When you export GA4 data to BigQuery, you will find several source, medium, and other data fields related to traffic. In this post, I will help you understand what type of information in these fields so you can choose the right one for your data analysis.
BigQuery Columns or Fields That Contain GA4 Traffic Information
There are three columns of the record type that contain traffic-related information. These fields are
- traffic_source
- collected_traffic_source
- session_traffic_source_last_click
Let's look at each of these fields.
traffic_source
This record field contains the details about the first traffic source that acquired the user. These values do not change if the user interacts with subsequent campaigns.
You can use this information to get the same information that you get in the User Acquisition report in GA4.
This field contains the following information in that record.
| BigQuery Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| traffic_source.name | Name of the marketing campaign that first acquired the user. This field is not populated in intraday tables. |
| traffic_source.medium | Name of the medium (paid search, organic search, email, etc.) that first acquired the user. This field is not populated in intraday tables. |
| traffic_source.source | Name of the source/network that first acquired the user. This field is not populated in intraday tables. |
Note: This information is not available in the intraday tables.
collected_traffic_source
This is also a record type field that contains the traffic source data that is available with each event. For example, if a session first starts the journey from Google search engine, then session_start and other events will contain this information. However, if, in the middle of the session, the user decides to go back to Bing and then find the link to come back to the session, any events following that will contain information related to Bing.
This field can help you look at the traffic information at the event level so that you can analyze if users go back to another traffic source during their visits.
Below are the fields contained in this record.
| BigQuery Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| manual_campaign_id | Campaign id (utm_id) that was collected with the event. |
| manual_campaign_name | Campaign name (utm_campaign) that was collected with the event. |
| manual_source | The manual campaign source (utm_source) that was collected with the event. Also includes parsed parameters from referral params, not just UTM values. |
| manual_medium | The manual campaign medium (utm_medium) that was collected with the event. Also includes parsed parameters from referral params, not just UTM values. |
| manual_term | The manual campaign keyword/term (utm_term) that was collected with the event. |
| manual_content | The additional manual campaign metadata (utm_content) that was collected with the event. |
| manual_creative_format | The manual campaign creative format (utm_creative_format) that was collected with the event. |
| manual_marketing_tactic | The manual campaign marketing tactic (utm_marketing_tactic) that was collected with the event. |
| manual_source_platform | The manual campaign source platform (utm_source_platform) that was collected with the event. |
| gclid | The Google click identifier that was collected with the event. |
| dclid | The DoubleClick Click Identifier for Display and Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360 that was collected with the event. |
| srsltid | The Google Merchant Center identifier that was collected with the event. |
session_traffic_source_last_click
The session_traffic_source_last_click record contains the last-click attributed session traffic source data across Google ads and manual contexts, where available.
This is the information that will match your Session acquisition report in GA4.
| BigQuery Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.campaign_id | The ID of the last clicked manual campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.campaign_name | The name of the last clicked manual campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.medium | The medium of the last clicked manual campaign (e.g., paid search, organic search, email) |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.term | The keyword/search term of the last clicked manual campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.content | Additional metadata of the last clicked manual campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.source_platform | The platform of the last clicked manual campaign (e.g., search engine, social media) |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.source | The specific source within the platform of the last clicked manual campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.creative_format | The format of the creative of the last clicked manual campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. manual_campaign.marketing_tactic | The marketing tactic of the last clicked manual campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. google_ads_campaign.customer_id | The customer ID associated with the Google Ads account |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. google_ads_campaign.account_name | The name of the Google Ads account |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. google_ads_campaign.campaign_id | The ID of the Google Ads campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. google_ads_campaign.campaign_name | The name of the Google Ads campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. google_ads_campaign.ad_group_id | The ID of the ad group within the Google Ads campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. google_ads_campaign.ad_group_name | The name of the ad group within the Google Ads campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cross_channel_campaign.campaign_name |
The name of the last clicked cross-channel campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cross_channel_campaign.campaign_id |
The ID of the last clicked cross-channel campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cross_channel_campaign.source_platform |
The platform of the last clicked cross-channel campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cross_channel_campaign.source |
The specific source within the platform of the last clicked cross-channel campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cross_channel_campaign.medium |
The medium of the last clicked cross-channel campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.campaign_name |
The name of the last clicked SA360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.source |
The specific source within the platform of the last clicked SA360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.medium |
The medium of the last clicked SA360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.ad_group_id |
The ID of the ad group within the SA360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.ad_group_name |
The name of the ad group within the SA360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.campaign_id |
The ID of the last clicked SA360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.creative_format |
The format of the creative of the last clicked SA360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.engine_account_name |
The name of the SA360 engine account |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.engine_account_type |
The type of engine account containing the SA360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. sa360_campaign.manager_account_name |
The name of the SA360 manager account |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.advertiser_id |
The ID of the DV360 advertiser |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.advertiser_name |
The name of the DV360 advertiser |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.campaign_id |
The ID of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.campaign_name |
The name of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.creative_id |
The ID of the creative of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.creative_format |
The format of the creative of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.creative_name |
The name of the creative of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.marketing_tactic |
The marketing tactic of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.exchange_id |
The exchange ID of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.exchange_name |
The exchange name of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.insertion_order_id |
The ID of the insertion order in the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.insertion_order_name |
The name of the insertion order in the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.line_item_id |
The ID of the line item in the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.line_item_name |
The name of the line item in the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.partner_id |
The ID of the DV360 partner |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.partner_name |
The name of the DV360 partner |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.source |
The specific source within the platform of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. dv360_campaign.medium |
The medium of the last clicked DV360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.account_id |
The ID of the CM360 account |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.account_name |
The name of the CM360 account |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.advertiser_id |
The ID of the CM360 advertiser |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.advertiser_name |
The name of the CM360 advertiser |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.campaign_id |
The ID of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.campaign_name |
The name of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.creative_id |
The ID of the creative of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.creative_format |
The format of the creative of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.creative_name |
The name of the creative of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.creative_type |
The creative type of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.creative_type_id |
The creative type ID of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.creative_version |
The creative version of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.placement_id |
The ID of the placement of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click.cm360 _campaign.placement_cost_structure |
The placement cost structure of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.placement_name |
The name of the placement of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.rendering_id |
The rendering ID of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.site_id |
The site ID of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.site_name |
The site name of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.source |
The specific source of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
| session_traffic_source_last_click. cm360_campaign.medium |
The medium of the last clicked CM360 campaign |
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