To see exactly how our partnership is driving traffic to your site, follow these simple steps within your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) dashboard.
Option 1: Viewing General Traffic (Source/Medium)
- Navigate: Go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition.
- Filter for Source: Look for the primary dimension dropdown (usually defaults to "Session default channel group") and change it to Session source / medium.
- Find Us: To find our traffic, simply type any of our brand identifiers—PFW, PW, HCP, OEM, or MUN—into the search bar above the reporting table to filter for our specific campaigns.
- Set Your Dates: Adjust the calendar in the top-right corner to match the dates of our campaign.
- Expand Your View: If you have many results, scroll to the bottom and increase the Rows per page.
Option 2: Viewing Specific Page Performance
Use this method to see which specific URLs on your site our audience is visiting most.
- Navigate: Go to Reports → Engagement → Pages and screens.
- Add the UTM Layer: Click the blue plus (+) sign next to the "Page path and screen class" column.
- Select Source: From the dropdown menu, select Traffic source → Session source / medium.
- Search: To find our traffic, simply type any of our brand identifiers—PFW, PW, HCP, OEM, or MUN—into the search bar above the reporting table to filter for our specific campaigns.
- Review Results: This will now show you exactly which pages were visited by users coming specifically from our campaign.
Pro-Tips for Accurate Reporting
- Check Your Dates: GA4 often defaults to the last 28 days. Always ensure your date range encompasses the full flight of our campaign.
- Data Lag: Keep in mind that GA4 data can take 24–48 hours to fully process and appear in your reports.
- User vs. Session: We recommend using "Session source / medium" for the most accurate look at how our specific placements performed during a single visit.
A Note on Data Reconciliation
While we strive for the highest level of accuracy, please note that reporting between third-party platforms (like LinkedIn, Facebook, or our internal ad servers) and GA4 will very rarely show a 1:1 match.
Discrepancies are common due to several technical factors:
- Privacy & Tracking: Ad-blockers, "Opt-out" settings on mobile devices (like iOS App Tracking Transparency), and cookie consent banners can prevent GA4 from recording a session even if a click occurred.
- Redirects & Load Times: If a user clicks an ad but closes the browser before your website’s GA4 tag finishes loading, the platform will count a click, but GA4 will not count a visit.
- Attribution Models: Different platforms define a "conversion" or "visit" using different logic and time windows.
- Looking to learn more about this topic? Hear directly from Google and LinkedIn on the difficulties of data reconciliation. We've also drafted an additional statement on this topic with more information!
We recommend using GA4 as a tool for measuring trends and on-site behavior, while relying on the platform-direct reports for absolute click and impression volume.
