When Google Analytics tags large portions of your web traffic as “unassigned,” you miss out on vital data about your audience. Just what is unassigned traffic in Google Analytics (GA4)?
Find out why you should be aware of GA4 unassigned traffic and how to fix the issue.
What Is Unassigned Traffic in Google Analytics?
Unassigned traffic is what Google Analytics calls website visitors it cannot categorize into one of its default channel groups. In other words, you’re getting visitors, but you don’t know where they’re coming from.
This tag occurs when GA4 is unable to determine the source or medium. “Source” refers to the traffic’s origin, such as a website, platform, or search engine. The “medium” describes the type of traffic, i.e., organic search, email, or referral from another site.
What Causes Unassigned Traffic in GA4?
One of the most likely reasons for GA4 unassigned traffic is your Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) parameters are either incorrect or missing. The UTM is a snippet of code at the end of a URL that follows a question mark and tells GA4 the source and medium of the traffic.
Other common causes are:
- Server-side issues and web redirects
- Cross-domain tracking problems
- Bot traffic
- Mobile app tracking issues
- Ad blockers
However, this list is not exhaustive, and unassigned traffic could occur for many other reasons. Even something as simple as a user manually typing your site’s address or coming to your site from a bookmark can be the cause.
Sometimes, unassigned traffic in Google Analytics is a good sign. You may have so much traffic that GA4 needs a day or so to catch up on categorizing the data.
Leave a Reply