Paid search events are incorrectly attributed to organic traffic [241258655]

Bug

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Description

re...@code-orange.nl

created issue #1

Aug 3, 2022 07:20PM

Summary:

We have been using UA and BigQuery to analyze traffic data, and are now making the switch to GA4. However we are encountering an issue where events are attributed to organic traffic, event though they actually paid search.

To ensure it is not a BigQuery issue, we have collected events in the debug mode which produces the same results. There is an example of an incorrect event included in the attachments. (I have blacked out some customer specific data). That image is taken directly from the GA debug screen.

What is interesting is that the GA web-interface appears to correctly attribute these clicks to google-ads campaigns, though the raw event data would suggest otherwise.

Expected Behaviour

All generated events that have a GCLID parameter set should be attributed to "Google / Paid search".

Steps to Reproduce:

Set up GA4
Start capturing events through the debug mode
Generate a page view event from a google search ad.

The event will have a gclid set in the page_url and also in the event_params but the event will still be attributed to organic traffic.

Any idea how this could happen?

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ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #2Aug 4, 2022 07:47AM

Reassigned to ke...@google.com.

Hello,

Please check your inbox. I've sent you a separate email to request for more details. Let's continue our discussion on that thread moving forward.

Regards,

Kevin Soriano, Google Analytics API Team

wi...@motorway.co.uk <wi...@motorway.co.uk> #3Aug 6, 2022 01:53PM

Hello, we are experiencing the same problem.

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #4Aug 8, 2022 05:15AM

Hello,

Please check your inbox as well. I've sent you a separate email to request for more details. Let's continue our discussion on that thread moving forward.

Regards,

Kevin Soriano, Google Analytics API Team

lo...@avantgarde-pmc.de <lo...@avantgarde-pmc.de> #5Aug 17, 2022 08:46AM

Hello, I experiencing the same problem.

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #6Aug 18, 2022 04:53AM

Hello,

Thank you for the additional information.

Based on this link which describes the processing of paid search-engine referrals, A session is processed as a paid-search referral when custom campaign parameters or Google Ads / Google Marketing Platform click IDs are used in the ad's destination URL and are sent to Analytics in the document location field. It also states that if custom campaign parameters or click IDs are not used, the session may be processed as organic instead.

If you have successfully met those conditions, but your data was still incorrectly attributed to organic traffic, I suggest you reach out to our product support team for better assistance. If you're not a Google Analytics 360 user, please make sure that you are using the email address for your standard Google Analytics account and that the email address has a Google Ads account before reaching out to the product support team, since there is a required field for your customer ID.

Regards,

Kevin Soriano, Google Analytics API team

wi...@motorway.co.uk <wi...@motorway.co.uk> #7Aug 31, 2022 08:32AM

Hi Kevin,

I have opened a ticket with the product support team. They have said because it is BigQuery export related it is not within their remit.

I also did not receive a direct email from you on the 9th August.

Could you please advise who can help with this. It seems as if no one wants to take responsibility, I'm sure that's not the case.

Thank you,
Will

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #8Sep 1, 2022 06:08AM

Hi Will,

Since you didn't receive my email, can you please provide a sample payload and any other details that you may have such as UI screenshots where you've observed the issue and then send it to our team via the Analytics API Support Request Form so we can further investigate? You may reference this thread in the form so we will be able to identify and track the issue accordingly.

Regards,

Kevin Soriano, Google Analytics API team

ma...@edilportale.com <ma...@edilportale.com> #9Sep 19, 2022 10:48AM

Hi, same problem here. Discrepancy between Campaigns in GA4 and UA, and alot of direct visits instead :(

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #10Sep 20, 2022 07:03AM

Hello,

I suggest you reach out to our product support team first since your concern appears to be more of a product/data related issue. Just to add, there are differences between Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 data models which is discussed in this article.

If you're not a Google Analytics 360 user, please make sure that you are using the email address for your standard Google Analytics account and that the email address has a Google Ads account before reaching out to the product support team, since there is a required field for your customer ID.

Regards,

Kevin Soriano, Google Analytics API team

[Deleted User] <[Deleted User]> #11Sep 22, 2022 12:31PM

Getting the same problem. Any progress on a fix yet please?

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #12Sep 23, 2022 06:52AM

Hi Sophie,

I'm afraid I'm not aware if the users were able to resolve the issue with the product support team. I suggest you reach out to their team as well since your concern appears to be more of a product/data related issue. Just to add, there are differences between Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 data models which is discussed in this article.

Regards,

Kevin Soriano, Google Analytics API team

[Deleted User] <[Deleted User]> #13Sep 23, 2022 08:30AM

Thank you Kevin. I will raise yet another issue with the GA product support team. Where I can probably look forward to it being yet another issue where GA support try to tell me that issues with the GA4 BigQuery export are out of scope for them and should instead be covered by the GCP BigQuery support team - only for the GCP support team to declare it out of scope for them too and bat it back to GA support. This will probably go on for a few months and I'll struggle to get anywhere with it. But yes, I'll give it a go.

Thanks for the article about the differences between UA and GA4 - I'm already pretty well versed in this, and I don't believe that article provides any relevant info on the issue at hand here.

Can I try articulating the issue in a slightly different way and see if anyone can spare me months of getting nowhere with GA support?

When auto-tagging is enabled in Google Ads and linked to GA4, when traffic arrives at our website with a GCLID query parameter within the URL, the following happens...

In the GA4 UI, this session gets reported as follows (both at the session-level and first-user level)...
* default channel grouping = 'Paid Search'
* source = 'google'
* medium = 'cpc'
... This is expected behaviour and all OK

But in the GA4 BigQuery export, the auto-tagging doesn't work at all, and the presence of the GCLID query parameter does nothing to attribute the traffic to the Paid Search channel and the google / cpc combination of Source / Medium
* default channel grouping - this doesn't yet flow through in the GA4 BigQuery export which is a painful gap in the current product offering. When does the GA4 product roadmap plan to surface the default channel grouping in the GA4 BigQuery export?
Then it gets really weird because this traffic has a mixture of Source / Medium (when looking at the source and medium event parameters)
* Some of this traffic has Source = 'google' and Medium = 'organic' (This is the exact problem raised in the description of this issue)
* Some of this traffic has NULL values for Source and Medium

If using the GA4 BigQuery export, does this mean that we need to take a backwards step and turn off auto-tagging in the Google Ad platforms, and go back to manual tagging and using the utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign parameters?

Thanks,
Sophie

[Deleted User] <[Deleted User]> #14Sep 23, 2022 08:37AM

Same issue here ;-) Commenting with my other email address which is for a standard GA account, should you want to look up the numerous problematic GA support tickets that I've referred to above.

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #15Sep 26, 2022 05:57AM

Hi Sophie,

Thank you for your response.

I'm afraid that I'm unable to comment on your concern. Please note that our team doesn't have visibility on Google Ads and Google BigQuery. This channel is intended for Google Analytics API specific issues only.

I understand that you might have had issues with GA support before, but since this is more on the product level, their team is better equipped to address the issue. Having said that, I hope that you get a response from their team soon regarding your concern.

Regards,

Kevin Soriano, Google Analytics API team

is...@google.com <is...@google.com> Oct 8, 2023 08:09AM

Status: New

Issue 241258655

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Issue summary

Comments

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #2Aug 4, 2022 07:47AM

wi...@motorway.co.uk <wi...@motorway.co.uk> #3Aug 6, 2022 01:53PM

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #4Aug 8, 2022 05:15AM

lo...@avantgarde-pmc.de <lo...@avantgarde-pmc.de> #5Aug 17, 2022 08:46AM

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #6Aug 18, 2022 04:53AM

wi...@motorway.co.uk <wi...@motorway.co.uk> #7Aug 31, 2022 08:32AM

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #8Sep 1, 2022 06:08AM

ma...@edilportale.com <ma...@edilportale.com> #9Sep 19, 2022 10:48AM

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #10Sep 20, 2022 07:03AM

[Deleted User] <[Deleted User]> #11Sep 22, 2022 12:31PM

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #12Sep 23, 2022 06:52AM

[Deleted User] <[Deleted User]> #13Sep 23, 2022 08:30AM

[Deleted User] <[Deleted User]> #14Sep 23, 2022 08:37AM

ke...@google.com <ke...@google.com> #15Sep 26, 2022 05:57AM

is...@google.com <is...@google.com> Oct 8, 2023 08:09AM

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