Which GA4 metrics belong in a client report
A GA4 property contains hundreds of dimensions and metrics and surfaces almost none of them quickly. For a monthly client report you need a small, stable set that a non-analyst can follow month to month. This guide lists that set and the presentation rules that keep it trustworthy.
Key takeaways
- Report a fixed shortlist every month: sessions, total users, new users, pageviews, conversions, engagement rate, average session duration.
- Always pair each metric with a true previous-period figure — the equal window before your range.
- Engagement rate and session duration are rates: average them, don't sum them.
- Use range-aware top pages and channels so a 28-day and a 6-month report tell genuinely different stories.
The shortlist that travels well
Sessions and total users answer "how much traffic." New users answers "how much of it is new." Pageviews gives volume for content-heavy sites. Conversions is the one that ties to the client's goal — form fills, purchases, whatever is configured. Engagement rate and average session duration are the quality signals. Seven numbers, the same seven every month, is enough for most retainers; add depth only when the client asks a specific question.
Comparison: the equal window before
Each metric should show its value for the range and the same metric for the equal-length window immediately before it, with the percentage change. This is what makes "up 18%" mean something. Avoid tools that compare the first half of your range to the second half — that is not the previous period and it exaggerates or hides real movement depending on where a spike lands.
Rates are not sums
Engagement rate and average session duration are rates. If a reporting layer sums daily rates across a month, the number is nonsense. They must be averaged as rates over the window. This is a frequent silent bug in home-grown reporting and the reason a hand-built spreadsheet often disagrees with the GA4 UI.
Top pages and channels, for the range you picked
Store the breakdown as a daily series and aggregate it for exactly the selected dates. Then "top landing pages" in a one-month report reflects that month, and the twelve-month view reflects the year — instead of both showing whatever was cached at the last sync. Present the top five to ten, not the long tail.
Common questions
Universal Analytics or GA4?
GA4 only — reporting uses the GA4 Data API. Universal Analytics is no longer available from Google.
Does connecting need edit access to the property?
No. Read-only analytics scope is enough to pull the metrics above.
Can I report multiple GA4 properties for one client?
One GA4 property per client record. If a client has several, pick the one that represents the work you're being measured on.
See how ThodaLogic Ops does this
Google Analytics (GA4) — part of one workspace for clients, content, approvals, invoicing and client reporting.
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