Unassigned Traffic in Google Analytics: 4 Ways To Fix It

Introduction

As you know, we’ve had to say goodbye to our Universal Analytics (UA) starting from the first of July 2023 and migrate to the new Google Analytics 4. While it promises a plethora of advanced features, it’s no secret that GA4 can be a steep learning curve, even for seasoned marketing professionals. Indeed, GA4 has key differences when it comes to conversion tracking, data analysis, reporting and visualisation.

In this blog post, we will decode the complexity of Google Analytics 4 highlighting areas that might pose challenges for Marketers working for EdTech Startups and Scaleup as well as for different industries. We’ll offer insights and solutions to understand why you may see the ‘Unassigned’ label in GA4 traffic report, ensuring that you as a growth marketer can make the most out of this powerful tool.

Are you ready? Let’s get started! 🙂

What does ‘Unassigned’ mean?

If you wish to learn more what does ‘Unassigned’ mean and why it happen visit the following Google Analytics4 path: Acquisition -> Traffic Acquisition -> Source/Medium: Default Channel grouping.

Figure 1 – GA4, Example Unassigned Traffic, Source/Medium.

From the Figure 1 shown above you can see a traffic acquisition report showing a few rows with the ‘Unassigned’ label under the Default Channel Group and its corresponding Source/Medium.

The main reason why Unassigned in GA4 happens is that your incoming traffic cannot be assigned to any default channel groups, like organic search, paid search, social, email, direct, referral, and so on.

In other words, Unassigned in GA4 is triggered when the incoming traffic’s Source/Medium fails to align with any existing default channel groupings pre-defined by Google. Here you find the official documentation to learn how GA4 classifies your traffic in the Default channel group.

To solve the issue the first step is making sure the source & medium will match the standard rule shared. To do that you will need to create an UTM convention and build your source and medium following the channels rule set by Google in the official guide.

As a second option, you will need to setup your UTM convention and build a new custom channel group. Once you have labelled the new source / medium of your incoming traffic, GA4 will be able to report it in the acquisition channel. In the next paragraph, I will show you how to setup a new Custom Channel Group.

How to Create a Custom Channel Group?

The simplest way to solve potential issues with “Unassigned” in Google Analytics 4, is to create a new Custom Channel Group.

Google Analytics 4 comes with a set of pre-established channel groupings by default. However, it also offers the flexibility to design and implement your own custom channel groupings.

Some important notes:

• Custom channel groups can be applied to your reports retroactively.
• You can use your custom channel groups as a primary dimension (eg. Acquisition report)
• It’s not currently possible to use custom channel groups in the Conversions paths report.

Step 1 Select Channel Group

Step 2 Copy To Create New Channel Group

Once you have copied the group, you can easily edit specific sources (edit, add or delete some of them).

Why Does ‘Unassigned’ Traffic Happen in GA4?

Several factors could lead a traffic source to deviate from Google’s channel guidelines. Let’s dive deeper into these six potential root causes.

1. Measurement Protocol: Omitting the ga_session_id when directing traffic to GA4 via the measurement protocol can lead to GA4 being unable to link the data to a distinct user session.
2. Tracking Setup: Problems with your Google Tag Manager or GA4 tracking setup might result in Google Analytics missing key parameters or data, hindering the proper attribution of traffic sources.
3. UTM Tags: Failing to tag your URLs with UTM parameters or manual tagging errors can disrupt data clarity in analytics. This misalignment with Google’s guidelines is a prominent reason behind unidentified traffic.
4. Ad Blockers: The increasing usage of ad-blockers and privacy tools can prevent GA4 from capturing data with precision.
5. Cross-Domain Tracking: Incorrect configuration of cross-domain tracking can cause certain redirects to drop the UTM parameters, rendering GA4 incapable of assigning the traffic to the appropriate source or medium.
6. Session Start Event: The absence of this event can mislead GA4 in traffic attribution, as it remains uncertain whether it’s initiating a new session.

4 Ways To Fix ‘Unassigned’ in GA4

Understanding how to fix the the ‘Unassigned’ traffic in GA4 can be crucial for any startups and growth teams. It is crucial to understanding not only the root cause but the solutions to ensure product and growth marketing team can manage more accurate data, essential for refining EdTech marketing strategies

1. UTM Tagging

Many growth marketing initiatives can be undermined due to inaccurate UTM tags. It’s vital to consistently input the right source and medium since they’re essential parameters.

Establishing a consistent and unified system UTM tagging system across different campaigns is very important. If you struggle to tag properly campaigns across I recommend downloading these free templates to keep you organised.

Note: There might be occasions when your traffic source data appears normal, but you observe a sudden surge in ‘unassigned’ entries for the day. Often, this indicates that the data hasn’t fully processed. A wait of a day or so usually resolves this, with the ‘unassigned’ traffic being correctly allocated to its respective channel groups.

2. Measurement Protocol

If you are not familiar with this concept, the Measurement Protocol is a feature of Google Analytics that allows developers to create and send custom tracking events data directly to Google Analytics servers. These events can represent virtually any user interaction.

Keep reading if you or your web developer is using the Measurement Protocol 🙂

There are several reasons why you could be seeing Unassigned (not set) in the Source / Medium GA4 report as shown in the screenshot below (Figure 2) when using a Measurement Protocol.

Figure 2 – Example Unassigned (not set)

However, there are specific requirements. For instance, every request must include the client ID, session ID, and if data is being retroactively sent (like adding details to a previous day), the timestamp of those events is necessary. If any of these parameters are omitted, or if data from non-existing users is used, you’ll find “not set” as the source and medium. If you’re utilizing the measurement protocol, It’s a probable cause for the “unassigned” and “not set” statuses. There might be other reasons as well.

3. Enable Auto-Tagging

While manual tagging has its challenges, certain advertising platforms might require it. But, if you’re utilizing Google services such as Google Ads, you can connect them to your GA4 property and activate auto-tagging.

The advantage of auto-tagging is that if you mistakenly use incorrect UTM tags, they will be overridden by the auto-tagged values.

4. Cross-domain tracking

As users navigate from one domain to another, it’s vital that UTM parameters aren’t lost due to redirects or other issues. For this reason you should check the cross-domain tracking traffic. Here you find some actionable tips to solve this issue:

• Consistent Tracking Implementation: Your domains involved in cross-domain tracking should have the same GA4 tracking code implemented to avoid issues in GA reporting.
• Manually Test your domains to check if your cross-domain URL change in the user journey (ie. from domain A to domain B)
• Google Tag Manager’s Preview Mode: navigate across domains and ensure the same UTM parameters are being passed to GA4.
• Check Referral Exclusion List: Ensure that your own domains are on this list so that they don’t show up as referrals to each other. For example, if you have domainA and domainB, both should be in each other’s referral exclusion lists in GA4.
• (301) Redirects: Ensure that any redirects between domains are 301 (permanent) redirects and not 302 (temporary) ones. Temporary redirects can sometimes lose tracking parameters.

Conclusion

This blog post explores the issue of ‘Unassigned Traffic’ in GA4 and presents four troubleshooting. Additionally, we’ve covered the creation of Custom Channel Grouping in Google Analytics 4. This tool empowers marketers and analysts to classify traffic sources by their channel type, often helping in significantly reducing the ‘Unassigned’ category from reports.

Moreover, the post offers step-by-step guidance on setting up UTM parameters with a template and addressing cross-domain traffic challenges. Addressing ‘Unassigned Traffic’ in GA4 not only provides clarity on your platform’s dynamics but also sharpens your growth strategies.

If you encounter ‘Unassigned Traffic’ even after implementing our suggestions, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m dedicated to guiding your EdTech journey with user acquisition and increase retention.

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Bibliography

Google Analytics Help. (2023). [GA4] Default channel group.

Qureshi, U. (2023, May 10). How to Fix the Unassigned Traffic in Google Analytics 4. Measure School.

Proehl, A. (2023, July 7). Comparing UA vs. GA4 metrics: Key differences you need to know.