| name | channel-acquisition |
| description | Break down sessions and users by traffic source, medium, and channel group to understand where your audience comes from and which channels perform best. |
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
