How To View Users By Session Manual Source Medium

Learn how to track user behavior by session source/medium in Google Analytics 4, enabling you to evaluate marketing effectiveness and optimize your strategies based on detailed insights.

Understanding User Behavior by Traffic Source/Medium in Google Analytics 4

Tracking how users interact with your website based on their traffic sources is crucial for evaluating marketing channel effectiveness. By analyzing users by session source/medium, you can understand which channels bring the most engaged users and optimize your marketing spend accordingly. We’ll show you how to create this essential report in Google Analytics 4.

Basic Report Structure

• Report Type: Free Form Exploration
• Primary Dimension: Session source/medium
• Secondary Dimension: Session campaign
• Key Metrics: Total users, Average engagement time, Engaged sessions
• Visualization: Table format with optional bar chart

Steps to Create the Report

1. Open GA4 and navigate to the Explore section.
2. Click the Blank template to start a new exploration.
3. Under the Dimensions, click the + button and search for Session source/medium and Session campaign, check the checkbox beside them and click Confirm.
4. Under the Metrics, click the + button and search for Total users, Engaged sessions, Average engagement time, and Sessions, check the checkboxes and click Confirm.
5. Drag Session source/medium to the Rows section.
6. Drag Total users, Engaged sessions, Average engagement time, and Sessions to the Values section.
7. Add Session campaign as a secondary dimension by dragging it below Session source/medium in the Rows section.
8. Set your desired date range in the report settings.
9. Optional: Add a filter to exclude internal traffic or focus on specific sources.

Important Dimensions and Metrics

• Session source/medium: Shows the origin of your traffic (e.g., google/organic, facebook/cpc).
• Session campaign: Identifies specific marketing campaigns driving traffic.
• Total users: Number of unique visitors from each source.
• Engaged sessions: Sessions lasting longer than 10 seconds or with conversions.
• Average engagement time: How long users from each source typically engage with your site.
• Sessions: Total number of visits from each source.

Actionable Insights

1. Identify your best-performing traffic sources based on engagement metrics and allocate more budget to these channels.
2. Compare paid vs. organic traffic quality to optimize your marketing spend.
3. Analyze which campaigns drive the most engaged users and replicate their success factors.
4. Identify underperforming sources that might need optimization or retirement.
5. Use engagement time metrics to understand which sources bring the most interested users.

Answers Similar Questions

1. How to track traffic sources in GA4.
2. GA4 source/medium report setup.
3. Google Analytics 4 traffic channel analysis.
4. How to measure marketing channel performance in GA4.
5. Track user engagement by source in Google Analytics 4.