Why does GA4 underestimate your affiliate and social traffic?
Unlike GA3, GA4 has introduced a significant change in its default channel attribution model. Moving from the Last Click model to a Data-Driven Attribution (DDA) model. Here are some key points to understand about this shift:
DDA’s methodology requires at least 400 conversions per unique path over 30 days to reach statistical significance. High-volume channels, often Google-owned, are more likely to pass this threshold.
Google channels are given preference in DDA, as it collects more data on Google-owned channels and uses features that favor these channels. Non-Google channels are often overlooked, creating a bias.
Google tracks clicks from its own channels more reliably and with greater detail than non-Google channels, further skewing the data in favor of Google-owned channels.
As a result, I am recommending clients change GA4’s channel attribution setting from DDA to Last Click to avoid your affiliate, social and email traffic being underestimated.
If you have questions about Google Analytics 4, please message me direct.
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