How to Compare MoM Organic Traffic in Google Analytics 4

Tracking your month-over-month organic traffic in Google Analytics 4 is one of the most fundamental ways to measure your SEO performance. Seeing this trend line tells you if your content strategy is working, if your technical fixes are paying off, and how you’re pacing towards your goals. This guide will show you two straightforward methods to get this data in GA4, one for a quick check-in and another for a more flexible, in-depth analysis.

Why Monitoring MoM Organic Traffic Is So Important

Before jumping into the "how," let's quickly touch on the "why." Your organic traffic is the pulse of your SEO efforts. Comparing it month-over-month (MoM) helps you:

• Spot Trends Quickly: Are you on an upward trajectory, or is traffic starting to stagnate or decline? Monthly checks give you enough data to see a pattern without a ton of noise.
• Attribute Performance: Did you launch a new series of blog posts last month? Finally fix those core web vitals issues? Comparing MoM traffic helps connect your actions to their results.
• Adjust Your Strategy: A down month isn’t a disaster, but a consistent downward trend is a signal to act. It tells you it's time to re-evaluate your keyword targeting, content quality, or technical health before a small dip becomes a major problem.

In the old days of Universal Analytics (UA), this was a fairly simple report to pull. GA4 handles data differently, which can feel a bit confusing at first. Don't worry, once you learn the new workflow, it’s just as easy - and in many ways, more powerful.

Method 1: The Quick-and-Easy Traffic Acquisition Report

For a fast, no-fuss look at your month-over-month performance, the built-in reports are your best friend. This method is perfect for your weekly or monthly check-ins.

Step 1: Navigate to the Traffic Acquisition Report

In the left-hand menu of GA4, go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. This report gives you a default overview of where your website's sessions are coming from, categorized by channel.

Step 2: Set Your Date Range for Comparison

In the top-right corner of the report, you’ll see the date range selector. Click on it.

• From the dropdown, select Last month.
• Now, toggle on the Compare switch at the bottom.
• By default, it will likely select Previous period. This is exactly what we want for a month-over-month comparison. It will automatically select the month right before your main selection.
• Click Apply.

Your charts and tables will now show two sets of data: one for last month and one for the month prior, along with percentage change columns. But right now, you’re still looking at all your traffic channels.

Step 3: Filter for Organic Search Traffic

To isolate your organic traffic, you need to add a simple filter. This is much easier than it sounds.

Directly above the data table (below the charts), there is a search box that says "Search". Click into this box.

1. From the dropdown of dimensions, find and select Session default channel group.
2. A second box will appear for the values. Check the box next to Organic Search.
3. Click OK.

The entire report - both the charts and the table - will instantly refresh to show you only traffic from Organic Search. That’s it! You've got your high-level MoM comparison.

Step 4: Analyze the Report

You’ll now see a clear view of your organic performance. The line chart visualizes the day-by-day trend for both months, while the table gives you the hard numbers.

• Look at key metrics like Users and Sessions to see the raw change in traffic.
• Pay close attention to Engaged sessions and Engagement rate. Did traffic go up, but engagement go down? You might be attracting the wrong kind of visitors.
• If you have conversions set up, the Conversions column tells you if that traffic is translating into actual business results, like sign-ups or sales.

Method 2: Building a Deeper Analysis with an Exploration Report

Standard reports are great for quick views, but what if you want to see trends over several months? Or add more specific metrics? For that, you need to use the Explore section of GA4. This gives you a drag-and-drop canvas to build a totally custom report.

Step 1: Create a New "Free Form" Exploration

In the left-hand menu, click on Explore. This is your hub for building custom reports. Click on the Free Form template to start with a blank slate.

Step 2: Name Your Report and Set the Date Range

First, give your exploration a name at the top left, like "MoM Organic Traffic Trends."

Next, click the date range selector. Choose a broader period that covers the months you want to analyze, for example, Last 90 days or even the Last 12 months to get a full view of your trends.

Step 3: Import the Necessary Dimensions and Metrics

This is where you tell the report what ingredients you need. In the first panel ("Variables"), click the "+" icon next to Dimensions and Metrics to import the building blocks of your report.

• For Dimensions:
• For Metrics:

Step 4: Build Your Table

Now, drag your imported variables from the left-hand "Variables" panel to the right-hand "Tab Settings" panel to construct the report table:

• Drag Month Of Year into the Rows section.
• Drag Users, Sessions, and your other metrics into the Values section.

You'll see a table populate in the main view, showing your chosen metrics broken down by month. But it's still showing data for all traffic sources.

Step 5: Filter the Exploration for Organic Search

Just like in the standard report, you need to filter this data. In the "Tab Settings" panel, find the Filters section near the bottom.

1. Drag Session default channel group from your Dimensions into the Filters box.
2. Set the filter logic: exactly matches.
3. In the "Enter expression" box, type or select Organic Search.
4. Click Apply.

Your table now shows a clean, month-over-month breakdown of only organic traffic for the entire time period you selected.

Step 6: Visualize Your Trend

A table of numbers is good, but a chart is often better for spotting trends instantly. At the top of the "Tab Settings" panel, you can change the visualization type. Click the icon that looks like a line chart.

Your data will instantly transform into a simple line graph, showing the rise and fall of your organic sessions or users over time. Now, instead of just comparing two months, you can see the entire performance arc over the selected period. This makes it far easier to spot seasonality, diagnose longer-term declines, or confirm sustained growth.

What Should You Look For?

Once you have your MoM data, what does it actually tell you?

• Overall Growth Trajectory: Ignore small monthly fluctuations and look at the overall trend. Are you consistently growing, flatlining, or on a slow decline? This is the most important story your data is telling you.
• Correlate with Actions: Don’t just look at the data in a vacuum. Compare it against your activity log. "Our organic sessions jumped 20% in April. Oh right, that's when we published that 10-part guide and promoted it heavily." This validates your efforts and helps you decide what to do more of.
• Check Traffic Quality: Look beyond just sessions. If your sessions grew but your conversion rate on organic traffic fell off a cliff, it might mean your new traffic isn't qualified. Perhaps you're ranking for informational keywords when you need commercial-intent traffic leading to sales.

Final Thoughts

Getting a handle on your month-over-month organic traffic is a non-negotiable task for anyone serious about SEO. Using GA4's Traffic acquisition report gives you a quick, simple glimpse perfect for routine checks, while the Exploration reports unlock the ability to build a more robust, long-term view of your performance trends. By regularly monitoring this data, you can stay ahead of problems and double down on what’s working.

For all of its power, GA4 can still feel disconnected from your other marketing platforms, requiring you to constantly switch tabs between Google Search Console, your ad platforms, and your sales tools. We created Graphed to solve this. Instead of building these reports manually, you can simply ask a question like, "Compare my organic traffic from Google Analytics and clicks from Google Search Console month over month for the last year," and get an instant, real-time dashboard. By connecting all your tools in one place, we help you get from raw data to actionable insight in seconds, not hours.