surendranb Channel Acquisition Analysis
Break down sessions and users by traffic source, medium, and channel group to understand where your audience comes from and which channels perform best.
Correct dimension names
| Concept | GA4 API name |
|---|---|
| Channel group | sessionDefaultChannelGroup |
| Source | sessionSource |
| Medium | sessionMedium |
| Source / Medium | sessionSourceMedium |
| Campaign name | sessionCampaignName |
| Campaign ID | sessionCampaignId |
| Ad content | sessionManualAdContent |
Do not use sessionDefaultChannelGrouping — it does not exist.
Do not combine sessionCampaignName with user-scoped metrics like totalUsers.
Step 1 — Channel overview
dimensions: ["sessionDefaultChannelGroup"]
metrics: ["sessions", "totalUsers", "newUsers", "userEngagementDuration",
"screenPageViewsPerSession", "bounceRate"]
date_range: last 30 days
order_by: sessions DESC
Step 2 — Source / medium detail
dimensions: ["sessionSource", "sessionMedium"]
metrics: ["sessions", "newUsers", "userEngagementDuration", "keyEvents"]
date_range: last 30 days
order_by: sessions DESC
limit: 25
Step 3 — Campaign performance (paid)
dimensions: ["sessionCampaignName", "sessionDefaultChannelGroup"]
metrics: ["sessions", "newUsers", "keyEvents", "userEngagementDuration"]
dimension_filter: {
"filter": {
"fieldName": "sessionMedium",
"stringFilter": {"matchType": "EXACT", "value": "cpc"}
}
}
date_range: last 30 days
order_by: sessions DESC
Step 4 — Trend by channel over time
dimensions: ["date", "sessionDefaultChannelGroup"]
metrics: ["sessions", "newUsers"]
date_range: last 90 days
order_by: date ASC
What to report
- Top 5 channels by sessions and by new users
- Engagement quality per channel (userEngagementDuration per session)
- Which channel drives the most key events (conversions)
- Week-over-week or month-over-month trend for top channels