[GA4] Campaigns and traffic sources - Analytics Help

This article describes how Analytics collects, processes, and reports the campaign and traffic-source data. Understanding campaigns & traffic sources. In ... Skiptomaincontent[GA4]CampaignsandtrafficsourcesInthisarticle: Overview Understandingcampaigns&trafficsources Collection Processing Reporting Advancedconfigurationoptions Overview Usersarriveatyourwebsiteorapplicationthroughavarietyofsources,includingadvertisingcampaigns,searchengines,andsocialnetworks.ThisarticledescribeshowAnalyticscollects,processes,andreportsthe campaignandtraffic-sourcedata. Understandingcampaigns&trafficsources InAnalytics,theadcampaigns,searchengines,socialnetworks,andothersourcesthatsenduserstoyourpropertyarecollectivelyknownascampaignsandtrafficsources.Theprocessbywhichcampaignandtraffic-sourcedataissenttoAnalyticsandpopulatedinreportshasthefollowingsteps: Collection–valuesaresenttoAnalyticsinthecampaignandtraffic-sourcefieldsusingtheSDKsortrackingcode. Processing–collectedvaluesareusedtopopulatethefinalreportdimensionsaccordingtoaprocessinglogic. Reporting–campaignandtraffic-sourcedimensionsandmetricsbecomeavailableinthewebinterfaceandReportingAPI. Collection,processing,andreportingbehaviorcanbecustomized. Collection TheAnalyticsSDKsandtrackingcodeusethesefieldswhensendingcampaignandtraffic-sourcedata: FieldName Variabletoset ProtocolParameter SampleValue FieldDescription CampaignId campaign.id &ci abc123 SetstheuniquecampaignIDwhichcanbeusedlaterforcost-datawidening. CampaignSource campaign.source &cs email_promo Setsthesourcedimensioninreports. CampaignMedium campaign.medium &cm email Setsthemediumdimensioninreports. CampaignName campaign.name &cn january_boots_promo Setsthecampaignnamedimensioninreports. CampaignContent campaign.content &cc email_variation1 Setsthecontentdimensioninreports. CampaignTerm campaign.term &ck winter%20boots Setsthetermdimensioninreports. DocumentLocation page_location &dl http://store.example.com/boots?utm_source=email_promo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=january_promo&utm_content=copy_variation1 Setsdimensionswhencustomcampaign(utm)parametersareembedded. DocumentReferrer page_referrer &dr http://blog.blogger.com/boots Describesthereferringsourceandmaysetdimensionswhennoothercampaignortrafficsourcefieldshavebeenset.   EachsessionisassociatedwithonlyonecampaignortrafficsourceandanewsessionisnotstartedwhenGoogleAnalytics4encountersanewcampaignortrafficsource.Whennewcampaignortraffic-sourcevaluesaresenttoAnalyticsatcollectiontimeinthemiddleofanexistingsession,thosevaluesareassociatedwiththeeventsforwhichtheywerecollectedandthedataisusedforevent-basedattribution,butthecampaignandtraffic-sourcevaluesarenotassociatedwiththeexistingsessionoftheuser. Processing Duringprocessing,traffic-sourceandcampaign fieldvaluesarefinalizedintodimensionvaluesandattributedtosessions. Thefollowingmethod applies toprocessingthatusesutm_parametervalues(e.g.,display,social,email,paidsearch,etc.). Sourceprecedence—Adirect-trafficvisitthatfollowsareferredvisitwillneveroverrideanexistingreferrer. Processingcustomcampaigns Asessionisprocessedasacustomcampaignwhencustomcampaignparametersareembeddedinthedocumentlocationfield.Whenacustomcampaignisprocessed,thevaluesofthecustom-campaignparametersmapdirectlytothedimensionsinreports. Forexample,thefollowingdocumentlocationfieldvalue: &dl=http://store.example.com/boots ?utm_source=promo_email &utm_medium=email &utm_campaign=january_promo &utm_id=123abc &utm_content=copy_variation1   wouldbeprocessedintothefollowingfinaldimensionvalues: source=promo_email medium=email campaign=january_promo id=123abc content=copy_variation1 Processingpaidsearch-enginereferrals Asessionis processedasapaid-searchreferralwhencustomcampaignparametersorGoogleAds /GoogleMarketingPlatform clickIDsareusedinthead'sdestinationURLandaresenttoAnalyticsinthedocumentlocationfield. LearnmoreabouthowtoverifythatGoogleAdsauto-taggingisworking. IfcustomcampaignparametersorclickIDsarenotused,thesessionmaybeprocessedasorganicinstead. Processingorganicsearch-enginereferrals Search-enginereferraldataisprocessedbycomparingthehostnameandqueryparameterofthedocumentreferrerfieldtoalistofknownsearchenginesandtheirqueryparameters.Thefirstknownsearchenginethatmatchesboththehostnameandqueryparameterofthedocumentreferrervalueisusedtosetthereportdimensionvalues. NotethatmostGooglesearchesareperformedviaHTTPS,whichcausesthekeyworddimensiontoautomaticallybesetto(notprovided). Processingdirecttraffic Asessionisprocessedasdirecttrafficwhennoinformationaboutthereferralsourceisavailable,orwhenthereferringsourceorsearchtermhasbeenconfiguredtobeignored.Learnmore aboutreferrerexclusions. Reporting Afterprocessing,thefollowingcampaignandtrafficsourcedimensionsandmetricsare availableinreports: Dimensions WebInterface Scope CoreReportingAPI Description Source User Session Event firstUserSource sessionSource source Thesourceofreferralstoyourproperty. Medium User Session Event firstUserMedium sessionMedium medium Thetypeofreferralstoyourproperty(e.g.email,cpc,etc.) CampaignID User Session Event firstUserCampaignId sessionCampaignId campaignId   CampaignName User Session Event firstUserCampaignName sessionCampaignName campaignName Thenameofamarketingcampaignsendinguserstoyourproperty   InthecaseofpaidGoogleAdsorGoogleMarketingPlatformcampaigns,thereareadditionalfieldsthatcanbepopulatedmanuallybyimportingcostdata. IfyourGoogleAdsaccountisn’tlinkedtoAnalyticsbutauto-taggingisenabledandappendsaGoogleClickID(gclid)totheendofyourURL,unlinkedGoogleAdscampaignswillstillappearinreportsbydefaultwithasource/mediumofgoogle/cpcorusingavailableUTMvalues. NocampaigndatawillbeincludedforthesecampaignsandrelatedadclickswillnotbeusedforAds-preferredattribution. Advancedconfigurationoptions Thefollowingadvancedconfigurationoptionsmaybesetatthepropertylevel: Attributionsettings Campaignlookbackwindow Excludingreferrers Attributionsettingsandcampaignlookbackwindow Attributionistheactofassigningcreditforconversionstodifferentads,clicks,andfactorsalongauser'spathtocompletingaconversion. Thecampaignlookbackwindowdetermineshowfarbackintimeatouchpointiseligibleforattributioncredit. Learnhowtoconfigureattributionsettingsandthecampaignlookbackwindow. Excludingreferrers Youcanexcludecertainreferringsourcesfromreportsbysettingtheseexclusionsatthepropertylevel. GoogleAnalytics4nowautomaticallypreventsself-referrals:younolongerhavetoenteryourdomainswhenthereferringpagematchesthedomainofthecurrentpageorwhenyou'vealreadyconfiguredyourpropertyforcross-domainmeasurement. Youwillhoweverstillwanttoconfigurereferralexclusionforanythird-partyservicesorgatewaysthatyouemployonyourwebsite(s).Learnmoreaboutidentifyingunwantedreferrals. 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