The Channel report in Google Analytics (under ‘Acquisition’ section) splits out into 6 or more types of visit channel:
Direct
Where a visitor has:
- typed the URL into the address bar
- clicked on a link which is NOT in another web page (e.g. in a mobile app)
- visited a bookmarked link
Organic Search
All visits from search engines (i.e. Google, Bing, Yahoo) which were not an advertisement. You used to be able to filter out people searching for your brand (which are more like Direct visits), but now the search terms are not provided.
Paid Search
Visits from search engines where the visitor clicked on an advert.
Referral
Where a visitor has clicked on a link in another website (not your own domain), but not including search engines or social networks.
Social Networks
Specifically links from known social network websites (including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc)
From links tagged as medium = ’email’. Your email software needs to be configured correctly to add this tag.
Display
Links tagged as ‘display’ or ‘cpm’.
FAQs
Can I change the channel groupings?
Yes, you can change this under Admin .. (Selected View).. Channel Grouping. But we recommend you don’t do this for your default view, as you won’t be able to compare the historical data.
