Are you also looking for how to find referral traffic in Google Analytics to determine where your website traffic is actually coming from?
Though Google Analytics has an intuitive interface, it may be a little complex for beginners. GA4 lacks a dedicated report showcasing referral traffic data.
But no worries! In this blog, we’ll discuss three effective methods to find referral traffic in Google Analytics 4. Let’s begin!
What is Referral Traffic in Google Analytics?
Referral Traffic in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is traffic from other sources rather than search engines or direct visits to your website.
It may include clicking on a link, button, or other elements from a domain not connected to your Google Analytics account.
For instance, visitors from blog posts on other websites would be considered referral traffic.
Why is Referral Traffic Important?
Referral traffic serves as a large source of overall traffic driving your website and gives you backlinks. These links can help you improve your SEO and rank higher on search engine ranking pages (SERPs).
You can use the Google Analytics traffic report to gain valuable insights and grow your overall website traffic. After analyzing the insights of referral traffic coming to your site, you can make substantial changes and marketing decisions.
This way, you can grow your overall business. Let’s move ahead and show you how to see referral sources in GA4 (Google Analytics 4).
How to Find Referral Traffic in Google Analytics?
Here, we’ve mentioned three simple methods for how to find referral traffic in Google Analytics 4.
Method #1: Built-in Standard Report
Step 1: First, log in to your Google Analytics account.
Step 2: Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition
Step 3: Scroll down a little to find a table. Here, you can find the “Referral” row.
Step 4: Once you find the report, you can read the basic metrics of your referral traffic. It may tell you how much traffic leads to your site and how much time they have spent on it on average.
Moreover, if you want to determine where those referrals drive from, you need to write “referral” into the search. It will lead you to vire just the referral traffic.
Step 5: Click on the blue colour “+” sign.
Step 6: From the dropdown, you need to opt for Traffic Source > Session Source.
Step 7: Once you finish the last step, you will get the properly broken down table. Here, you’ll learn how many referrals you’ve received from each referring site.
Method #2: Customized Report
If referral traffic is one of the prominent sources of your website traffic, you must customize the built-in report. However, you will require an editor or admin access to the Google Analytics 4 property.
This method will enable you to make a customized copy of the Traffic Acquisition report that will be saved in your report tab. Let’s begin with the steps!
Step 1: First, you need to click on the “Pencil” icon located at the top right corner of the report.
Step 2: Tap on the “Add Filter” option under the Report Filter section. Here, you should select”Session default channel group” in dimension and “Referral” in value.
Step 3: If you need any other customization under the report, you can add/remove dimensions and metrics and set the default dimension, as depicted in the picture below.
Step 4: Once your customized report is completed and satisfactory, you may save it. We suggest you save it as a new report instead of overwriting an existing report. This way, you may use both for different purposes.
Step 5: Open the “Reports” tab and go to the library to add your new report to the Acquisition folder.
Step 6: Click on the “Edit collection” under the Life Cycle collection. Your Acquisition report might be stored in another place, as Google Analytics is customizable.
Step 7: Now, you need to search the created report and drag it to the Acquisition topic.
Step 8: Ensure saving the changes. Enjoy your customized report alongside the other built-in Google Analytics 4 report.
Method #3: Build an Exploration
Last but not least, if you require more freedom in the presentation of referral traffic data, you can build a free-form exploration. Follow the steps below.
Step 1: Visit the Explore section of Google Analytics 4 and start with a new blank report.
Step 2: Opt for the “dimension” and “metrics” that can provide the most insightful analytics.
For instance, you may start by adding the “Session default” channel group “, Sessions”, and “Active/Total users” for the metrics.
Step 3: Filter the report to ensure that only referral traffic data is included. Go to the Filter Report section and opt for “Session default channel group exactly matches referral.”
Step 4: Now, you need to add dimensions and metrics to the report. It will help you explore referral traffic data, as depicted in the below image.
Step 5: In case you want to explore the specific referrers deeper, you need to duplicate the tab you’re working in to maintain the filter in the new tab.
Step 6: Keeping two tabs will help you maintain referral traffic data more effectively. One can be used for a general overview, while the other can be used for detailed analyses.
In this tab, you need to add “Session source” to the dimensions and “Session conversion rate” to the metrics.
NOTE: Google has recently renamed the “conversions” to “key events.” Therefore, the metrics are now known as Session Key Event Rate.
Step 7: Once you’re done with adding “Session source,” you view the exact website that may lead you to referral traffic. Plus, adding “Session key event rate” will allow you to see the percentage of sessions in which the user completes the conversion process after landing on your site from the referrer.
Step 8: This is a completely customizable report. Hence, you can play around with it as you want and add the dimensions/metrics that would be most suitable for you.
Conclusion
In summary, these are three effective methods for how to find referral traffic in Google Analytics. You can use any of the methods based on your needs and requirements. We hope this blog helps you understand GA4 referral URL sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How do you find referral traffic sources in Google Analytics?
Follow the simple steps below to find the referral traffic source in Google Analytics.
1. Open your GA4 account.
2. Tap on Reports > Acquisition > User/Traffic Acquisition Reports
3. You will see only the top 5 traffic channels by default.
4. Scroll down a bit to find the referral channel.
Q. How do you filter referral traffic in GA4?
If you want to filter referral traffic in GA4, you need to follow the simple steps mentioned below.
1. Click on the “Add Filter” option located at the top of the Traffic Acquisition report.
2. You need to set the Session default channel group to exactly match “Referral.” It will enable you to filter out all other traffic sources
3. Now, you can only see the referral traffic in the report.
Q. How do you check traffic sources in Google Analytics 4?
You can search for any particular traffic source in the search bar located above the table. For instance, by searching “google/organic” and pressing the Enter button, you can view the organic Google Search traffic.
Q. What is a traffic source referral?
Referral traffic is the traffic that comes to your website through another source, such as another domain.
Q. What is the difference between direct and referral traffic in Google Analytics?
Direct traffic is when a user visits the website by entering the URL into the browser, clicking on your site link through a non-indexed document such as a PDF, visiting through private social media channels, and more. However, referral traffic refers to the visitors that visit your site through a link that redirects them to your site located on another website.