Understanding User Acquisition by Session Medium in Google Analytics 4
Analyzing users by session medium is crucial for understanding how different marketing channels contribute to your website traffic. This insight helps you evaluate the effectiveness of various marketing efforts and make data-driven decisions about where to allocate your marketing budget. 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 Medium
- Secondary Dimension: User Source
- Key Metrics: Total Users, New Users, Engaged Sessions
- 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 Session medium and Session source, check the checkbox beside them and click Confirm
- Under the Metrics click the + button and search for Total users, New users, and Engaged sessions, check the checkboxes and click Confirm
- Drag Session medium to the Rows section of your report
- Drag Total users, New users, and Engaged sessions to the Values section
- Optional: Add Session source as a secondary dimension by dragging it below Session medium in the Rows section
- Set your desired date range in the report settings
- Click the Save button to store your report
Important Dimensions and Metrics
- Session medium: Shows the category of traffic source (organic, cpc, referral, etc.)
- Session source: Indicates where the traffic originated from
- Total users: The total number of users who visited through each medium
- New users: First-time visitors from each medium
- Engaged sessions: Sessions that lasted longer than 10 seconds or had a conversion
Actionable Insights
- Compare engagement rates between different mediums to identify which channels bring the most valuable traffic
- Analyze the ratio of new users to total users for each medium to understand which channels are best for acquisition
- Use the insights to redistribute marketing budget towards the most effective channels
- Identify underperforming mediums and investigate potential improvements or issues
- Track changes in medium performance over time to detect trends and seasonal patterns
Answers Similar Questions
- How to track traffic sources in GA4
- GA4 session medium report setup
- Analyze marketing channels in Google Analytics 4
- Track user acquisition by medium GA4
- Google Analytics 4 traffic source analysis
