How to See Campaigns in Google Analytics 4

Trying to figure out which marketing efforts are actually bringing people to your site can feel like a puzzle. Tracking your marketing campaigns in Google Analytics 4 is the only way to get clear answers and see which channels are truly driving results. This guide will walk you through exactly how to set up, find, and analyze your campaign data in GA4, step-by-step.

The Foundation: Understanding How GA4 Tracks Campaigns

Before you can find your campaign data in GA4, it’s important to understand how Google knows where your traffic comes from in the first place. It comes down to two methods: automatic tagging and manual tagging using something called UTM parameters.

You’ve probably seen them before - those long, complicated-looking website links. Those extra bits of text at the end of a URL are what give Google Analytics the clues it needs.

What are UTM Parameters?

UTM stands for “Urchin Tracking Module.” Urchin was the company Google acquired to create Google Analytics, and the name stuck. These parameters are simple tags you add to the end of a URL to tell GA4 specific details about that link.

When someone clicks a link with UTM tags, those details are sent to Google Analytics, allowing you to see exactly which email, ad, or social media post sent them to your site. There are five main UTM parameters:

utm_source: Identifies where the traffic is coming from, like ‘google’, ‘facebook’, or a specific email list like ‘monthly_newsletter’.
utm_medium: Explains the type of link used, such as ‘cpc’ (for paid ads), ‘email’, or ‘social’.
utm_campaign: Gives a name to your specific marketing effort, like ‘summer_sale_2024’ or ‘q3_promo’.
utm_content: Used to differentiate links that point to the same URL within a single campaign. For example, if you have two CTA buttons in an email, you could label one ‘top_button’ and the other ‘bottom_button’.
utm_term: Primarily used for paid search to identify the keywords you're paying for.

For example, if you were running a Facebook ad for your summer sale, your tagged URL might look like this:

www.yourstore.com/summer-sale?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=summer_sale_promo

When someone clicks this link, GA4 will record that their session came from the source "facebook," with the medium "cpc," as part of the "summer_sale_promo" campaign.

Auto-tagging vs. Manual Tagging

The good news is that you don’t always have to add these parameters yourself. When you link your Google Ads account to your GA4 account, you can enable auto-tagging. This feature automatically adds a parameter called a "gclid" (Google Click Identifier) to your ad URLs. GA4 understands this code and uses it to pull in rich campaign data directly from Google Ads without any manual work on your end.

For everything else - like email marketing, social media posts, affiliate links, and ads on other platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn - you'll need to use manual tagging by creating your own UTM-tagged URLs.

Best Practices for Creating Campaign URLs

Manually tagging your URLs is straightforward, but without a consistent system, your reports can become messy and difficult to read. Before you start creating links, establish some ground rules to keep your data clean and organized.

Use a URL Builder

You don't need to manually type out these long URLs. Google provides a free Campaign URL Builder tool that makes the process easy and error-free. Simply enter your website URL and fill in the fields for your campaign parameters, and the tool will generate the final tagged URL for you to copy and paste.

Stay Consistent with Naming

This is the most important rule. GA4 is case-sensitive, which means it sees ‘facebook’, ‘Facebook’, and ‘FaceBook’ as three completely different sources. This can split your data across multiple rows, making your reports inaccurate.

Stick to lowercase: Always use lowercase for your UTM tags to avoid creating duplicate entries.
Use dashes or underscores, not spaces: Spaces in URLs can cause issues. Use a dash (-) or underscore (_) instead. For example, use summer_sale instead of summer sale.
Be descriptive but concise: Your campaign names should be easy for you and your team to understand later. july_newsletter_promo is much better than email_1.

Keep a Tracking Spreadsheet

To ensure consistency across your whole team, create a simple spreadsheet or shared document to keep track of the UTM parameters you use. Document the naming conventions for sources, mediums, and campaigns so everyone follows the same system. This prevents anyone from going rogue and inventing their own tags, preserving the health of your data.

Where to Find Campaign Data in GA4: Step-by-Step

Once you’ve started using tagged URLs, the data will begin populating in your GA4 property. The main place you’ll go to view it is the Traffic Acquisition report.

Step 1: Navigate to the Reports Section

In the left-hand menu of your GA4 dashboard, click on the Reports icon (it looks like a small bar chart).

Step 2: Go to the Traffic Acquisition Report

Within the Reports section, look under the Life cycle collection. Click on Acquisition to expand it, and then select the Traffic acquisition report.

This report shows you where your user sessions are coming from.

Step 3: Change the Primary Dimension to View Campaigns

By default, the Traffic acquisition report groups traffic by the Session default channel group (things like Organic Search, Direct, Paid Social). To see your specific campaigns, you need to change this primary dimension.

Click the small downward arrow next to Session default channel group at the top of the table. A dropdown menu will appear with a list of available dimensions.

In the search bar or by scrolling down, find and select Session campaign. The table will now refresh and show you a list of your campaigns by the names you defined in your utm_campaign tags. You'll also see "(not set)" for any traffic that didn’t have a utm_campaign parameter associated with it.

Step 4: Analyze Performance Metrics

With Session campaign as your primary dimension, you can now analyze how each campaign is performing. The table will show you key metrics for each campaign, including:

Sessions: The total number of sessions initiated by each campaign.
Users: The number of unique users brought in by each campaign.
Engaged sessions: Sessions that lasted longer than 10 seconds, had a conversion event, or had at least 2 page views.
Engagement rate: The percentage of sessions that were engaged.
Conversions: The count of conversion events you’ve set up (like purchases, form submissions, etc.) attributed to each campaign.

You can sort the table by clicking on any of these metric headers to quickly identify your top or bottom-performing campaigns.

Creating a Custom Report for Campaigns

Navigating to the Traffic acquisition report every time works, but it can be more efficient to create a dedicated, customized report for your campaigns that you can access instantly.

Step 1: Go to the Library

At the very bottom of the left-hand navigation menu in the Reports section, click Library.

Step 2: Create a New Detail Report

In the Library, click the blue button that says + Create new report and then select Create detail report from the dropdown.

Step 3: Choose the Traffic Acquisition Template

You can build a report from scratch, but it's much easier to start with a template. Select the Traffic acquisition template from the options provided.

Step 4: Customize Your Report

Now you can tailor the report to show exactly what you want.

Dimensions: Click on the Dimensions button on the right side. Make sure Campaign or Session campaign is set as the default primary dimension. You can add other relevant dimensions for easy switching, like Session source / medium or Session ad content.
Metrics: Click the Metrics button. Here you can add, remove, or reorder the metrics that appear in your report. For e-commerce sites, you might want to add Total revenue. For lead generation sites, focus on specific conversion events.

Once you're happy with your setup, click the blue Save button in the top right. Give your report a descriptive name like "Campaign Performance Details" and click Save again.

Step 5: Add the Report to Your Navigation

Your newly saved report lives in the Library, but to make it easily accessible, you need to add it to your main reporting menu. Find the collection where you'd like it to appear (Acquisition is a logical choice) and click Edit collection.

Search for your saved report ("Campaign Performance Details") on the left and drag it into the desired topic group on the right. Click Save, and then Save changes to current collection. Now, your custom campaign report will appear in the main navigation menu for one-click access.

Tips for Better Campaign Analysis

Having access to the data is one thing, using it to make smart decisions is another. Here are a few ways to get more out of your campaign reports.

Use Comparisons to Drill Down: At the top of any report, click + Add comparison to segment your data. You can compare campaign performance across different device categories (Mobile vs. Desktop), countries, or any other demographic. This helps you uncover insights like which campaigns resonate best with mobile users.
Focus on a Primary Goal: It's easy to get lost in dozens of metrics. Decide on the primary goal for your campaign - is it driving revenue, generating leads, or increasing sign-ups? Sort your report by that main conversion metric to get the clearest picture of what’s working.
Watch for "(not set)": If you see a lot of data in the (not set) row in your campaign report, it's a sign that a significant portion of your traffic is coming from untagged URLs. Review your channels (like social media profiles or email signatures) to find any links you forgot to tag with UTM parameters. Fixing these will clean up your data and give you a more accurate view of performance.

Final Thoughts

Properly setting up campaign tracking takes a little bit of upfront effort, but the payoff is enormous. By using a consistent UTM tagging system and knowing your way around GA4's Traffic acquisition report, you replace guesswork with data, empowering you to invest your marketing budget where it will have the greatest impact.

While mastering GA4 is powerful, we know that tying together campaign data from Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, Shopify, and your CRM can be a huge manual chore. We built Graphed to solve this by connecting all your data sources automatically. We let you ask questions in simple, natural language, like "Show me a dashboard comparing Facebook Ads spend vs. revenue for the summer sale campaign." Graphed instantly builds the real-time reports you need, helping you see the full picture and prove your marketing ROI in seconds, not hours.