# Google Analytics 4: See Which Channel Brings Your Visitors for Marketing

> A beginner GA4 walkthrough on real screens: read the Reports snapshot, then the Traffic acquisition report, to see whether search, social, email or…

Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ga4-traffic-sources · Updated 2026-10-24 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com)

## Practice it step by step

[Start the free practice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/ga4-traffic-sources)

[Take the free module: why it matters, practice and a quick check →](https://learn.ynteractive.com/courses/ga4-basics/1)

You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Google Analytics. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 8 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Open full screen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/ga4-traffic-sources)

Free · Live now · [Digital marketing](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/industry/marketing) · [Google Analytics](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/google-analytics) · ~8 min · 8 steps · Beginner

Updated October 24, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. [How we check this lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about#how-we-check)

A beginner [GA4](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/google-analytics-4) walkthrough on real screens: read the Reports snapshot, then the Traffic acquisition report, to see whether search, social, email or referrals bring your website visitors. Free; read only.

## At a glance

| Question | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| What you build | A beginner GA4 walkthrough on real screens: read the Reports snapshot, then the Traffic acquisition report, to see whether search, social, email or referrals bring your website visitors. Free; read only. |
| Tools | Google Analytics |
| Time | About 8 minutes, 8 steps in 3 parts |
| Level | Beginner, no coding needed |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | [Practice it step by step](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/ga4-traffic-sources) |

### The 3 parts, in short

1. Read the snapshot: Open Reports, Read the four numbers, Open Acquisition.
2. Which channel brings visitors: Traffic acquisition, Scroll to the table, Read the channel table.
3. Down to the exact source: Session source / medium, Read the sources.

## What you'll build

You post on LinkedIn, keep your Google profile up to date and send a monthly newsletter, but you cannot say which one brings people to your website, so every channel gets the same time. [Google Analytics](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/google-analytics) already knows. In this lesson you read the Reports snapshot and the Traffic acquisition report in GA4, then drill into the exact sites. Every screen is a real GA4 screen; the numbers are blurred because it is a real website.

You read the four snapshot numbers, opened Traffic acquisition to see sessions and engagement by channel, and switched to Session source / medium for the exact sites. Do the same on your own property each month and put your time into the channel with the most engaged visits. Next: which pages they read and which forms they send.

- Tools: Google Analytics
- Time: about 8 minutes, 8 steps in 3 chapters
- Level: beginner, no coding needed
- Price: free

## Practice first, then build it for real

Practice copy built from real Google Analytics 4 screens (captured 24 October 2026). Nothing here touches your Analytics account. It is a real property, so every number and name is blurred. To build it for real you need your own Google Analytics account, and some services charge once you use them for real work, so check each tool's current pricing.

## Try it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Google Analytics, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.

[Start “Google Analytics 4: See Which Channel Brings Your Visitors for Marketing”](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/ga4-traffic-sources)

## Step by step: Google Analytics 4: See Which Channel Brings Your Visitors for Marketing

All 8 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.

### 1. Read the snapshot

1. **Open Reports.** Open Google Analytics at analytics.google.com. **Home** shows a quick summary. Click the **Reports** icon (the bar chart) in the left bar.
   This is Google Analytics.
2. **Read the four numbers.** **Reports snapshot** opens with four cards for the date range at the top right (last 28 days by default): **Active users**, **New users**, **Average engagement time** and **Event count**. Click the cards row.
   The snapshot has four numbers for the last 28 days. Active users, new users, engagement time, and events.
3. **Open Acquisition.** The snapshot says how many people came, not where from. Under **Life cycle**, click **Acquisition**.
   That tells you how many came, not where from.

### 2. Which channel brings visitors

4. **Traffic acquisition.** Click **Traffic acquisition**. It groups every visit (session) by where it came from.
   It groups every visit by where it came from.
5. **Scroll to the table.** At the top, Google may show AI insights, then a chart of sessions over time per channel. Scroll down to the table.
6. **Read the channel table.** One row per **channel**: Direct, Organic Search, Organic Social, Referral, Email and so on, with **Sessions**, **Engaged sessions** and **Engagement rate**. Sort by clicking a column. To see the exact sites, click the **Session primary channel group** dropdown.
   One row per channel, with sessions and engagement rate. To see exact sites, open the dimension dropdown.

### 3. Down to the exact source

7. **Session source / medium.** Click **Session source / medium**.
8. **Read the sources.** Now each row is a site and a medium, such as google / organic, linkedin.com / referral or newsletter / email. The top rows are where your visitors really come from. Click the first row.
   Now each row is a site and a medium. The top rows are where your visitors really come from.

## Screenshots

[Start this module free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/ga4-traffic-sources)

- Next in Digital marketing: [Google Analytics 4: Find Your Top Pages and Form Submissions for Marketing](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ga4-top-pages-events)

## Free cheat sheet

Print it or save the PDF: the key steps and checks from this lesson on one page, free.

- [GA4 Cheat Sheet: Traffic Sources, Top Pages, Events](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets/ga4-basics): A free one-page GA4 cheat sheet: read the Reports snapshot, find which channel brings visitors, see top pages and form submissions, and read events.

[All free printable cheat sheets](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets)

## Terms in this lesson

Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.

[Google Analytics 4 (GA4)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/google-analytics-4) · [Traffic channel (GA4)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/traffic-channel) · [Key event (GA4)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/key-event)

[The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)

## Browse related tutorials

[AI for Marketing (2)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/industry/marketing) · [Google Analytics tutorials (2)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/google-analytics)

Want AI working like this in your business? Robert Breen, the instructor behind this lesson, helps small and mid-sized teams put AI assistants, agents and automations to work. [AI consulting for small teams](https://ynteractive.com/)