Campaign traffic measured by UTMs are not visible in the GA4 acquisition report

Short answer

Any link that contains UTM parameters in it should be measured without any problems. If traffic or acquisition data is not visible in Google Analytics 4 reports it is most likely due to one of the following reasons:

1. The structure of the UTM parameters is not well constructed or you do not use the proper UTMs.
2. The data is not visible because it is still being processed by Google.
3. Google Analytics does not measure correctly
4. Your consent banner (CMP or cookie banner) prevents the measurement of UTMs.
5. Your report combines information from Google Signals and are not visible due to the presence of a data threshold.

Solution

The solution to this problem is in general terms a diagnostic work in which the exact reason why the data corresponding to the UTMs are not visible must be detected.

Verify the UTM structure in your URLs

In many cases UTMs do not work because they are not properly incorporated into the URL. All URLs with UTM parameters should have this structure:

https://madtech.wiki/landing?utm_source=source&utm_medium=medium&utm_campaign=campaign

Make sure to start the UTMs with the question mark “?“, it is important that there is only one question mark as adding more than one will cause the UTMs to not work.

1. Use of the question mark “?”:
   • The UTM must start with a question mark “?” right after the domain and URL path.
2. Parameters and values:
   • UTM parameters are composed of a key and a value, which are connected by an equal sign “=“.
   • Example: utm_source=google.
3. Connecting multiple UTM parameters:
   • If you want to add more than one UTM parameter, you must use the “&” sign to connect them.
   • Example: utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc.
4. Common UTM parameters:
   • utm_source: Identifies the traffic source, such as a search engine, newsletter name or other source.
   • utm_medium: Identifies the marketing medium, such as email, CPC, or others.
   • utm_campaign: Identifies the specific campaign.
   • utm_term: (Optional) Identifies paid search terms.
   • utm_content: (Optional) Identifies which link or content was specifically clicked.
5. General structure:
   • The general structure of a URL with UTM parameters is: [Base URL]?[Parameter 1]&[Parameter 2]&[Parameter 3]&....The general structure of a URL with UTM parameters is: [Base URL]?[Parameter 1]&[Parameter 2]&[Parameter 3]&….
   • Example: https://madtech.wiki/landing?utm_source=source&utm_medium=medium&utm_campaign=campaign.
6. Structure validation:
   • Make sure that UTM parameters do not contain special characters or spaces, as this can cause problems when crawling URLs.
   • UTM parameter values must be URL-encoded if they contain non-alphanumeric characters or spaces.
7. Additional considerations:.
   • Make sure that URLs with UTM parameters are used in the correct places to avoid contamination of the analysis data.
   • Always use the same tags for the same media and sources to maintain data consistency.

To avoid any kind of error it is advisable to use the Campaign URL Builder by Google.

Be sure to exceed GA4 processing times.

Google Analytics 4 has some data processing times that you have to wait for before you can display the information in your reports. This was already covered in the article Why do events appear only in the GA4 “real-time” report?. You can read about processing times in the official documentation.

Verify that Google Analytics 4 measures correctly

If you have exceeded the processing times and your UTMs have a proper structure, you may need to do a detailed diagnostic of your Google Analytics 4 implementation. In many instances Google Analytics may not be implemented on a particular landing page or you may have a measurement issue that prevents capturing the user’s session. A technical diagnostic using Google Tag Assistant or Analytics Debugger should be sufficient to detect the error.

A consent banner (CMP or cookie banner) generates measurement problems

Although unlikely, it is possible that a poor implementation of a cookie banner or CMP may prevent the correct measurement of UTMs. The most common scenario is when the cookie banner performs a redirect right after the user has given a positive consent and in such redirect (or page reload) the UTMs are deleted. The solution is to keep the UTMs in the redirect or reload (if any).

Data threshold in your reports

Certain UTMs may not appear in some reports if a data threshold is being applied. The best way to fix this problem is to follow the instructions in the What is a data threshold in GA4? article.