Referral Traffic in Google Analytics

Updated: Friday, October 6, 2023

Referral Traffic: definition

In Google Analytics 4, traffic sources are grouped by categories called channel groups.

The Referral channel is part of the default channel group which contains all the following channels :

DirectCross-networkPaid ShoppingPaid Social
Paid SearchPaid VideoDisplayPaid Other
Organic SocialOrganic SearchOrganic VideoOrganic Shopping
ReferralEmailAffiliatesAudio
SMSMobile Push Notifications

To sort traffic sources by channel group, Google Analytics uses a database of known websites.

sourcesource category
amazon.comSOURCE_CATEGORY_SHOPPING
googleSOURCE_CATEGORY_SEARCH
youtubeSOURCE_CATEGORY_VIDEO
facebook.comSOURCE_CATEGORY_SOCIAL

Download the websites database used by Google Analytics to sort traffic sources by channel group.

If the traffic source is from a website that is not in this database then the trafic source will be attributed to the Referral channel group.

If the traffic source can’t be determined, it will be attributed to the Direct channel group.

If you want to know more about how Google Analytics sorts traffic out by default channel group, you will find here the official documentation.

Referral traffic exclusion

In some cases, you may want to exclude some website to fall into the Referral channel group.

For example, when you use a payment gateway like Stripe or Paypal, your conversions can be attributed to the Referral channel group by mistake because Google Analytics thinks the payment gateway is a referral website.

Wrong attribution to the Referral channel group
Wrong attribution to the Referral channel group

To exclude Referral website from your Google Analytics 4 property, you need to go to Admin > Data stream (then click on your stream) > Configure tag settings > Show more (you may need to scroll down) > List unwanted referrals.

Then, you have to add the domain names of the referral websites you don’t want to include into the Referral channel group.

Referral websites to exclude in GA4
Referral websites to exclude in GA4

This configuration will add the parameter ignore_referrer to trafic coming from the websites you want to exclude.

Trafic acquisition report in Google Analytics

The default channel groups are used in the Trafic acquisition report and they allow you to take a step back on all traffic sources. You easily determine which channel drives more trafic to your website.

Trafic Acquisition standard report in GA4
Trafic Acquisition standard report in GA4

This report uses the default channel group offered by Google Analytics 4 but you can also sort the array by traffic sources.

Go further wih custom channel grouping

If the default channel group classication does not fit your needs, you can create your own channel group that will a lot more meaningful for your business.

To do this, go to Admin > Data Settings > Channel Groups.

Then, click on the button Create new channel group and from here you can edit the default configuration.

For example, you can :

  • change the name of the channel groups
  • change the attribution conditions of traffic sources to a specific channel group
Configuration of a custom channel group
Configuration of a custom channel group

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