How to Get Less Unassigned Traffic in GA4

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In GA4 (Google Analytics 4), “unassigned” traffic refers to sessions that cannot be attributed to a specific traffic source or medium (such as organic search, direct, referral, or paid ads). Reducing unassigned traffic is crucial for accurately tracking where your visitors are coming from, which helps you make informed marketing decisions. Here are steps you can take to reduce unassigned traffic in GA4:

1. Ensure Proper UTM Tagging

  • UTM parameters are essential for identifying the source, medium, and campaign of your traffic, particularly for campaigns such as emails, social media posts, or paid advertisements.
    • Example UTM tags:
      https://example.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=october_sale
  • Common UTM parameters:
    • utm_source (e.g., Google, Facebook, etc.)
    • utm_medium (e.g., cpc, email, social, etc.)
    • utm_campaign (the name of the marketing campaign)
    • Optional: utm_term (for keywords), utm_content (for ad variations)

2. Link Google Ads with GA4

  • If you’re running Google Ads, ensure that your GA4 property is linked to your Google Ads account.
    • This allows automatic tracking of Google Ads traffic and reduces unassigned traffic from your paid campaigns.
  • Go to Admin > Product Links > Google Ads Linking to link the accounts.

3. Verify Tracking Code Implementation

Incorrect or incomplete GA4 tracking code implementation on your site could result in unassigned traffic.

  • Ensure that the GA4 tracking code (gtag.js or GA4 tag in Google Tag Manager) is correctly installed on all your website pages.
  • Tip: Use Google Tag Assistant or GA4 DebugView to troubleshoot and check if the tracking code is firing correctly.

4. Cross-Domain Tracking (if applicable)

  • If you have multiple domains (e.g., main website and blog) or use third-party services (such as payment gateways), set up cross-domain tracking.
    • This ensures that sessions are attributed correctly when users move across different domains.
  • To set it up, go to Admin > Data Streams > Web > Configure Tag Settings > List Unwanted Referrals. Add the domains you don’t want to break the session.

5. Handle Referral Exclusions

  • If traffic is showing up as referral instead of correctly attributed to a source (e.g., payment gateways), it may result in unassigned traffic.
  • Go to Admin > Data Streams > Configure Tag Settings > List Unwanted Referrals and add the payment gateway domains or other sites that are not true sources of new traffic.

6. Ensure Proper Email Tracking

  • Email marketing often results in unassigned traffic if UTM parameters are not properly added to links within emails.
  • Always tag your email campaign links with UTM parameters (e.g., utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=october_news).

7. Check Organic and Social Traffic

Some organic social or referral traffic can end up unassigned if not properly tracked.

  • Ensure that all your social media profiles, particularly paid social ads, are tagged with UTM parameters.
  • If relying on organic traffic from specific platforms, make sure they are recognised in GA4’s Default Channel Grouping.

8. Review Default Channel Grouping in GA4

Go to Admin > Data Settings > Channel Grouping to review how GA4 groups traffic sources.

  • You can modify the settings here to ensure that GA4 accurately attributes traffic based on your needs.

9. Track App and Offline Campaigns

If you are running campaigns through mobile apps or offline media (such as print or TV ads), ensure that they are properly tagged and tracked using custom URL schemes or QR codes with UTM parameters.

10. Monitor & Analyse in GA4

  • Regularly review the Traffic Acquisition reports to monitor where unassigned traffic is coming from.
  • Use exploration reports to dig deeper into unassigned sessions and look for patterns (e.g. referral sources, landing pages) that might indicate gaps in tracking.

By following these best practices, you should see a reduction in unassigned traffic and achieve more accurate attribution for your marketing efforts.

If you have followed the above steps and are still seeing issues with Unassigned Traffic, then its time to call in an expert to have a look for you. Get in touch with our team today who will be more than happy to help.