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Hey!
Alright, let’s tackle this together. Firstly, it’s important to know that in GA4, the idea of ‘Category’, ‘Action’, and ‘Label’ doesn’t exist. Do take a look over here to get yourself acquainted with GA4: [GA4 Guide](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9744165#zippy=%2Cin-this-article). The metrics between GA4 and Universal Analytics do differ – here’s a comparison: [Comparing Metrics](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11986666?hl=en#zippy=%2Cin-this-article).
Right. Now let’s talk about creating custom events in GA4 – you’ll find this helpful: [GA4 Custom Events](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/12229021?hl=en).
For creating custom events, you have two paths – GTAG and DataLayer. Depending on your familiarity, you could choose either, though I think GTAG might be a little more straightforward as it uses the gtag.js API to send info or events to Google Analytics API.
For GTAG, you’d need to follow these steps: [Set Up an Event for Website Apps](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/events?client_type=gtag). The function is pretty intuitive:
`html
gtag(‘event’, ”, {});
`
If you’d like to hold onto the Category, Action, and Label, I suggest you create Custom Dimensions for these three. You still get to keep your old database structure, and no added workloads for the developers. Do take a look here: [Custom Dimensions and Metrics](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10075209?hl=en). Please bear in mind, it takes a bit of time (about 48 hours) for GA4 API to recognise your custom dimensions.Alternatively, if you’d like to work with DataLayer, you’ll also need to interact with GTM or Google Tag Manager. Here’s more about it: [GTM](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/events?client_type=gtm).
That’s a starter. Hope it helps! Cheers.
