# The GA4 landing page report: the pages that bring people, and what they do

You want the pages that bring people, and what those people do next. This walks you through GA4’s landing page report to answer that quickly. It ends with a shortlist of pages to fix on a small site.

Updated 2026-09-14 · Source: https://porteur.ai/guides/ga4-landing-page-report

## Where the GA4 landing page report lives

You will use one place most of the time: Engagement, Landing page. It shows the first page of each session with the key counts.

1. **Open the report** In GA4, go to Reports, Engagement, Landing page.
2. **Switch the date range** Use the top right picker. Prefer 28 days for a steady view.
3. **Add comparisons if you need them** Click Add comparison to split the data by a condition, for example a source or device.

The Landing page dimension here is the path of the first page in the session. It is not the campaign’s ad or the referrer. It is your URL path, like "/pricing".

## The columns that matter on a product site

You do not need every metric. Start with four: Sessions, Engaged sessions, Average engagement time, Key events. Then add your own rate columns.

- Sessions: the count of sessions that started on that page.
- Engaged sessions: sessions that met GA4’s engaged rules, useful to spot bounces without using bounce rate.
- Key events: events you marked as key events, for example signup or start_trial.
- Average engagement time: a rough time on site signal across events.

Make the rates yourself in a sheet when you export. Key events per session is the one to judge a landing page by. Engaged sessions per session helps spot thin pages.

> If you re-labelled conversions to key events in 2024 and have old notes, update them. In GA4, a key event is any event you mark as such.

## Filter to Organic Search traffic

To judge SEO pages, filter the report to Organic Search. That narrows to sessions from google or bing organic and similar referrers in the default channel group.

1. **Add a comparison for channel** Click Add comparison. Choose Include, Default channel group, exactly matches, Organic Search. Apply.
2. **Remove the All Users view if you want only organic** Click the All Users pill and remove it, so you see only Organic Search.
3. **Save to your Library if you will reuse it** Click Save, Save as a new report, and add it to a collection you use.

You can also filter by Session source or Session medium, for example google or organic, but the default channel group is simpler for a quick pass.

> Never add UTM parameters to internal links. An internal UTM starts a new session and breaks attribution, which pollutes your landing page report.

## Compare landing pages by key event rate

The aim is simple: which landing pages bring people who act. Use key events per session as your yardstick for Organic Search traffic.

1. **Pick your key events** In Admin, Events, mark the events that matter as key events, for example sign_up or start_trial.
2. **Use the Landing page report with the Organic Search comparison** Sort by Sessions first to see where volume is. Note pages with sessions and low key events.
3. **Export and compute rates** Export to Google Sheets or CSV. Add a Key events per session column. Set a simple threshold, for example pages under 2% to review.
4. **Look for pages with high rate but low volume** These are "/guides/getting-started"-type pages that convert well. They deserve internal links and fresh content to win more clicks.

A fixed page looks like this: "/pricing" lifts its key event rate after you tighten the headline and move the signup button above the fold. You keep the same offer. You make the action obvious.

## Attribution choices in GA4: first click or last click

GA4 defaults to data-driven attribution for key events. For landing page work, compare with first click and last click to see the extremes you might miss.

1. **Open comparisons** In the Landing page report, click Add comparison. Choose Attribution settings. Pick First click for one comparison and Last click for another.
2. **Scan swings by page** If a page only looks good on last click, it may be a return-to-site page, like "/login". If it only looks good on first click, it may start journeys without closing them.

For a product site, the better question is which first landing pages bring people who later sign up. That join needs product analytics across visits, which page analytics do not do on their own. A product analytics tool like PostHog stores a person’s first referrer and first landing page and lets you build a funnel from a landing page view to a later signup event, broken down by the initial referring domain. Use that when you decide where to invest content time.

## Thresholds, sampling, and why some rows vanish

You will hit two GA4 limits as you slice small sites: thresholds and sampling. Know both before you judge a page from a thin segment.

- Thresholding hides rows when a user could be identified in a small segment, for example a rare query or a tiny country split.
- Sampling affects large explorations. Standard reports like Landing page stay unsampled, but your custom explorations can switch to samples.

If a row says not enough data, widen the date range or remove one filter. For tiny organic segments, do a month-on-month view at 28 days each and compare directions, not exact counts.

> Sessions and Search Console clicks never reconcile exactly. A click can start no session, a session can follow several clicks, and consent tools drop some sessions.

## Join Search Console to see clicks and queries by landing page

Link Search Console to GA4 to add two reports in your Library: Google organic search queries and Google organic search traffic. They join clicks and impressions to landing pages inside GA4.

1. **Link the property** In GA4 Admin, Product links, Search Console, choose your web data stream and the matching Search Console property. Publish to the Library.
2. **Open the added reports** Go to Library. Add the two Search Console reports to your collection if they are not visible. Then open them from Reports.
3. **Read the joined view** Use the landing page table with Clicks, Impressions, CTR, and Average position from Search Console next to Sessions and Key events from GA4.

Expect a lag and some query anonymisation in these reports. Use them to spot pages with clicks and no key events, and pages with key events and no clicks. "/guides/getting-started" with 4 key events and 10 clicks deserves content and links. "/blog/what-is-x" with 500 clicks and 0 key events needs a clearer next action.

## Turn the landing page report into a fix list

Aim for a shortlist you can act on this week. Use one sheet with three tabs: Organic Search landing pages, Fix next, Notes. Keep the rules simple and mechanical.

1. **Export the filtered report** From the Landing page report with Organic Search applied, export to Google Sheets. Include Sessions, Engaged sessions, Key events.
2. **Compute rates and flag outliers** Add Key events per session and Engaged sessions per session. Flag pages under your key event rate threshold, for example under 2% with 50+ sessions.
3. **Add Search Console context** From the GA4 Search Console report or Search Console itself, bring Clicks and Impressions for the same landing pages.
4. **Prioritise with four buckets** Bucket A: many sessions, low key event rate. Bucket B: many clicks, low sessions. Bucket C: few clicks, high rate. Bucket D: fine. Work A, then C, then B.
5. **Write the fix notes** For each A or C page, note one change. For A, fix the page. For C, add internal links from related pages and refresh the copy to win more clicks.

Examples: "/pricing", A bucket, try fewer tiers and a smaller hero image to pull the LCP in under 2.5 seconds and focus attention on the plan button. "/guides/getting-started", C bucket, add an inline signup form and a "See pricing" link near the top. "/blog/how-to-x", B bucket, improve internal links from "/guides" and update the title to match the query in quotes.

## Read the numbers with consent and UTMs in mind

Consent and campaign tags can bend your landing page view. Keep two rules and one caveat beside the table when you decide a change.

- UTM parameters belong on links you place elsewhere, like a newsletter or a partner’s site. Use Google’s Campaign URL Builder form to make them.
- If a UTM URL is shared and others link to it, it can be indexed. Put a canonical tag on the clean URL on that page to prevent duplicate indexing.
- In the EU, consent is needed for cookie-based analytics. Any rate you compute from consented sessions undercounts the whole audience on that page.

## From landing pages to revenue from search

If you sell online, push the same method one step further. Join key events with payment events and the person’s first landing page. That answers what a search click earns by page.

In product analytics, build a funnel from a pageview on the landing path to a payment or activation event. Break down by initial referring domain to isolate Organic Search. Then promote the pages that earn and fix the pages that waste clicks. This is outside the standard GA4 landing page report, but it is the right frame for product work.

## Questions

### What is a landing page in Google Analytics 4?

In GA4, the landing page is the first page of a session. The Landing page report lists those paths, like "/pricing" or "/blog/post". It is not the ad, not the referrer, and not always the homepage.

### Why do GA4 sessions not match Search Console clicks?

They measure different things. A click can start no session, a session can follow several clicks, and consent tools can drop some sessions. The Search Console link also has lag and query anonymisation, so numbers will not reconcile one to one.

### How do I get the landing page report in GA4?

Go to Reports, Engagement, Landing page. Set the date, add a comparison for the Default channel group equals Organic Search if you want SEO traffic only. Export to a sheet to compute key event rates per session.

### Should I use first click or last click in GA4 for landing pages?

Use both as a check. GA4 defaults to data-driven, but a first click comparison shows starters and a last click comparison shows closers. If a page only looks good on last click, it may be a return page. Plan changes with that context.

### Can GA4 show which landing pages drive later signups?

Not across visits by itself. GA4 reports attribute key events, but the question “which first landing pages bring people who later sign up” needs the person’s first landing page joined to a later event. Product analytics do this and can break funnels down by the initial referring domain.

### How do I export the GA4 landing page report to Google Sheets?

Open the Landing page report, set your filters, then click Export in the top right and choose Google Sheets. Add your own columns there, for example Key events per session, and mark pages under your threshold to fix next.

## Read next

- [Organic search traffic in GA4: where it is and how to read it](https://porteur.ai/guides/organic-search-traffic-in-ga4): See organic search in GA4, read source and medium, landings and key events, link Search Console, and build a one‑screen monthly view that you can act on.
- [Linking Search Console to GA4: what you get and what you do not](https://porteur.ai/guides/link-search-console-to-google-analytics): Link Search Console to GA4, find the two reports, read queries next to landing pages, and know why clicks and sessions never match.
- [Google Search Console vs Google Analytics: what each one knows](https://porteur.ai/compare/google-search-console-vs-google-analytics): Search Console shows pre click search data. Analytics shows what users do after the click. Why they differ, what to read in each, and how to join them.
- [UTM parameters: use them without breaking your search data](https://porteur.ai/guides/utm-parameters): What UTM parameters mean, when to use them, how GA4 reads them, and the rules that keep your search and referral data clean on a small site.
- [Pages that get search clicks and no signups: the three causes](https://porteur.ai/guides/search-traffic-that-does-not-convert): Most search clicks that do not turn into signups fall into three causes. See which one you have, how to prove it, and what to change on the page.
- [What a search click earns: revenue attribution for a product site](https://porteur.ai/guides/what-a-search-click-earns): Track what a search click earns. Join payment events to the person and their first landing page, and see which pages bring signups and revenue.
- [Google Analytics alternatives for a small product](https://porteur.ai/alternatives/google-analytics-alternatives): Why founders leave GA4, what PostHog, Plausible, Fathom and Matomo are each built for, what you give up, and what none of them replaces.

Drop your URL in the checker to get, in about thirty seconds, three pages where search brings people but the page misses the action you care about. Free check: https://porteur.ai/