GA4 Traffic Acquisition vs User Acquisition: Which Report to Use

This guide is built from Google's Analytics Help articles on the Traffic acquisition report, the User acquisition report and Google's own comparison of the two, plus the Help pages on scopes and sessions linked below. How the channel values themselves are defined is in our channel groups guide, and how to tag links so they land in the right row is in our UTM guide. This page is about the two reports: what each one counts, why they disagree, and which to open for which question.

The short answer

Both reports sit under Acquisition and both show where visitors come from, but they count different things. Google puts it in one line: "The User acquisition report is scoped to new users, while the Traffic acquisition report is scoped to new sessions." Its comparison article sums up the difference like this:

So User acquisition answers "how did we get these people in the first place?" and Traffic acquisition answers "what brought people to the site on each visit?"

Where to find both reports

The steps are the same for both. Sign in to Google Analytics, select Reports in the left menu, then click Acquisition > Traffic acquisition or Acquisition > User acquisition. If one is missing, Google says it "may have been removed or isn't in your default view," and Editors and above can add it back through the Library, as described in the report navigation article. Our user permissions guide explains the roles.

Traffic acquisition: one row per session source

Google describes the Traffic acquisition report as showing "where new and returning users come from." Every dimension in it starts with "Session," which Google says indicates "the dimension describes a user's most recent session, regardless of whether they're a new or returning user." The dimensions are:

• Session default channel grouping, the default dimension, with channels such as Direct, Organic Search, Paid Social, Organic Social and Email.
• Session source, for example "google", "youtube" or "gmail".
• Session medium, "the method for acquiring users in a new session."
• Session source / medium and Session campaign.
• Session source platform, the platform where budgets and targeting are set, such as Google Ads, DV360, SA360 or Manual.

The default metrics are session metrics: Sessions, Engaged sessions, Engagement rate, Average engagement time per session, Events per session, Event count, Key events, Session key event rate and Total revenue. Google defines an engaged session as one "that lasted 10 seconds or longer, or had 1 or more key events or 2 or more page or screen views"; our engagement rate guide covers those metrics in more depth.

Because a new session gets a new source, a returning visitor can appear under several rows in one date range: once for the newsletter click, once for the Google search, once for the ad. Google's sessions article explains when a session starts and ends, and our users vs sessions guide explains why the user and session counts in a row differ.

User acquisition: where new users first came from

The User acquisition report is for "insights into how new users find your website or app for the first time." Its dimensions start with "First user," which "indicates that the dimension describes how you initially acquired the user": First user default channel group, First user source, First user medium, First user source / medium, First user campaign, First user source platform, and the Google Ads ad group and ad network type.

The key detail is in Google's article on scopes of traffic-source dimensions: "The value assigned to each user-scoped dimension remains the same as users return to your website or app." A person who first arrived from organic search stays in the organic row for every later visit, even if they come back through an ad or an email.

The default metrics lean towards users: New users, Returning users, Total users, Engaged sessions per active user, Average engagement time, Event count, Key events and User key event rate. Google defines New users as users who logged "the first_open or first_visit event," and Returning users as "users who have initiated at least one previous session."

Why the same source shows different numbers

Both reports show columns with the same names, so it is tempting to compare them. Google advises against it: "you should not compare the metric values across the reports because you will see different values for the different scopes." Its own example shows why. A user lands on a site for the first time from Google, then returns 10 more times by typing the URL:

• The User acquisition report counts "all 11 sessions" in the Google row, because the user was first acquired by Google.
• The Traffic acquisition report counts 1 session in the Google row and the other 10 under (direct), if those sessions happened beyond the key event lookback window. Within the window, all 11 sessions stay in the Google row.

That second point catches people out. Google notes that sessions "follow the non-direct last click attribution model," with a lookback window set by the "All other conversion events" setting, "which is 90 days by default." In practice, a direct visit soon after a tracked visit is credited to the earlier source rather than to Direct. In Google's longer example on the scopes page, a session that began from a bookmark is credited to the affiliate link from the user's previous session. Our attribution guide covers the lookback window settings.

Engagement rate differs for the same reason. In the User acquisition report, the Google row shows engagement for users who came from Google first, across all their sessions. In the Traffic acquisition report, it shows engagement "only for the sessions that began on the website from Google."

A third set of dimensions, with no prefix (Source, Medium, Default channel group), is event-scoped and uses your attribution model to credit key events. Google says the source and medium for events that are not key events are "(not set)". Those appear in the Advertising reports, not in either acquisition report. If you see (not set) rows inside the acquisition reports instead, our (not set) guide covers the causes.

Which report to use

Google frames it as two jobs: analyse "your efforts to acquire new users in the User acquisition report," and "your efforts to engage those users on each of their visits (sessions) to your site in the Traffic acquisition report." Some typical questions:

For a business that mostly wants new enquiries, both matter: User acquisition shows which channels bring in first-time visitors, and Traffic acquisition shows which channels bring them back to convert.

Common tasks in the reports

Look at one source

Google's tip for the Traffic acquisition report: type the source into the search bar above the table, for example "google / organic", and press Enter. The same works in User acquisition when the primary dimension is First user source / medium.

See sources for one page

In Traffic acquisition, either click + Add filter and include a value of Page path and screen class, or add Page path and screen class as a secondary dimension and search for the page. For the first page of each session specifically, our landing page report guide shows how to pair Landing page with Session source / medium.

Exclude a source

Add a filter, change Include to Exclude, choose Session source (or another traffic source dimension) and pick the values to remove. Report filters explains match types. Spam or internal visits are better handled at the property level; see our internal traffic filter guide.

Mostly direct traffic?

Google's User acquisition troubleshooting says direct traffic includes typed URLs and bookmarks, and can also include "traffic from social media, traffic from offline documents, and traffic from HTTPS to HTTP versions of your site." Its fix is to link ad accounts or tag destination URLs. Google's tagging article explains how each dimension is filled by manual tagging and auto-tagging, and our UTM guide shows how to build the links.

Change the columns

Editors and Administrators can add or remove dimensions and metrics through detail report customization and save the result. Key events stay at zero until you mark events as key events; our key events guide covers that.

How we read the two reports

This is our own practice, not Google guidance:

• We report new-customer channels from User acquisition and campaign results from Traffic acquisition, and we label which one each number comes from.
• We never add the two reports together or subtract one from the other. If a client asks why "Organic Search" differs between them, the scope explains it.
• We add the site's main key event, such as a form submission, as a column in Traffic acquisition and save it, so the monthly report does not need rebuilding.
• When Direct looks too large, we check tagging on email, PDF and social links first, and we note the share of Direct in the monthly report so a jump stands out.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between traffic acquisition and user acquisition in GA4?

User acquisition is user-scoped: it shows where new users came from the first time, using First user dimensions. Traffic acquisition is session-scoped: it shows what started each session, new or returning, using Session dimensions.

Why are the numbers different in the two reports?

Each row is defined differently. A user first acquired by Google keeps that value forever in User acquisition, while each later session gets its own source in Traffic acquisition. Google says not to compare the metric values across the reports.

Which report should I use for campaigns?

Traffic acquisition, because a campaign often brings back people who first came from somewhere else. Use User acquisition to see which campaigns bring in first-time visitors.

Why does a direct visit show under another source?

Sessions follow the non-direct last click model. A direct session within the key event lookback window, 90 days by default, is credited to the user's previous non-direct source.

Where are the reports in GA4?

Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition, and Reports > Acquisition > User acquisition. If one is missing, an Editor can add it back from the Library.

For more on measurement, see our guides to GA4 basics, explorations, the Search Console integration and the Realtime report.