How to Check UTM Traffic in Google Analytics 4

Tracking your marketing campaign performance in Google Analytics 4 shouldn't feel like a treasure hunt. If you’ve correctly set up your UTM parameters, that valuable data is waiting for you inside GA4. This guide will show you exactly where to find and how to analyze your UTM-tagged traffic, using both the standard reports and the more powerful Explore builder.

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What Are UTM Parameters? A Quick Refresher

Before checking your traffic, let's quickly review what UTMs are and why they are so important. UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are simple tags you add to the end of a URL to tell Google Analytics exactly where your website traffic is coming from. When a user clicks a link with these tags, GA4 logs that information, allowing you to attribute traffic and conversions to specific marketing activities.

There are five standard UTM parameters, each answering a different question:

• utm_source: The specific platform or site where the traffic originated. (Example: google, facebook, newsletter)
• utm_medium: The marketing channel being used. (Example: cpc, social, email)
• utm_campaign: The specific campaign, slogan, or promotion you're running. (Example: summer_sale_2024, black_friday_promo)
• utm_content: The specific ad creative, link, or button that was clicked. This is great for A/B testing. (Example: video_ad_1, button_learn_more)
• utm_term: The paid keyword you targeted. This is primarily used for paid search ads. (Example: data_analytics_software)

An example of a fully-tagged URL might look like this:

https://www.yourstore.com/products/new-widget?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=q3_widget_launch&utm_content=video_ad_blue

Without these tags, GA4 would simply report this traffic as coming from "facebook.com," and you’d have no idea which ad campaign or creative actually drove the click. Properly using UTMs gives you the clarity you need to know what’s working and what isn’t.

How to Find Your UTM Data in Standard GA4 Reports

The quickest way to get a general overview of your campaign traffic is through the standard pre-built reports in GA4. The primary report for this is the Traffic acquisition report.

Here’s how to find it step-by-step:

1. Log into your Google Analytics 4 property.
2. From the left-hand navigation menu, go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition.
3. By default, this report groups traffic by the Session default channel group. To see your campaign data, you need to change the primary dimension. Click the little dropdown arrow above the first column of the table.
4. From the dropdown list, select Session campaign. This will now show you all the traffic grouped by the utm_campaign parameter you've set up. You can now see metrics like Users, Sessions, Engaged sessions, and Conversions for each campaign.

To dig a bit deeper, you can also view source and medium information or add a secondary dimension for a more granular view.

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Adding a Secondary Dimension

What if you want to see both the campaign and the source/medium in the same table? This is where secondary dimensions come in handy.

1. In that same report, click the blue "+" icon next to the primary dimension dropdown.
2. A menu will appear on the right. Search for and select "Session source / medium".
3. The report table will now update to show a new column with the source and medium for each of your campaigns.

You can also change the primary dimension to "Session source / medium" and add "Session campaign" as a secondary dimension to get a different perspective. Play around with different combinations like "Session manual ad content" to see how different ad versions performed within the same campaign.

What about User acquisition vs. Traffic acquisition?

You might notice another report called User acquisition in the same section. The difference is simple:

• User acquisition attributes traffic based on the user's first-ever visit. It tells you which campaign first brought a user to your site. This is based on first-touch attribution.
• Traffic acquisition attributes traffic based on the current session. It tells you what drove a specific visit, regardless of how that user first found you. This is session-based.

For day-to-day campaign monitoring, the Traffic acquisition report is usually more helpful.

How to Build a Custom UTM Report in GA4 Explore

The standard reports are useful for a quick glance, but they are limited. For true flexibility and deep analysis, the Explore section is where you need to be. It allows you to build custom reports from scratch, mixing and matching any dimensions and metrics you want.

Let's build a detailed campaign performance report.

Step 1: Create a New Exploration

Navigate to the Explore tab in the left-hand menu and start a new report by clicking on the Blank or Free form template.

Give your exploration a helpful name, like "Detailed UTM Campaign Performance," so you can easily find it later.

Step 2: Add Your Dimensions

Dimensions are the qualitative attributes of your data - the "what" or "who." In the "Variables" column on the left, click the "+" button in the Dimensions section. Search for and import the dimensions you need to analyze your UTM data. We recommend starting with:

• Session campaign
• Session source / medium
• Session manual ad content
• Session manual term
• Landing page + query string
• Device category

Once you’ve selected them, click the "Import" button in the top right corner.

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Step 3: Add Your Metrics

Metrics are the quantitative numbers - the "how many." Click the "+" button in the Metrics section of the same "Variables" column. The best metrics depend on your goals, but a great starting point for campaign analysis includes:

• Sessions
• Engaged sessions
• Engagement rate
• Conversions
• Total revenue (for e-commerce)
• Total users

Import these metrics just like you did with the dimensions.

Step 4: Build Your Report

Now, it’s time to build the actual report in the "Tab Settings" column.

1. Drag Session campaign from "Dimensions" into the Rows settings on the right.
2. Next, drag metrics like Sessions, Engagement rate, and Conversions from "Metrics" over to the Values settings on the right.

Voila! The table on the right will automatically populate with a clean report showing the performance of each of your campaigns. You can add more dimensions to the Rows box to break down the data even further (e.g., add "Session manual ad content" below "Session campaign" to see a breakdown by ad creative).

Step 5: Filter Your Report for Cleanliness

Your report might include organic and other non-campaign traffic. To focus only on a specific channel, use filters. For instance, if you want to see results for only your paid social media campaigns:

1. Drag Session source / medium from "Dimensions" into the Filters section.
2. Click on the new filter section. Set the condition to "contains" and then type in "facebook / cpc".
3. Click Apply.

Your report will now only show data from campaigns that match that specific source and medium, giving you a crystal-clear view.

Practical Tips for UTM Analysis in GA4

Finding the data is only half the battle. Here’s how to turn that data into actionable insights.

1. Keep Your Naming Conventions Consistent

This is the golden rule of UTM tracking. Inconsistent naming creates messy data. For example, GA4 sees facebook and Facebook as two separate sources. This fractures your data and makes analysis difficult. Create a simple spreadsheet that defines your team’s naming structure for sources, mediums, and common campaign names. Use lowercase only and dashes or underscores instead of spaces.

If you see a lot of traffic listed under "(not set)," it often means some of your links aren't properly tagged with UTMs.

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2. Analyze the Full Funnel, Not Just Traffic

A campaign that drives thousands of sessions but zero conversions isn't successful. Always include outcome-focused metrics like Conversions, Total revenue, or a specific event like form_submission in your reports. This helps you identify which campaigns are not just popular but are actually driving business results.

3. Use Comparisons to Find What Works

Data without context is just noise. Use your Explore report to directly compare the performance of different campaigns.

• Which newsletter headline (utm_content) drove a higher engagement rate?
• Did your "summer_sale" campaign (utm_campaign) generate more revenue than the "spring_clearance" campaign?
• Is traffic from Google CPC converting at a higher rate than traffic from Facebook CPC?

These comparisons reveal patterns and tell you where to invest more of your budget and effort.

Final Thoughts

Finding your UTM data in GA4 gets easier once you know where to look. Use the standard Traffic acquisition report for quick checks and turn to the Explore builder when you need to create detailed, custom reports that answer specific business questions about your marketing efforts.

Of course, building manual reports in GA4 is just one piece of the puzzle. We find that many teams spend hours digging through Google Analytics, then jump platforms to check their ads manager, then their Shopify dashboard, stitching together insights to get a full performance picture manually. We created Graphed to remove that friction completely. Instead of building your reports click-by-click, you just connect your data and ask questions in plain English, like "Show me a dashboard comparing my top-performing Facebook and Google campaigns last month." Graphed instantly builds you a real-time, shareable dashboard so you can get answers and get back to making decisions.