Understanding User Acquisition Through Page Referrers in Google Analytics 4
Tracking where your users come from is crucial for understanding your acquisition channels and optimizing your marketing efforts. By analyzing page referrers in Google Analytics 4, you can identify which external websites are driving traffic to your site, measure the quality of these referrals, and make data-driven decisions about your marketing partnerships and content distribution strategies.Basic Report Structure
- Report Type: Free Form Exploration
- Primary Dimension: Page Referrer
- Secondary Dimensions: First User Source, First User Medium
- Key Metrics: Users, New Users, Sessions, Engagement Rate
- Visualization: Table format with optional bar chart
Steps to Create the Report
- Open GA4 and navigate to Explore section
- Click the Blank template to start a new exploration
- Under the Dimensions click the + button and search for Page Referrer, First User Source, and First User Medium, check the checkboxes beside them and click Confirm
- Under the Metrics click the + button and search for Users, New Users, Sessions, and Engagement Rate, check the checkboxes beside them and click Confirm
- Drag Page Referrer to the Rows section of your report
- Drag Users, New Users, Sessions, and Engagement Rate to the Values section
- Add First User Source and First User Medium as secondary dimensions if desired
- Set your desired date range in the report settings
- Apply a filter to exclude internal referrals if needed
Important Dimensions and Metrics
- Page Referrer: Shows the full URL of the external page that referred traffic to your site
- First User Source: Indicates the origin of your traffic (e.g., google, facebook)
- First User Medium: Shows the marketing medium (e.g., organic, cpc, referral)
- Users: Total number of users from each referrer
- New Users: First-time visitors from each referrer
- Sessions: Number of visits initiated from each referrer
- Engagement Rate: Percentage of engaged sessions from each referrer
Actionable Insights
- Identify top-performing referral sources and develop partnership opportunities with these websites
- Analyze which referrers bring the most engaged users and focus on creating similar partnerships
- Detect potential spam referrals by looking for unusual patterns in engagement metrics
- Use the data to optimize your backlink strategy and content distribution efforts
- Compare referral traffic quality against other acquisition channels to inform marketing budget allocation
Answers Similar Questions
- How to track referral traffic in GA4
- View website referrers Google Analytics 4
- GA4 referral source report setup
- Track traffic sources in Google Analytics
- Monitor website referrers GA4 guide
