Resolving GA4 Unassigned Traffic
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2024 10:49 am
In the world of digital marketing, data is essential. In that realm, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a valuable tool for tracking and analyzing user behavior on websites. Every click, page view, and conversion is a piece of the puzzle that allows you to make the right decisions and refine your strategy. However, there is one annoying problem that can confuse even the most experienced GA4 experts: unallocated traffic in your GA4 reports.
At AdPage we always claim that tracking issues are the number one frustration in the world of digital marketing. That frustration is easily remedied thanks to the implementation of server-side tagging. But it seems to us tha american mobile number list unallocated traffic” within Google Analytics ranks second in the ranking of frustrations. This is a more complex frustration that cannot be easily fixed. But how can you fix unallocated traffic? There are several ways to improve it that we explain in this article
What is “Unallocated” in Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 assigns different traffic sources to broader categories so that you, as a user, have an overview of which type of channels are performing best. For example, traffic from organic searches on Bing and organic searches on Google is added to a default channel group for "Organic Search". When Google doesn't know where to assign a session or visitor, it doesn't assign it to any site, so that session or user remains 'unassigned' as a channel group/channel group.
In total, there are 18 channel groups to which traffic sources are assigned. Google uses fixed rules to assign a traffic source to a default channel group. You can find those rules here. These are the 18 channel groups:
Affiliates
Audio
Across Network
Direct
Display
Email
Push Notifications Mobile
Organic Search
Green Shopping
Organic Social
Green Video
Paid Other
Paid Search
Paid Shopping
Paid Social
Paid Video
Referral
SMS
If a traffic source is not covered by Google's standard rules or if Google is not sure which channel group a user or session came to your site or app from, it will be assigned "unallocated."
How do you resolve GA4 Unallocated Traffic?
There are several ways to resolve unallocated traffic in Google Analytics. There is simply no easy way to see which solutions apply to your situation, so the most helpful thing to do is to examine each solution to see if it can be applied and if it is wise to apply it.
There is also a way to find out where Google Analytics is going wrong and how certain users or sessions should have actually been allocated. Make sure you read each section carefully, even if the title already makes you think that this won't work in your situation. Because the solutions below are often misapplied, even by the most experienced marketers.
Solution 1: Use UTM parameters
UTM parameters are additional components that you add to the end of your external URLs. When that URL with UTM parameters is then visited, Google Analytics can track information such as how that visitor arrived at your site. So, if you don't already use UTM parameters in your campaigns and other external links, Google won't be able to read where a user came from. Because you and Google Analytics are blind to all the steps a visitor takes on other sites or platforms before arriving at your site, that person appears to Google to have arrived at your site out of nowhere.
Here's an example of a URL with UTM parameters. If you click on our blogs via a link on LinkedIn, you will be taken to our page with this URL in your browser address bar:
https://www.adpage.io/post/ga4-rapporte ... rten-delen
UTM Parameters Example
Underlined in red in the screenshot are the UTM parameters added to the URL of this blog post for tracking purposes. You will notice that it starts with a "?" and contains the following parameters: utm_content, utm_medium, and utm_source.
Adding these UTM parameters does not change the content of the page. However, it does allow Google Analytics to interpret the origin of the visitor.
There are five standard utm parameters that you can use. When you start using UTM parameters in your campaigns, we recommend that you always use at least utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign.
utm_source
Indicates the source of origin, or in other words, which site or platform the user came from. Examples include: linkedin, facebook, tiktok, or youtube.
utm_medium
Indicates the source medium, or in other words, which marketing channels a visitor came to your site from.
At AdPage we always claim that tracking issues are the number one frustration in the world of digital marketing. That frustration is easily remedied thanks to the implementation of server-side tagging. But it seems to us tha american mobile number list unallocated traffic” within Google Analytics ranks second in the ranking of frustrations. This is a more complex frustration that cannot be easily fixed. But how can you fix unallocated traffic? There are several ways to improve it that we explain in this article
What is “Unallocated” in Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 assigns different traffic sources to broader categories so that you, as a user, have an overview of which type of channels are performing best. For example, traffic from organic searches on Bing and organic searches on Google is added to a default channel group for "Organic Search". When Google doesn't know where to assign a session or visitor, it doesn't assign it to any site, so that session or user remains 'unassigned' as a channel group/channel group.
In total, there are 18 channel groups to which traffic sources are assigned. Google uses fixed rules to assign a traffic source to a default channel group. You can find those rules here. These are the 18 channel groups:
Affiliates
Audio
Across Network
Direct
Display
Push Notifications Mobile
Organic Search
Green Shopping
Organic Social
Green Video
Paid Other
Paid Search
Paid Shopping
Paid Social
Paid Video
Referral
SMS
If a traffic source is not covered by Google's standard rules or if Google is not sure which channel group a user or session came to your site or app from, it will be assigned "unallocated."
How do you resolve GA4 Unallocated Traffic?
There are several ways to resolve unallocated traffic in Google Analytics. There is simply no easy way to see which solutions apply to your situation, so the most helpful thing to do is to examine each solution to see if it can be applied and if it is wise to apply it.
There is also a way to find out where Google Analytics is going wrong and how certain users or sessions should have actually been allocated. Make sure you read each section carefully, even if the title already makes you think that this won't work in your situation. Because the solutions below are often misapplied, even by the most experienced marketers.
Solution 1: Use UTM parameters
UTM parameters are additional components that you add to the end of your external URLs. When that URL with UTM parameters is then visited, Google Analytics can track information such as how that visitor arrived at your site. So, if you don't already use UTM parameters in your campaigns and other external links, Google won't be able to read where a user came from. Because you and Google Analytics are blind to all the steps a visitor takes on other sites or platforms before arriving at your site, that person appears to Google to have arrived at your site out of nowhere.
Here's an example of a URL with UTM parameters. If you click on our blogs via a link on LinkedIn, you will be taken to our page with this URL in your browser address bar:
https://www.adpage.io/post/ga4-rapporte ... rten-delen
UTM Parameters Example
Underlined in red in the screenshot are the UTM parameters added to the URL of this blog post for tracking purposes. You will notice that it starts with a "?" and contains the following parameters: utm_content, utm_medium, and utm_source.
Adding these UTM parameters does not change the content of the page. However, it does allow Google Analytics to interpret the origin of the visitor.
There are five standard utm parameters that you can use. When you start using UTM parameters in your campaigns, we recommend that you always use at least utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign.
utm_source
Indicates the source of origin, or in other words, which site or platform the user came from. Examples include: linkedin, facebook, tiktok, or youtube.
utm_medium
Indicates the source medium, or in other words, which marketing channels a visitor came to your site from.