How to Build Custom GA4 Dashboards for Content and SEO Teams

You know that feeling when you're staring at Google Analytics (GA4), wondering if Google really needed to change everything all at once? Yeah.. me too. But once you stop mourning Universal Analytics and lean into what GA4 can actually do, especially with custom dashboards, you start to see the potential. It's like finally cleaning out that messy garage you've been putting off, chaotic at first, but deeply satisfying when things are where they should be. So let’s talk about building GA4 dashboards that your content and SEO teams will use.

What is a GA4 Dashboard?

A GA4 dashboard is basically your data command center. It's a custom view that pulls together the metrics you care about most, so you’re not clicking through 14 menus just to find out which blog post tanked or whether organic traffic is finally trending up. Think of it like building your own digital control panel.

Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Default GA4 Reports

The default GA4 reports are fine if you just want to know something. But if you want to know something useful like:

• Which blog posts are generating conversions?

• What pages are keeping people engaged?

• How organic traffic stacks up against paid?

• What content leads to newsletter signups?

…you’ll need to build your own views.

However, the good news is that GA4 makes this possible with Explorations, Custom Reports, and integrations with Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio).

What Matters To You

Before we start building, let’s quickly outline what matters most so we don’t waste time on vanity stats:

✅ Must-Haves:

• Organic traffic by landing page

• Average engagement time per URL

• Scroll depth (yes, you can get this)

• Conversions from content (micro and macro)

• Top search terms (via GSC integration)

⚠️ Nice-to-Haves:

• Device/browser breakdown

• Entry vs exit pages

• Page loading speed (especially for blog-heavy sites)

❌ Forget It:

• Bounce rate (GA4 doesn't track it traditionally anyway)

• Session duration (it’s replaced by engagement metrics)

• Random demographic breakdowns that don’t influence strategy

How to Build a Simple But Mighty GA4 Content Dashboard

Step 1: Go to “Explore”

This is where the power lives in GA4. Click “Explore” in the left-hand menu.

Create a new exploration. Choose the “Blank” template.

Step 2: Define Your Dimensions and Metrics

Dimensions

What you’re measuring (e.g., Page path, Source/Medium)

Think of these as the categories or labels of your data. They help describe what's happening.

You'll want to add in:

• Page path – the URL of the page

• Source/Medium – where the user came from (e.g., google/organic)

• Event name – the specific user action (e.g., page_view, scroll)

• Page title – the name of the page (not the URL)

Metrics 

These are the quantitative values, the actual counts, time, or percentages.

You'll then want to add in:

• Users – how many people visited

• Conversions – how many times a goal was completed

• Engaged sessions – sessions where users stayed for 10+ seconds, triggered a conversion, or had 2+ page views

• Average engagement time – how long users stayed active on a page

• Scrolls – how many users scrolled a certain % of the page (if tracked as an event)

Step 3: Build a Free-Form Table

Use the free-form table visualization. Set:

• Rows = Page path

• Columns = Session source/medium (optional)

• Values = Your metrics above

Now you’ve got a high-level view of what content is working—and where traffic’s coming from.

Scroll Depth Tracking

As I mentioned earlier bounce rates don't tell you much. But scroll depth can give you so much. To track it in GA4, you’ll need to enable it in your Google Tag Manager (GTM):

1. In GTM, add a new Scroll Depth trigger

2. Set it to fire at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 90%

3. Create a GA4 Event tag that sends those as custom events

4. Publish the changes

Now you can use “scroll” as an event in your dashboard to see which posts people are reading and not just clicking and ghosting.

Connecting GA4 to Looker Studio

If you want a prettier, more client-facing dashboard, connect GA4 to Looker Studio:

• Go to Looker Studio → Create → Report

• Choose “GA4” as your data source

• Build out widgets with charts, tables, time series

• Use filters to focus on blog content, organic traffic, or specific campaigns

You can share this link with clients, your boss, or just stare at it proudly while sipping coffee.

Tips to Keep Your Dashboards Useful

Honestly, the biggest risk with custom dashboards is that they become cluttered and ignored. Here’s how to avoid that:

• Keep it simple: 5–7 widgets max per dashboard

• Group by intent: One for traffic, one for conversions, one for engagement

• Set date filters that default to last 30 days (but make it easy to change)

• Annotate changes (via notes or naming) so people know why things spike or tank

• Review monthly, clean up old or unused views before they become clutter

Final Thought: Custom GA4 Dashboards for SEO

Look, I'm sure you feel a little overwhelmed after reading all this. Analytics can do that to a person. GA4 especially doesn’t do us many favors out of the box. But building your own custom GA4 dashboards for SEO? You can control the data in your own way. You create a view that speaks to your goals, your content, and your audience. So don’t get lost in metrics that don’t matter. Build the dashboards that show the story you actually need to hear and help understand your business growth in a better way.

Need help building GA4 dashboards or integrating your content metrics across platforms? We do that at Open World Digital and we save you a headache. Contact us with any of your questions you might have.