What Is Unassigned Traffic In GA4?

In the realm of data analysis and tracking website performance, Google Analytics (GA) has established itself as a vital tool for businesses. GA provides valuable insights into website traffic, user behaviour, and the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

We've all been used to the way UA3 has categorised traffic over the years, and if you did make an oopsie, it wasn't too hard to review (not set) traffic to find out what it was about, where it was coming from and how to fix it.

Now that we're moving over to GA4, your channel reporting might look a little different, and you could come across a new channel category you've never seen before called unassigned. If you're new to GA4 and you do run into this perplexing anomaly, you're not alone.

Since unassigned traffic is a catch-all like not set used to be, it can be made up of different sources of traffic, and it will be up to you to try and clear things up in GA and bite off chunks of that traffic and attribute it accordingly.

What is Channel Traffic in GA4?

In GA4, channel traffic refers to the sources from which users arrive at your website as defined by the system's rules. These sources are categorised into different channels based on the medium through which the visitors reached your site, and the cookie dropped in their browser at the time the session was established.

Compared to UA3, GA4 has a far more granular approach to categorising traffic, with 18 categories preset for you to use.

Default channels include:

• Organic search
• Organic shopping
• Organic video
• Organic social
• Affiliates
• Audio
• Referral
• Paid search
• Paid shopping
• Paid social
• Paid video
• Paid other
• Display
• Direct
• Email
• SMS
• Mobile Push Notifications
• Cross-network

Understanding channel traffic helps you comprehend the effectiveness of your marketing efforts across various platforms and how best to assign traffic should it not fall into any of these buckets.

How does GA4 Categorise Default Channel Sources?

GA4 employs an algorithm to automatically classify website traffic sources into different channels. This categorisation occurs based on the information provided in the URL parameters, such as UTM parameters. By default, GA4 recognises several channels, such as organic search, direct, social, email, referral, and others, to organise and present the data meaningfully.

What is unassigned Channel Traffic?

Unassigned channel traffic refers to the instances where GA4 cannot assign a specific channel to a particular source of website traffic. Instead of fitting into one of the predefined channels, these visits end up in the "unassigned" category. Consequently, this data appears in your GA4 reports without a clearly identifiable channel attribution.

What Can Cause Unassigned Channel Traffic?

Several factors can contribute to unassigned channel traffic in GA4.

These include:

• Incorrect or missing UTM parameters: If the source of the traffic does not include accurate or any UTM parameters, GA4 may struggle to assign it to a specific channel.
• Referral source confusion: Sometimes, websites that refer traffic to your site might not send appropriate referral information, leading to unassigned traffic.
• Tracking code issues: Improper implementation of the GA4 tracking code can hinder accurate channel attribution.
• New source: The traffic is from a new channel that GA4 has not yet learned about.
• Start sessions issues: If a user restarts a session and GA4 cannot find the original source and medium, it can be moved to unassigned. Bot traffic: While GA4 does have an automated bot exclusion list, it doesn't mean bots can't reach your site and activate GA4 or your measurement protocol.
• Measurement protocol traffic: If you're pinging GA directly from the measurement protocol and you forget to include source and medium parameters in your event push, it will be added to unassigned.

How to Fix Unassigned Channel Traffic

To address unassigned channel traffic in GA4, consider the following strategies:

• Review UTM parameters: Ensure that all links leading to your website include accurate and relevant UTM parameters. This practice enables GA4 to correctly categorise traffic sources.
• Referral source analysis: Investigate the sources that are driving unassigned traffic. Reach out to these websites to determine if they can include proper referral information when directing visitors to your site.
• Verify tracking code implementation: Double-check that the GA4 tracking code is correctly installed on all pages of your website. Use debugging tools to ensure accurate data collection.
• Switch to a Google Analytics tracking code: If you are using a tracking code from a different analytics provider, then you can switch to a Google Analytics tracking code that you own. This will ensure that your traffic is tracked by your GA4 profile.
• Set the traffic source and medium: If you do not have the traffic source or medium set in your tracking code, then you can set it. This will ensure that your traffic is assigned to the correct channel.
• Check the traffic source and medium: If you are not sure if the traffic source or medium is set correctly, then you can check it. This will help you to identify any errors that may be causing your traffic to be assigned to the "Unassigned" channel.
• Use a new channel name: If you are using a new channel that GA4 has not yet learned about, then you can use a new channel name. This will help GA4 to learn about the new channel and assign your traffic to it correctly. Update your measurement protocol: If you're using the measurement protocol to push hits or using a 3rd party service like a booking engine, ensure that your event does have a predefined source and medium and either push it to one of the default categories or create one of your own

Don't let traffic go uncategorised if you can help it.

Understanding the intricacies of channel traffic in GA4 is crucial for accurately interpreting and utilising data to improve website performance and build consistent reports. You want to have your definitions sorted early so you can adjust any future unassigned traffic if it does appear, and you can build solid year-on-year or month-on-month reports without having to sift through heaps of unassigned events.

While unassigned channel traffic may appear puzzling initially, knowing its causes and implementing the suggested fixes will give you a more comprehensive view of your website's traffic sources. Optimising channel attribution enables you to make informed decisions and refine your marketing strategies to enhance user engagement and achieve your business goals.

Contact us

If you want to know more about digital marketing or feel this entire GA thing is too much of a bother and you need it sorted by experts, then we’re happy to assist. Simply contact us, and we can sort out your data migration for you.

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Recommended reading

If you enjoyed this post and have a little extra time to dive deeper down the rabbit hole, why not check out the following posts about Google Analytics?

• How To Track Social Sharing In Google Analytics
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• How To Properly Set Up Google Analytics With Shopify Sites
• Google Analytics Interaction Hit Vs Non-Interaction Hit
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• How To Track Search and Zero Search Queries In Google Analytics

Tags: Google Analytics, Big Data, Tracking , Analytics