Google Analytics Channels Ebook Jan22

GOOGLE ANALYTICS CHANNELS
Written by Himanshu Sharma, Founder of Optimize Smart
© Copyright 2022 Optimize Smart. All rights reserved.
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Copyright Optimize Smart 2022 Page 2

About the author
● Founder, OptimizeSmart.com
● Over 15 years of experience in digital
analytics and marketing
● Author of four best-selling books on digital
analytics and conversion optimization
● Nominated for Digital Analytics Association Awards for Excellence
● Runs one of the most popular blogs in the world on digital analytics
● Consultant to countless small and big businesses over the decade
Website: www.optimizesmart.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/analyticsnerd
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/optimizesmart

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Table of Contents
1. What is 'Source' in Google Analytics?
2. What is 'Medium' in Google Analytics?
3. System defined medium
4. User defined medium
5. What is Source/Medium report in Google Analytics?
6. What is a Campaign in Google Analytics?
7. What are Google Analytics Channels?
8. What channels are available in Google Analytics?
9. Default Marketing Channels
10. Organic Search Marketing Channel (organic search traffic)
11. Paid Search Marketing Channel (paid search traffic)
12. Display Marketing Channel (display traffic)
13. Direct Marketing Channel (direct traffic)
14. Referral marketing channel (referral traffic)
15. Social Marketing Channel (social media traffic)
16. Email Marketing Channel (email traffic)
17. (Other) marketing channel (Other Advertising traffic)
18. How to edit a Default Marketing Channel
19. Custom Marketing Channels (how to create a new marketing channel in Google
Analytics)
20. Generic Paid Search Channel (generic paid search traffic)
21. Branded Paid Search Channel (branded paid search traffic)
22. How to create Generic and Branded paid search channels
23. Generic Organic Search Channel (generic organic search traffic)
24. Branded Organic Search Channel (branded organic search traffic)
25. How to create Generic and Branded organic search channels

Google Analytics provides many reports on Acquisition through which you can
understand traffic acquisition (i.e. how you are acquiring users for your
website):
However, in order to understand the various Acquisition reports and the users'
acquisition in general, you would need to first understand what channels are
and how they are defined in Google Analytics.
Without adequate knowledge of channels, you can not accurately

interpret the various Acquisition reports in Google Analytics and
consequently your acquisition strategy.
In order to understand channels, you would first need to know about various
traffic sources, medium and campaigns.

What is 'Source' in Google Analytics?
Source (or traffic source) is the origin of your website traffic. It is the
website from which people visited your website.
For example,
If people visited your website from Google.com then your website traffic
source is 'google'.
If people visited your website from facebook.com then your website traffic
source is 'facebook'.
If people visited your website from quora.com then your website traffic source
is 'quora'.
Similarly, if people visited your website from tripadvisor.co.uk then your

website traffic source is 'tripadvisor'.
People can also visit your website directly (via a bookmark or typing the
website address in the browser address bar). In that case Google Analytics
report '(direct)' as your website traffic source.
Whenever Google Analytics is not able to determine the origin of your

website traffic, it is most likely to report '(direct)' as your website traffic
source.

People can also visit your website by clicking on a link which is tagged with
UTM parameters. In that case, Google Analytics will report the value of the
utm_source parameter as your website traffic source.
For example, if a person clicks on the following link which takes him to your
website (www.abc.com):
https://www.abc.com/book-maths-and-stats/?utm_source=fbj2&utm_medium
=social&utm_campaign=pdf-book-campaign&utm_content=ad1
then Google Analytics will report 'fbj2' as your website traffic source.
This is because the value of the utm_source parameter has been set to 'fbj2'.
Where can you find traffic sources in Google

Analytics?
Different people can visit/find your website via different traffic sources.
You can see the list of all the traffic sources in Google Analytics by navigating to
Acquisition > All Traffic > Source / Medium report and then clicking on the
'Source' tab:

Note: In Google Analytics, 'source' names are case sensitive. So 'google',
'Google' and 'GOOGLE', are all treated as different traffic sources in Google
Analytics.
What is 'Medium' in Google Analytics?

Medium (or traffic medium) is the category of the traffic source as
defined by Google Analytics. It also includes traffic medium tracked via
utm_medium parameter.
A medium can be system defined or user defined. So there are two broad
categories of medium:

1. System defined medium
2. User defined medium
System defined medium

A system defined medium is a pre-built medium which carries a special
meaning. This is a medium which is already defined/recognized by Google
Analytics.
Following are the examples of system defined traffic mediums in Google

Analytics:
1. organic
2. cpc
3. ppc
4. paidsearch
5. (not set)
6. (none)
7. social
8. social-network
9. social-media
10.sm
11.social network
12.social media
13.email
14.affiliate

15.referral
16.cpv
17.cpa
18.cpp
19.content-text
20.display
21.cpm
22.banner
User defined medium

A user defined medium is a traffic medium defined by people like me and you.
You can create your own traffic medium by using the utm_medium parameter.
For example, consider the following URL:
https://www.abc.com/book-maths-and-stats/?utm_source=fbj2&utm_medium
=paidsocial&utm_campaign=pdf-book-campaign&utm_content=ad1
Here, 'paidsocial' is a user defined traffic medium.
Where can you find traffic medium in Google

Analytics?

You can see the list of all the traffic medium in Google Analytics by navigating
to Acquisition > All Traffic > Source / Medium report and then clicking on the
'Medium' tab:
Note: In Google Analytics, medium names are case sensitive. So 'email', 'Email'
and 'EMAIL' are all treated as different mediums in Google Analytics.
What is Source/Medium report in Google

Analytics?
The Source/Medium report is used to measure the performance of your traffic
sources in terms of:

1. Acquisition (number of users, numbers of new users, number of
sessions)
2. Behavior (bounce rate, pages per session, average session duration)
3. Conversions (Ecommerce conversion rate, transactions, revenue, goal
conversion rate, goal completions, goal value)
This report list all the traffic sources along with their medium in the first
column.
You can see this list by navigating to Acquisition > All Traffic > Source /
Medium report:
In the case of google / organic, ‘google’ is the traffic source and 'organic' is the
medium.
In the case of (direct) / (none), ‘direct’ is the traffic source and 'none' is the
medium.

In the case of analytics.google.com / referral, ‘analytics.google.com’ is the
traffic source and 'referral' is the medium.
What is a Campaign in Google Analytics?

Campaign (or marketing campaign) is the name of your Google Ads
campaign and/or custom campaign.
In the context of Google Analytics, a custom campaign is your website URL

which contains UTM parameters.
Through custom campaigns, you can send detailed information about your
campaigns esp. non-Google marketing campaigns to Google Analytics.
Following is an example of a custom campaign which send detailed information

about your Facebook marketing campaigns to Google Analytics:
https://www.abc.com/book-maths-and-stats/?utm_source=facebook&utm_m
edium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=excel-charts-ebook&utm_content=ad1
Following is an example of a custom campaign which send detailed information

about your Bing marketing campaigns to Google Analytics:
https://www.abc.com/widget/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_ca
mpaign=book-widget&utm_content=book-widget-us-ad
You can see the list of all the Google Ads campaigns which sent traffic to your
website by navigating to:

#1 Acquisition > Google Ads > Campaigns
#2 Acquisition > Google Ads > Video Campaigns
#3 Acquisition > Google Ads > Shopping Campaigns

You can see the list of all the custom campaigns which sent traffic to your
website by navigating to Acquisition > Campaigns > All Campaigns report:

What are Google Analytics Channels?
In Google Analytics, a channel or a marketing channel is a group of several
traffic sources with the same medium.
For example 'organic search' is a marketing channel. It can be made up of

following traffic sources as long as the medium is 'organic':
#1 google (as in google / organic)
#2 yahoo (as in yahoo / organic)
#3 bing (as in bing / organic)
#4 aol (as in aol / organic) etc
You can view channels in Google Analytics by navigating to:
#1 Acquisition > Overview report

#2 Acquisition > All traffic > Channels report

#3 Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels > Overview report

#4 Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels > Assisted Conversions report

#5 Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels > Top Conversion Paths report
What channels are available in Google

Analytics?
There are two categories of channels available in Google Analytics:
#1 Default marketing channels (system defined channels)
#2 Custom marketing channels (user-defined channels)

Default Marketing Channels
Default marketing channels are pre-defined (or system defined) marketing
channels in Google Analytics.
Following are default marketing channels:
1. Organic Search
2. Paid Search
3. Display
4. Direct
5. Referral
6. Social
7. Email
8. (Other)
Organic Search Marketing Channel (organic

search traffic)
Organic search traffic is the traffic your website got for free from search
engine websites like google.com, bing.com, baidu.com, yandex.com, etc.
Organic search marketing channel (or organic search traffic) can be made up of
any number of traffic sources as long as the medium of the traffic sources is
‘organic’.

For example, the ‘organic’ search marketing channel can be made up of
following traffic sources:
● google / organic
● yahoo / organic
● bing / organic
● aol / organic etc
Where can you find organic search traffic in

Google Analytics?
You can find organic search traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to
Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels report and then clicking on the ‘Organic
Search’ link:

Paid Search Marketing Channel (paid search
traffic)
Paid search traffic is the paid traffic your website got from search engine
websites like google.com, bing.com, etc.
So traffic from Google Ads, Bing Ads, etc is an example of paid search traffic.
Paid search marketing channel (or paid search traffic) can be made up of any
number of traffic sources as long as the medium of the traffic sources is one of
the following:
● cpc
● ppc
● paidsearch
and Ad Distribution Network’ does not exactly match ‘content’.
For example, ‘paid search’ marketing channel can be made up of following

traffic sources:
● google / cpc
● bing / cpc

Where can you find paid search traffic in
Google Analytics?
You can find paid search traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to Acquisition
> All Traffic > Channels report and then clicking on the ‘Paid Search’ link:
Display Marketing Channel (display traffic)

Display traffic is the traffic your website got from display ads.
Display marketing channel (or display traffic) can be made up of any number of
traffic sources as long as the medium of the traffic sources is one of the
following:
● display

● cpm
● banner
and ‘Ad Distribution Network’ exactly matches ‘content’.
For example, a display marketing channel can be made up of following traffic

sources:
● expedia / display
● tripadvisor / display
● brightroll / banner
● bbc / cpm
Where can you find display traffic in Google

Analytics?
You can find display traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to Acquisition > All
Traffic > Channels report and then clicking on the ‘Display’ link:

Direct Marketing Channel (direct traffic)
Direct traffic is the traffic to your website which starts without a referrer
being passed by a user’s web browser.
In the following cases, a referrer is not passed and hence the traffic is
reported as direct traffic by Google Analytics:
1. A person visited your website by typing your website address in the

browser address bar.
2. A person returned to your website via a bookmark.
3. A person visited your website from an app which does not send a
referrer.

4. A person visited your website by clicking on a link in a desktop email
client (like Microsoft Outlook) or an instant messenger (like Skype) or
Microsoft Word document.
Whenever a referrer is not passed or is dropped because of technical reasons,

Google Analytics is not able to determine the traffic source and the traffic
source is reported as ‘(direct)’ by Google. In that case, GA sets the medium of
the traffic source to ‘(none)’.
The Direct marketing channel can be made up of any number of traffic sources
as long as the traffic source exactly matches ‘direct’ and the traffic medium
exactly matches one of the following:
● (none)
● (not set)
Related Article: Complete Guide to Direct Traffic in Google

Analytics
Where can you find direct traffic in Google

Analytics?
You can find direct traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to Acquisition > All
Traffic > Channels report and then clicking on the ‘Direct’ link:

Referral marketing channel (referral traffic)
Referral traffic is the traffic to your website that starts with a
referrer being passed by a user’s web browser.
Technically speaking, traffic from any website to your website is referral traffic
(as long as a referrer is being passed by a user’s web browser).
But in the context of Google Analytics, traffic from search engines and most
PPC/CPM ads (like Google Ads), is not reported as referral traffic.
The Referral marketing channel can be made up of any number of traffic

sources as long as the medium of the traffic sources is ‘referral’.
For example, the referral marketing channel can be made up of following traffic
sources:

● facebook / referral
● tripadvisor / referral
● bing.com / referral
Where can you find referral traffic in Google

Analytics?
You can find referral traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to Acquisition >
All Traffic > Channels report and then clicking on the ‘Referral’ link:
You can also find referral traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to Acquisition
> All Traffic > Referrals report:

Social Marketing Channel (social media
traffic)
Social media traffic is the traffic your website got from social media
websites like 'Facebook', 'Twitter', 'Linkedin' etc.
The Social marketing channel (or social media traffic) can be made up of any
number of traffic sources as long as the Social Source Referral exactly matches
Yes or medium of the traffic sources is one of the following:
● social
● social-network
● social-media

● sm
● social network
● social media
For example, the social marketing channel can be made up of following traffic
sources:
● Facebook
● Pinterest
● Instagram
● YouTube
● credit
● Naver
● Twitter
Where can you find social media traffic in

Google Analytics?
You can find social media traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to
Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels report and then clicking on the ‘Social’ link:

Another place where you can find social media traffic is by navigating to
Acquisition > Social > Network Referrals report:

Email Marketing Channel (email traffic)
Email traffic is the traffic your website got from email marketing
campaigns.
The Email marketing channel (or email traffic) can be made up of any number
of traffic sources as long as the medium of the traffic sources is ‘email’.
For example, the email marketing channel can be made up of following traffic
sources:
● activecampaign / email
● getresponse / email

● actionetics / email
● MailChimp / email
Where can you find email traffic in Google

Analytics?
You can find email traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to Acquisition > All
Traffic > Channels report and then clicking on the ‘Email’ link:
(Other) marketing channel (Other

Advertising traffic)

Other advertising traffic is the traffic your website got from marketing
campaigns which either used a user-defined traffic medium or the
medium of the campaigns were not set.
The (Other) marketing channel (or other advertising traffic) can be made up of
any number of traffic sources as long as the medium of the traffic sources is
one of the following: cpv, cpa, cpp, content-text or the medium is defined by a
user (via the custom tracking parameters ‘utm_medium’) or the medium is not
set by the user (not set).
Note: The medium (not set) means, a user didn’t set the medium for his
custom campaign via the utm_medium parameter.
For example, (Other) marketing channel can be made up of following traffic

sources:
● twitterfeed / Linkedin
● Growthackers.com / community
● whos_blogging_what / newsletter
● conversionBook / word-document
● ABC user / (not set)
Here ‘linkedin’, ‘community’, ‘newsletter’ and ‘word-document’ are all

user-defined mediums and hence they have been put under the ‘other’
marketing channel category by Google.

Where can you find other advertising traffic
in Google Analytics?
You can find other advertising traffic in Google Analytics by navigating to
Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels report and then clicking on the ‘(Other)’
link:
How to edit a Default Marketing Channel?

First thing first. You should avoid changing the definition of a default
marketing channel as this can skew your analytics reports for good.
But if you have to change the definition of a default marketing channel say
'direct' in GA then follow the steps below:

Step-1: Navigate to the 'Admin' section of your main reporting view in Google
Analytics.
Step-2: Under the 'View' column, click on Channel Settings > Channel
Grouping
Step-3: Click on the 'Default Channel Grouping' link:

Pay attention to the warning message you see at the top:
GA display this warning message for a good reason. Any change to the
definition of default marketing channels, permanently changes how the new
traffic is classified. However, historical data will not be affected.
Avoid changing the definition of default marketing channels unless

you are absolutely sure what you are doing.
Step-4: Let us suppose you want to change the definition of direct traffic. You
want the traffic coming to your website from your other website (say xyz.com)
to be also treated as direct traffic by Google Analytics. To do this, click on the
pencil icon, next to 'Direct' channel:

Step-5: click on the 'OR' button:
Step-6: Click on the second drop-down menu and then select

'Source/Medium':

Step-7: Type xyz.com / referral in the text box:
Here I am telling Google Analytics to record the incoming traffic as 'direct'

traffic if:

System defined channel is 'Direct'
or if
the traffic comes from the website (xyz.com).
If I use the 'AND' logical operator here (by clicking on the 'AND' button):
Then I am telling Google Analytics to record the incoming traffic as 'direct'

traffic if:
System defined channel is 'Direct'
And if
the traffic comes from the website (xyz.com).

Since this condition will always evaluate to false, Google Analytics will stop
recording 'direct' traffic:
So be careful when using the 'AND' condition.
Whenever you are editing a default marketing channel, you need to

be careful with the use of the 'AND' button. Its wrong use can easily
skew your analytics data for good. These 'OR' and 'AND' buttons
work just like the logical operators OR and AND.
Step-8: Click on the 'Done' button and then on the 'Save' button at the bottom
of your screen.

Now going forward, your direct traffic will also include traffic from your second
website (xyz.com). That's how you can change the definition of a default
marketing channel in Google Analytics.
Custom Marketing Channels (how to create a

new marketing channel in Google Analytics)
Custom marketing channels are user-defined marketing channels.
To create a new marketing channel in Google Analytics follows the steps

below:
Step-1: Navigate to the 'Admin' section of your main reporting view in Google
Analytics.
Step-2: Under the 'View' section, click on Channel Settings > Channel
Grouping:

Step-3: Click on the 'Default Channel Grouping' link:
Step-4: Click on 'Define a new channel' button:

Step-5: Name your new marketing channel and define the rules for your new
channel like the one below:
Here I have created a new marketing channel called 'Optimize Smart

Newsletter' to track traffic from my newsletters campaign.

TIP: If you want to add more than one rule then click on the 'OR' or 'AND'
button. These 'OR' and 'AND' work just like the logical operators OR and AND.
Step-6: Click on the 'Done' button and then on the 'Save' button at the bottom
of your screen.
Now going forward, my default channel grouping will also include my new
marketing channel called 'Optimize Smart Newsletter':
That's how you can create a custom marketing channel in Google Analytics.
Generic Paid Search Channel (generic paid

search traffic)
Generic paid search traffic is the traffic your website got from the
non-branded keywords you bid on in Google Ads, Bing ads etc.

The non-branded keywords are the search terms which does not include your
brand name.
By setting up a generic paid search channel, you can get a better understanding
of the performance of non-branded search keywords in terms of driving traffic
and sales to your website.
Branded Paid Search Channel (branded paid

search traffic)
Branded paid search traffic is the traffic your website got from the
branded keywords you bid on in Google Ads, Bing ads etc.
The branded keywords are search terms which include your brand name.
By setting up a branded paid search channel, you can get a better

understanding of the performance of branded search keywords in terms of
driving traffic and sales to your website.
How to create Generic and Branded paid

search channels?

Step-1: Make sure your Google Analytics property is not suffering from not
provided keywords issues. Not provided keyword is a keyword without
'keyword referral data':
In order to reveal not provided keywords in your Google Analytics property, you
need to use a tool like 'Keyword Hero' and collect at least 30 days of keywords
data.
Step-2: Navigate to the 'Keyword View' of your 'Keyword Hero' property:

Step-3: Navigate to Acquisition > All Traffic > Source / Medium report in your
keyword view and then click on the 'Keywords' tab:
Step-4: Filter all of the branded keywords (including misspellings) and

download the data into an excel spreadsheet.
Step-5: Navigate to the 'Admin' section of your keyword view.
Step-6: Under the 'View' column, click on Channel Settings > Manage Brand
Terms

Step-7: If you see a list of Suggested brand terms then click on the 'Add' button
next to it one by one:

You should now see your suggested brand terms listed under the column
'Active brand terms':

Step-8: Copy-paste the list of branded keywords from the excel spreadsheet
into the 'Enter Brand Terms' text box:
Step-9: Click on the 'Add brand terms' button.
You should now see your keywords list under the column 'Active brand terms':

Step-10: Click on the 'Save' button at the bottom of your screen. You should
now see the following dialog box:
Step-11: Click on 'Yes Set up now' button. As soon as you click on this button,
you will see the following dialog box:
Step-12: Click on the 'Dismiss' button. You should now see two new channels
named 'Generic Paid Search' and 'Branded Paid Search' added to your default
channel grouping:

Step-13: Click on the 'pencil' button next to 'Generic Paid Search' channel to
see how it has been defined:

Step-14: Click on the 'Cancel' button.
Step-15: Click on the 'pencil' button next to 'Branded Paid Search' channel to
see how it has been defined:

Step-16: Click on the 'Cancel' button.
Step-17: Click on the 'Save' button at the bottom of your screen.
You have now successfully created 'Generic Paid Search' and 'Branded Paid
Search' marketing channels.
Note: Make sure that Branded Paid Search and Generic Paid Search channels
are above the default Paid Search channel in the Channel Definitions list.
Where can you see the generic and branded

paid search traffic in Google Analytics?

In order to see the generic and branded paid search traffic in Google Analytics,
navigate to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels report in your 'Keyword' view:
Generic Organic Search Channel (generic

organic search traffic)
Generic organic search traffic is the traffic your website got from the
non-branded organic keywords.
The organic keywords are the search terms which generated free traffic for
your website from search engine websites like Google.com, Bing.com,
Yandex.com etc.

By setting up a generic organic search channel, you can get a better
understanding of the performance of non-branded organic keywords in terms
of driving traffic and sales to your website.
Branded Organic Search Channel (branded

organic search traffic)
Branded organic search traffic is the traffic your website got from the
branded organic keywords.
By setting up a branded organic search channel, you can get a better

understanding of the performance of branded organic keywords in terms of
driving traffic and sales to your website.
How to create Generic and Branded organic

search channels
Follow the steps below:
Step-1: Make sure your Google Analytics property is not suffering from not
provided keywords issues and that you are using a tool 'Keyword Hero' to get
not provided keywords data.

Step-2: Navigate to the 'Keyword View' of your 'Keyword Hero' property.
Step-3: Navigate to the 'Admin' section of your keyword view.
Step-4: Under the 'View' column, click on Channel Settings > Channel
Grouping.
Step-5: Click on the 'default channel grouping' link.
Step-6: Click on 'Define a new channel' button and then create a new generic
organic search channel with the following specifications:

Step-7: Click on the 'Done' button.
Step-8: Click on 'Define a new channel' button and then create a new branded
organic search channel with the following specifications:

Step-9: Click on the 'Done' button.
You should now see the two new channels added to channel definitions under
'Default Channel Grouping':

Step-10: Click on the 'Save' button at the bottom of your screen.
Note: Make sure that Branded Organic Search and Generic Organic Search
channels are above the default Organic Search channel in the Channel
Definitions list.
Where can you see the generic and branded

organic search traffic in Google Analytics?
In order to see the generic and branded organic search traffic in Google
Analytics, navigate to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels report in your
‘Keyword’ view.

You are doing Google Analytics all
wrong. Here is why...
I have dealt with hundreds of Google Analytics accounts in my career.
I have seen many issues, from incorrect tracking code, selecting the wrong KPIs,
to analyzing data without using custom reports or advanced segments.
But do you know the biggest issue of all in Google Analytics?....
It is the “misinterpretation of analytics data”.

Many marketers make the mistake of crediting conversions to the wrong
marketing channel.
And they seem to be making this mistake over and over again.
They give the credit for conversions to the last touchpoint (campaign, ad,
search term...).
They can’t help themselves because they believe that the Google Analytics
reports are ‘what you see is what you get’.
But they are actually ‘what you interpret is what you get’.
This has resulted in marketers making wrong business decisions and losing
money.
All the data you see in Google Analytics reports today lies to you unless you
know exactly how to interpret it correctly.
For example, let's talk about direct traffic.
All untagged or incorrectly tagged marketing campaigns, from display ads to

emails, could be reported as direct traffic by Google.
Whenever a referrer is not passed, the traffic is reported as direct traffic by

Google.

Mobile applications don’t send a referrer. Word/PDF documents don’t send a
referrer.
‘302 redirects’ sometimes cause the referrer to be dropped. Sometimes

browsers don’t pass the referrer.
During an HTTP to HTTPS redirect (or vice versa), the referrer is not passed
because of security reasons.
All such traffic is reported as direct traffic by Google.
So on the surface, it may look like most people are visiting your website
directly, but this is not usually the case.
But this analysis does not end here because you are still not looking at the
complete picture.
People do not always access your website directly and then make a purchase
straight away.
They are generally exposed to multiple marketing channels (display ads, social
media, paid search, organic search, referral websites, email, etc.) before they
access your website directly.
Before they make a purchase.

So if you are unaware of the role played by prior marketing channels, you will
credit conversions to the wrong marketing channels.
Like in the present case, to direct traffic.
To get this type of understanding, you need to understand and implement web
analytics.
But you learn data analysis and data interpretation from web analytics and
not from Google Analytics.
The direction in which your analysis will move will determine the direction in
which your marketing campaigns will move.
You get that direction from ‘web analytics’ and not from ‘Google Analytics’.
Web/digital analytics is not about Google Analytics (GA) or Google Tag

Manager (GTM). It is about analyzing and interpreting data, setting up goals,
strategies and KPIs.
It’s about creating a strategic roadmap for your business.
That's why the knowledge of web/digital analytics is so important.
So what I have done is, I have put together a completely free training for you.

This training will teach you what digital analytics really is and how I have been
able to leverage it to generate floods of news sales and customers. And how
you can copy what I have done to get similar results.
You can sign up for the free training here:
Reserve My Seat Now
I hope you find it helpful.
All the best,

Himanshu

Google Analytics Channels Ebook Jan22

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Google Analytics Channels Ebook Jan22

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GOOGLE ANALYTICS CHANNELS

Written by Himanshu Sharma, Founder of Optimize Smart

© Copyright 2022 Optimize Smart. All rights reserved.

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● Over 15 years of experience in digital

analytics and marketing

● Author of four best-selling books on digital

analytics and conversion optimization

● Nominated for Digital Analytics Association Awards for Excellence

● Consultant to countless small and big businesses over the decade

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#1 62 Points Google Analytics Setup Checklist (50 pages)

#2 Google Tag Manager Data Layers (100+ pages)

#3 Learn to Read E-Commerce Reports in Google Analytics (100+ pages)

WHAT'S INSIDE: My step-by-step guide to reading both standard and enhanced

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Without adequate knowledge of channels, you can not accurately

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Similarly, if people visited your website from tripadvisor.co.uk then your

Whenever Google Analytics is not able to determine the origin of your

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Where can you find traffic sources in Google

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What is 'Medium' in Google Analytics?

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System defined medium

Following are the examples of system defined traffic mediums in Google

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User defined medium

For example, consider the following URL:

Here, 'paidsocial' is a user defined traffic medium.

Where can you find traffic medium in Google

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What is Source/Medium report in Google

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What is a Campaign in Google Analytics?

In the context of Google Analytics, a custom campaign is your website URL

Following is an example of a custom campaign which send detailed information

Following is an example of a custom campaign which send detailed information

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#2 Acquisition > Google Ads > Video Campaigns

#3 Acquisition > Google Ads > Shopping Campaigns

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For example 'organic search' is a marketing channel. It can be made up of

#1 google (as in google / organic)

#2 yahoo (as in yahoo / organic)

#3 bing (as in bing / organic)

#4 aol (as in aol / organic) etc

You can view channels in Google Analytics by navigating to:

#1 Acquisition > Overview report

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What channels are available in Google

#1 Default marketing channels (system defined channels)

#2 Custom marketing channels (user-defined channels)

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Following are default marketing channels:

Organic Search Marketing Channel (organic