SOP 171: Create a traffic acquisition channels report in Google Analytics 4

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  3. SOP 171: Create a traffic acquisition channels report in Google Analytics 4

Create a traffic acquisition channels report in Google Analytics 4

Last Updated / Reviewed: Jan 10th, 2023

Execution Time: ~5-10 Mins

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Goal: Create a traffic acquisition channels report in Google Analytics 4.

Ideal Outcome: Create a report that tells you the major different traffic channels for your site.

Prerequisites or requirements: You need to have an active Google Analytics 4 account.

Why this is important: GA4 provides a lot of insightful reports about your audience. Use the traffic acquisition channels report to understand the performance of your top pages and which acquisition channels they come from.

Where this is done: Google Analytics 4.

When this is done: After you’ve set up Google Analytics 4 on your site.

Who does this: Marketing Manager, marketing consultant, or any person responsible for marketing strategy for your business.

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Create a report that organizes top pages that come from different traffic channels.

Note: In this SOP, we will create the user segment report with the data in the Google’s Merchandise Store demo account. If you want to access this data, head over to Google’s demo account page and select “Google Analytics 4 property: Google Merchandise Store (web data)”.

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  1. Login to your Google Analytics account.
  2. Click “Explore” to head to the exploration report dashboard.

    Note: The Exploration reports in Google Analytics 4 allows you to explore in detail and gain deeper insights about your users and their journey. You create segments, sort and drill into the data,and share your explorations with other users of the same Google Analytics property.
  3. Start a new exploration by clicking the “Blank” report.
  4. Rename the report “Traffic Channels Report”.
  5. Create a new segment by clicking the “+” next to SEGMENTS.
  6. Create a custom User segment.
  7. Then select a new condition (to filter the user segment).

  8. Here are some of the traffic channels segment you can create in Google Analytics 4:

    1. If you want to create a segment (report) for ORGANIC SEARCH, select “Session Default Channel Grouping” from the condition filter and set the value to Contain “Organic Search”.
    2. If you want to create a segment (report) for PAID SEARCH, select “Session Default Channel Grouping” from the condition filter and set the value to Contain “Paid Search”.
    3. If you want to create a segment (report) for DISPLAY ADS traffic, select “Session Default Channel Grouping” from the condition filter and set the value to Contain “Display”.
    4. If you want to create a segment (report) for SOCIAL MEDIA traffic, select “Session Default Channel Grouping” from the condition filter and set the value to Contain “Organic Social”.
    5. If you want to create a segment (report) for EMAIL traffic, select “Session Default Channel Grouping” from the condition filter and set the value to Contain “Email”.

    6. If you want to create a segment (report) for REFERRAL traffic (from other websites), select “Session Default Channel Grouping” from the condition filter and set the value to Contain “Referral”.

       

      Here’s a list of all the channel groupings available:

      • Organic Search
      • Direct
      • Referral
      • Paid Search
      • Display
      • Cross-network
      • Organic Social
      • Organic Video
      • Email
        In this SOP we’ll compare 2 traffic segments. Specifically Organic Search traffic vs Paid Search traffic.
  9. For the first segment , rename the segment to Organic Search Traffic.
  10. Search for the condition Session default channel grouping, set the filter to contains, and set the value to Organic Search. Then click “Apply”.
  11. You can then see the number of users in this segment. Click “SAVE AND APPLY”.
  12. Create another segment for paid traffic.
  13. Select user segment
  14. Rename the segment to “Paid Search Traffic”.
  15. Search for the condition Session default channel grouping, set the filter to contains, and set the value to Paid Search. Then click “Apply”.
  16. You can then see the number of users in this segment. Click “SAVE AND APPLY”.
  17. You should now see the user segments applied to the report.
  18. Next, add a new dimension by clicking the “+” besides DIMENSIONS. Then search for “page path”, select “Page path + query string” and click “Import”.

    Note: The dimensions you pick will determine how your data will be broken down in your report. In this SOP, we will create a report broken down by page and organized by organic and paid search. By selecting Page path + query string, we’re breaking down the report by path and query string.
  19. You should now see the Page path + query string added to the report.
  20. Next, add the metrics we want to see by clicking the “+” besides METRICS. Search for “Views” and “Sessions” and select them, then click “Import”.
  21. You should now see the metrics added to the report.
  22. Next, drag the “Page path + query string” to the Rows section.
  23. Then drag the “Views” and “Sessions” to the Value section.
  24. That’s it! Now you can see the session data for your organic and paid search pages.

25. Feel free to experiment with the different types of traffic channels such as Email, Referral, Social and more in step 13.

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