Understanding User Acquisition by Source/Medium in Google Analytics 4
Tracking how users arrive at your website through different marketing channels is crucial for evaluating your marketing effectiveness. By analyzing users by session source/medium in GA4, you can understand which channels bring in the most engaged users and optimize your marketing budget 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: User source/medium
- Key Metrics: Total users, New users, Average engagement time
- 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 tab, click the + button and search for Session source/medium and User source/medium, check both and click Import
- Under the Metrics tab, click the + button and search for Total users, New users, and Average engagement time, select all and click Import
- Drag Session source/medium to the Rows section
- Drag Total users, New users, and Average engagement time to the Values section
- Optional: Add User source/medium as a secondary dimension by dragging it below Session source/medium in the Rows section
- Set your desired date range in the report settings
- Click the Settings icon and set the table row limit to 500 to see more data
Important Dimensions and Metrics
- Session source/medium: Shows the origin of sessions (e.g., google/organic, facebook/cpc)
- User source/medium: Indicates the first touch attribution for users
- Total users: Number of unique users from each source
- New users: First-time visitors from each source
- Average engagement time: How long users from each source typically engage with your site
Actionable Insights
- Identify your best-performing channels based on user engagement time and allocate more budget to these sources
- Compare new vs. total users to understand which channels are better at acquiring new visitors
- Look for sources with high engagement time but low user counts as potential opportunities for scaling
- Use the insights to adjust your marketing mix and campaign spending
- Monitor changes in source/medium performance over time to detect trends or issues
Answers Similar Questions
- How to track traffic sources in GA4
- GA4 source/medium report setup
- Google Analytics 4 acquisition channel analysis
- Track marketing channels in Google Analytics 4
- GA4 user attribution by source
