What is Paid Search in GA4?
Paid search refers to traffic generated by paid advertising campaigns on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
For example, if you run a Google Ads campaign and someone clicks on your ad after searching for a term, the following visit to your website is classified as paid search traffic in GA4 reports.
You might already have seen the term Paid Search in Google Analytics 4. In acquisition reports, you can see both organic search and paid search.
Now, we'll explain what paid search traffic mean and how it is used in GA4.
When you type something into Google, the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) provides a list of both organic and paid results. Paid search results appear at the top of the SERP by a small green box labeled as Sponsored/Ad.
How Does GA4 Define Paid Search Traffic?
When each of the following conditions are met, the traffic to your website is classified as Paid Search in GA4:
👉 The traffic source should match specified search sites that are listed or set as part of the paid search definition. Google Ads Ad Network Type is Google Search or one of the Google Partners (like YouTube).
👉 Medium value should include one of the following terms:
- cpc (cost-per-click)
- ppc (pay-per-click)
- retargeting
- paid search
In the traffic acquisition report below, you will find an example of paid search traffic data. To gain deeper insights, you can add the source/medium dimension to your table and analyze the paid search data.
In this case, the sources for paid search traffic are Google and Bing, with the medium identified as cpc.
Differences Between Paid Search and PPC in GA4
Paid search is often known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. However, in GA4, the terms Paid Search and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) refer to the analysis of different components of ads campaigns.
While PPC advertising is a form of Paid Search, not all PPC advertising is Paid Search. Other forms of paid advertising, such as paid social, might be included in PPC.
In other words, PPC is a broader term for marketing in which advertisers pay a cost each time one of their ads is clicked. It is not restricted to search engines but also includes other online advertising platforms such as social media advertising such as Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads and display ads.
Paid Search in GA4 focuses specifically on traffic generated by paid search ads on search engine result pages.
We highly recommend you to review our other guide on GA4 PPC Reports .
Where to Find Paid Search Traffic in GA4?
In your Google Analytics 4 account, go to Reports > Acquisition. For example, on the Traffic Acquisition page, you'll find Paid Search listed under Session default channel groups. You can analyze your paid search traffic using various metrics, such as total revenue.
You can also find conversion data under the GA4 advertising section. As shown below, you can compare conversions based on default channel groups like Paid Search and hover the mouse over the graph for more details.
To summarize, paid search in GA4 refers to traffic generated by Google Ads, specifically ads displayed on Google Search and Google's partner websites. This segmentation helps marketers in understanding the impact and performance of paid search ads in driving traffic to their sites.
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