If you've ever seen "Unassigned" in your Traffic Acquisition Report, then you might be wondering what it is and why you get traffic that is labeled as unassigned. Of course, it's always important to know where your traffic is coming from - so it could be a huge problem if a large majority of your traffic is not grouped under a specific channel. In this article, we will provide an explanation of how GA4 works and why this unassigned category exists, and most importantly, show you a simplified, step-by-step guide on how to solve unassigned traffic in Google Analytics 4!
How to Solve Unassigned Traffic in Google Analytics 4
In order to solve the unassigned traffic in Google Analytics 4, you'll have to create UTM tags. When we want to launch a campaign, we are going to use certain channels (Facebook Ads, Email, Influence Marketing, Engagements, Display, Youtube Ads, etc). Here, we will show you some examples on how to create UTM tags for various channels.
How to Create UTM Tags:
Navigate to this Campaign URL Builder (Link)
Paste your Landing Page URL to the website URL column
Fill in the Source and the Medium according to Google's requirements
📝 Pay attention and follow the instructions in this Google Support article to provide the correct information for traffic to be grouped according to the relevant channel.
For example, if you want your traffic to be grouped under Paid Social, the source should be a list of social sites and the medium should be any of these keywords (cp, ppc, retargeting, paid).
Copy the generated campaign URL and insert it into your campaign setup
This link will be the link you use on your advertisements. It means that when you set up your campaign and insert the landing page (where people will land after they click on your ad), you're not going to use the plain URL. Instead, you're going to use the URL with the parameters so the tool will record the traffic correctly.
When you go to your Google Analytics under Session source / medium, you're going to see a record of the relevant source and medium combination, and the particular traffic will go under the relevant channel grouping and not Unassigned.
Example 1: Tracking Email Traffic 📧
Want to track traffic from your email campaigns? Here's how:
What you need:
Either the source OR medium must be "email"
Example setup:
Source: "newsletter"
Medium: "email"
Simple steps:
Go to the Campaign URL Builder
Enter "newsletter" as your source
Enter "email" as your medium
Copy the generated URL
Use this URL in your email campaigns
That's it! Google Analytics will now group this traffic under "Email."
Example 2: Tracking Influencer Traffic 🌟
Working with influencers? Here's how to track them:
What you need:
Medium must be "affiliate"
Source can be the influencer's name
Simple setup:
Source: [Influencer's name]
Medium: "affiliate"
Google Analytics will automatically group this under "Affiliate" traffic.
Example 3: Display Advertising Traffic 🎯
Want to track display ads? Here's the setup:
Acceptable medium terms:
display
banner
expandable
interstitial
cpm
Example setup:
Source: "Google Display Network"
Medium: "display"
This will automatically group your traffic under the "Display" channel.
Pro Tip 💡
Always test your URLs after creating them to make sure they work and track correctly!
Frequently Asked Questions on Unassigned Traffic in Google Analytics 4
What is unassigned traffic in Google Analytics 4?
It's traffic to your website that Google Analytics can't put into any of its 18 standard traffic groups. Think of it like having mail with no return address - GA4 knows it arrived but doesn't know where it came from.
Why do I get unassigned traffic in Google Analytics 4?
Usually for these simple reasons:
Missing or incorrect UTM tags in your URLs
Tracking setup problems
Traffic sources that aren't properly labeled
Think of UTM tags like address labels - without them, Google Analytics doesn't know where to sort your traffic.
Does bot traffic cause unassigned traffic?
It's a bit complicated:
Known bots: No - GA4 automatically filters these out
Unknown bots: Sometimes - these might show up as unassigned traffic
Solution: You can block known bot IP addresses to keep your data clean
How does GA4 label incoming traffic?
GA4 looks at two main things:
Source (WHERE the traffic came from)
Example: Google, Facebook, your website
Medium (HOW they got there)
Example: organic search, referral link, paid ad
Think of it like getting a package:
Source = The store it came from
Medium = How it was delivered (truck, plane, etc.)
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