/go...
✭How to Install Google Tag Manager (GTM) on Wordpress: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ho...
✭And Some SEO! How to Edit robots.txt on Wordpress!
www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ed...
🔗 Links to 📹📹📹 VIDEO TUTORIALS: These are most popular GA4 instructional videos as measured by views or watch time
📺 How to Set Up GA4 in 5 Minutes With GTM: • Set Up GA4 (in 5 Minut...
📺 How to Properly Configure Your GA4 Property: • 10 Steps to Configure ...
📺 6 Key Differences Between GA4 and UA: • Google Analytics 4 (GA... 🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑
📺 The Truth About GA4 Event Parameters: • The Truth About GA4 Ev...
📺 GA4 Hits, Events, Sessions, and Users Explained: • Google Analytics Event...
📺 How to set up GA4 FORM SUBMISSION tracking with a thank you page: • How to Set Up a GA4 Fo... 🙏
📺 How to set up BUTTON CLICK tracking with GA4 and Google Tag Manager: • Button Click Tracking ...
📺 How to set up PAGE TIMER tracking with GA4 and Google Tag Manager: • Set Up Page Timer Trac... ⏲
📺 How to Set Up LINK CLICK Tracking with GA4 and Google Tag Manager: • How to Set Up GA4 Link... 🖯
📺 How to Set Up SCROLL DEPTH Tracking (25%, 50%, 75%, 90%) with GA4 and Google Tag Manager: • Scroll Depth Tracking ...
📺 Campaign Tracking in GA4 to See UTM Tagged Traffic: • Campaign Tracking GA4 ...
📺 GA4 Conversion Tracking Compared to UA: • GA4 Conversion Trackin...
📺 Registering Custom Dimensions in GA4 Explained: • GA4 Custom Dimensions ... -
📺 How to Link GA4 and BigQuery: • Google Analytics 4 + B...
📺 Users in GA4 Explained vs. UA Users: • GA4 Users Explained: N...
📺 Creating and Using Audiences in GA4: • How to Create GA4 Audi...
📺 3 Practical Ways to Use the Path Exploration Report: • GA4 Path Exploration: ...
📺 How to Set Up Site Search in GA4 and UA: • Video
📺 All about the GA4 Certification: • Google Analytics 4 Cer... 🏆
Follow Root & Branch on LinkedIn: / root-branch
Or
Connect with me (Hey there!)
/ zackduncan
About Root & Branch: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ab...
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Thanks for coming by!

[@ilianasam6814]

Im literally binge-watching all your content multiple times! Every video delivers huge value! Congratulations for the consistency! I'm so happy I found you! 😃

[@rooted-digital]

Well, wow! That's really kind of you. I'm glad it's been time well spent so far. : )

[@sqcchannel-smarketer6564]

Hi, i appreciate your Channel. Keep it up! One question: Do you have any idea how to show costs and cpc of Google Ads Campaigns in the Data Studio/Looker with a GA4 Data Source?

[@rooted-digital]

Howdy! I actually just made a video about this subject last month. Somewhat shockingly, Google Ads cost and cpc metrics are only available in GA4 explorations right now. I am sure they will be added to Data Studio / Looker connector at some point (and soon), but they weren't available when I tried to do this. Here's the video in question, with a brief reporting overview for Ads + GA4 in Standard Reports / Explorations / Data Studio. Skip ahead to 10:20 or so to see the specific part you're interested in: kzbin.info/www/bejne/moqQdoOcmJZpmqs And if you find something else out, please feel free to let me know here. I'd love to hear it. Best of luck! Zack

[@sqcchannel-smarketer6564]

@@rooted-digital Amazin, thank you so much. I will let u know if i hear something new.

[@rooted-digital]

@@sqcchannel-smarketer6564 Awesome. Thanks!

[@tysonbravo]

Thank U R&B! Question, did you ever get a "Failed" response when trying to schedule emails for delivery. I can follow along and do everything in your video but when I actually try to set up the report for delivery I get "Failed" for any report I try to make. I've posted on Google's Support Forums too but haven't heard anything back yet and I've tried to research it but apparently nobody else has had this happen - at least not that I can find.

[@tysonbravo]

Well, I guess I got it working so never mind. I just have to back out and go to the report from Recents or Owned by me to get it to send successfully. Still can't send a report directly after creating it. Not sure what that's about.

[@rooted-digital]

Hi Tyson, thanks for the explanation. I hadn't seen this issue myself, but it doesn't surprise me too much. GA4 just does weird stuff sometime. And I now officially have another weird / odd / baffling behavior to add to that list. Glad you got it working!

[@user-ev5le4oq5w]

I had set up internal link clicks in UA based off one of your videos and it worked great for drilling down within the "clicked from" and the "clicked to" pages. I've tried to do the same within GA4 and even set up Data Studio (Looker) to try to do the same kind of drilling down. But I'm not finding where I can go deeper into the "clicked from" and "clicked to". Does that not exist in GA4? Is there something else I need to set up in order to get that level of detail? Awesome channel by the way! I so appreciate what you've built up here. It's challenging for me though having to translate much of it for use in a nonprofit that is not selling anything.

[@rooted-digital]

Hi Daryl, This may be reviewing something overly basic, but I'm going to share below since I've found GA4 to be super confusing in many ways. : ) Did you create the GA4 event tag for your internal link click data? And is it working correctly when you test in GTM preview and debug mode? You should be able to use the same internal link click trigger that you had set up for your UA tag. If you're not sure, I'd give this video a watch on how I set up the GA4 event tag for the internal link clicks. This is the same event data that I used in the report of the video you just watched here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXfCfIOGnd95Y7s And I hear you on how challenging this platform is! Google is definitely not making it easy for us. Good luck. Zack Ps. What does your nonprofit do, by the way?

[@user-ev5le4oq5w]

@@rooted-digital I ran a GTM test and verified the tag is firing. I thought I went thru the setup steps carefully but I'll have to give them another look. There may be competing issues at play. It's a lot for me to make sense of as a non-marketer. Our np helps transitioning service members, spouses, and vets prepare for civilian positions in tech and other industries. Thx again for everything you do!

[@user-ev5le4oq5w]

@@rooted-digital weird thing is I can see my GA4 internal link clicks tag in GTM but I don't see one for UA...somehow I can still dig into the internal clicks in UA.

[@user-ev5le4oq5w]

@@rooted-digital GTM preview was showing the tag fired. But there's gotta be something I'm missing. I'll go back thru again and see if there's something I overlooked. We're a NP that's connected with the US Chamber of Commerce that helps vets, transitioning military, and their spouses get set up with employment in civilian jobs and remote work (HiringOurHeroes).

[@rooted-digital]

@@user-ev5le4oq5w That's an awesome mission and sounds like a fantastic organization. It's up to you, but I'd be happy to volunteer a little time to see if I can diagnose what might be wrong. Not saying I can definitely fix it, but I'd be happy to try. If you're interested, send me a message on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/zackduncan) and we'll see if we can get it figured out. Either way, best wishes with all you guys do.

[@justlikemeowgic]

Hey there! I've really appreciated your videos. I was following along with this one, but on my "click" report in GA4, it does not show any results under "Link Click URL" (Comparing to 1:39 of your video). Is there something in setup that I've missed? My Internal Link Clicks show up properly (I followed that tutorial also).

[@rooted-digital]

Hello there! The "Link Click URL" is the custom dimension I registered for the link_url event parameter. For me, this event parameter shows up both for the external link click event (called "click") and the internal link click event (called "internal_link_click" from the GA4 tag created in Google Tag Manager). Did you register a custom dimension for that event parameter? If so, does this link_url parameter info for your "click" event show up in Google Data Studio / Looker? Or is it missing there as well?

[@justlikemeowgic]

I did register the custom dimension. I'm able to create a report with both click and internal_link_click in Data Studio, so I guess it's OK! Just not sure why some things don't show up like I'd expect them to in GA4..

[@rooted-digital]

@@justlikemeowgic Gotcha! Yes, I'd personally chalk this one up to "GA4 is still kind of weird and rarely works the way I'd like it to all the time" Hopefully these types of things get sorted out in time, but you would definitely not be the only one who has seen random and weird things like this from time to time. I'm right there with you.

[@wheretheskygrows]

@@rooted-digital I think I have the same question since I just watched that other video as well (internal link click tracking). In GTM, should we have a tag for "Internal Link Clicks" as well as "External Link Clicks?" In GA4, I have custom dimensions for "Internal Link Click Text" and one for "Internal Link Click URL," but I can't make one for external links, presumably because the event parameter link click is already being used by the custom definition for Internal Links. So ultimately, my datastudio report only lets me choose "Internal Link Click URL" under Dimensions. And the data all says "not set". So I think I zigged instead of zagged somewhere!

[@rooted-digital]

@@wheretheskygrows my apologies for the long delay in responding. For some reason, KZbin hadn't published your comment and it had been held for review. Odd. In any event, my bad but I hope this answer is still at least somewhat helpful. Should you have two tags in GTM one for internal link clicks and one for external link clicks? Personally, I only have a tag for internal link clicks. I use the default enhanced measurement 'click' event in GA4 which tracks all external link clicks by default. But if you want to track those external link clicks with your own tag in GTM, that's totally fine. Just make sure you turn off the 'click' event in your list of enhanced measurement events in your data stream. In terms of your event parameters, I'm sorry to hear that. If you're still having the same issue, it might be worth testing the route of using GTM to set up that very same GA4 event tag for external link clicks that I said I don't use. If you do that, you can set your event parameters when you create the event. Best of luck and Godspeed to you!

[@CNW21]

I set up some custom click events and parameters, and custom definitions and I am wondering if it's redundant. For example, I have an email_link_click event which I am exploring in looker studio, but it shares the same event count as a 'click' event with the link url being 'mailto:'. I have also set up the 'Link Click Url' custom definition, but it seems like there is already a "Link URL" dimension in looker studio with the same data. Am I safe to remove "Link Click Url" from custom definitions in looker studio or is there a separate purpose I am missing?

[@rooted-digital]

Hi there. Thanks for watching and for the questions. I'll do my best to respond here: - email_link_click event count equaling click event count does not make sense *unless* all your external link clicks (which is what click event tracks) are mailto links. Mailto links are clicks for email link clicks. If all your external link clicks are email clicks, this makes perfect sense. - Custom dimensions and event parameters. When GA4 first came out, the link_url event parameter was not available by default. We needed a custom dimension to be able to see that data in places like Looker Studio. Now, however, it is available. So you don't need that custom dimension to see that data in Looker or in Explorations. There is one possible reason to keep the custom dimension which relates to seeing the event parameter info in your standard reports. If you watch this video about event parameters for the session start event (kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmjNfXSLgJpnoaM), you'll see what I'm talking about when I refer to these standard reports. Thanks again for the good questions. Best of luck!

[@CNW21]

@@rooted-digital First, thank you for responding. I will watch your event param video now before archiving any custom definitions. I should have done a better job clarifying what I meant by the redundant data. My email_link_click (as an example) event count is tracking correctly, but it matches exactly the 'click' event count when and only when the click event has a Link URL that includes "mailto:" My point, is that it seems if you add 'Link URL' as a dimension in Looker Studio or its equivalent as a dimension in GA4 reports, you would be able to see which click events are email_link_click without needing the actual event in GTM. The downside however is you can't mark them as conversions directly.

[@rooted-digital]

@@CNW21 I understand now. And yes, you are 100% correct. The data is already there and you wouldn't need to create a separate event just for the :mailto links provided: 1.) You don't need to create a conversion from the event, as you've said 2.) You are able to format the data you need in your reports properly (sometimes I think it's easier to do that with a separate event, but it all depends on how you want to show / use your data). Thanks for the thoughtful question and for pointing this out. Cheers!

[@TheHardWorkingDollar]

How do you add the Link Click URL and Link Click Text cards? I watched both the videos you linked in the but didn't see how to create those two tables

[@rooted-digital]

Hi there, Aoverk! Those "cards" will show up after you create the event parameters for link_url and link_text and *then* register those event parameters as custom dimensions in GA4. If you've done all of that, I'd just give it 24 hours to see if it takes a little time to show up (that can happen). Keep me posted! Just in case: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXfCfIOGnd95Y7s - creating the internal link click event with GTM and GA4 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZTRkHxjra2hrLc - custom dimensions explained kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3-qnoKZiJV2gpo - GA4 event parameters explained (these were VERY confusing to me) at first) Hope this all helps. Best wishes. Zack

[@TheHardWorkingDollar]

@@rooted-digital They showed up and I’ve been able to add the data to Google Data Studio.

[@rooted-digital]

@@TheHardWorkingDollar Excellent news! Thanks for letting me know. Hope it proves to be a helpful report for you.

[@dilyanachausheva1389]

Hi, I’ve been working on Looker Studio and is there a way to add a custom event that you track through GTM (e.g. CTA click) as a metric in order to see results directly per page or campaign? In GA4, this works by selecting your event from the event count but I can’t figure out how to pull this specific event results as a metric in looker studio. Thanks

[@rooted-digital]

Hello Dilyana, I'm not entirely sure I understand but I'll do my best. If I understand correcty, you've created a custom event through Tag Manager. Let's call it cta_click. What I would do is add event name as your dimension to the report. I'd add event count as the metric. You can then add additional dimensions to the report as needed to look at per page results (pull in page location or page path as your dimension) or campaign (pull in Session campaign as your dimension). Would that work for your purposes? This video shows the process of working with segments, dimensions, and metrics in Explorations. It's obviously a different interface from Looker, but the process is similar: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a325oKuZardqm7M Best of luck!

[@dilyanachausheva1389]

Thanks for your reply. This is indeed what I did but It would have been great if the separate custom events set in GTM could be pulled as separate metrics and added independently to the same e.g., heat map next to each other. For example, for a set of pages, I would like to add custom cta_click, cta_click_2, etc. What I’ve been able to do is add a set of pages (page titles) & event name as dimentions; and then add event count as a metric by filtering through my custom event. But it’s impossible I think to add another column to the same graph as a separate metric to display results to the same set of pages (event name to be the name of the colum itself, and then each row below to display results for this event). Not sure if I’m explaining that correctly 😂

[@Jpilot93]

I see only 30 minutes paramerter. How can I see longer period?

[@rooted-digital]

It could be related to event parameters and custom dimensions. I'd recommend checking out this article and embedded video: www.rootandbranchgroup.com/ga4-event-parameters/

[@abhilashamishra3505]

Thank you and a little help please! I somehow do not see the Link Click URLS next to 'Click' event name. It appears only next to internal_link_clicks. What could be the reason behind it? 🙏

[@rooted-digital]

Hmmm.... This is a puzzling one for me. I assume you have registered the link_url event parameter as a custom dimension, right? Assuming that is the case, I am not having any great ideas why you'd get the parameter to show up for the internal_link_click event, but not for the external click event. I'd suggest using the GA4 DebugView (Admin section then DebugView, which is right above the Google Ads link) and test to see what event parameters get sent when you make external link clicks. It's possible that there is just a delay in the event parameter data showing up in your reporting. If the the DebugView shows the link_url event parameter data correctly, that would be my assumption.

[@abhilashamishra3505]

So I used the GA4 debug view and I could easily see the external Links clicked but when I returned to Data Studio, I could still not see 'Link_text' or 'Link_url' next to 'Click'. It just reports on 'internal_link_clicks. And yes, I did register the two parameters as custom dimensions. Very strange! 😕

[@rooted-digital]

@@abhilashamishra3505 Ok, here's my next best thought: can you refresh your connection from GA4 to Looker? This happened to me once where I had previously connected GA4 and Looker (then Data Studio) but my custom dimensions weren't all pulling in. If you create a new connection, it might force them in. I also found this help article, which could be another way to do it: support.google.com/looker-studio/answer/7083608?hl=en I'd be very interested if this works for you. Will keep my fingers crossed...