What is Cross-Network in GA4?

When exploring your GA4 UI, especially your acquisition reports, you will likely encounter traffic from a cross-network channel. But what is this channel? Why is it useful? And how is this traffic grouped?

In this article, the SEOTesting team will explain the concept of Cross-Network in GA4, its significance, and how it affects your website’s traffic. By the end, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of this crucial aspect of Google Analytics.

What is a Cross-Network Default Channel in GA4?

In simple terms, the cross-network default channel listed within GA4 denotes traffic that has arrived at your website via various advertising platforms.

This traffic could have come from a range of advertising channels, including:

• Google Discover Traffic
• Google Performance Max Campaigns
• Google Shopping Campaigns

This cross-network channel grouping differs from other channels within your GA4 account. It consists of campaigns that can simultaneously be promoted across multiple advertising networks, such as Google Display Network, Google Discover, Gmail, and YouTube.

Stay ahead of the curve with our in-depth guide on how to use Google Analytics 4.

How is Traffic Grouped within GA4?

Before discussing why the cross-network default channel within GA4 is useful, we must understand how traffic is grouped within GA4.

Traffic is grouped into various channels.

Paid Shopping

Any traffic placed into this channel within your GA4 account has come from Google Ads tagged with the Shopping tag. Your leading example here would be products listed directly in the Google Shopping section of the SERP.

Paid Search

GA4 places traffic into this channel from Google ads with the Google Search or Google Partners tag. This traffic could come from sponsored listings on the SERP or ads on YouTube, a Google partner website.

Paid Video

Paid video traffic within your GA4 account comes from ads with enabled YouTube Search or YouTube Videos tags. The primary example here is traffic coming from sponsored YouTube videos.

Display

Display traffic comes from any Google Ads campaign with the Google Display Network tag. So, any traffic coming from Google Display Network will be shown on this channel within your GA4 account.

Paid Social

Paid social ad traffic is shown in this channel within GA4. It comes from advertisements with the Social tag enabled. Your primary examples are ads from social networks such as Facebook, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

Cross-Network

Finally, the cross-network channel within GA4 will show all traffic from Google Ads with the Cross-Network tag enabled. This could be traffic from Google Discovery, Performance Max campaigns, or Google Smart Shopping.

Side note: If you wish to learn how to find referral traffic in Google Analytics 4 and what it means, check our guide on the blog.

Does this Present Data Attribution Challenges?

The short answer is yes. Having a channel listed within GA4 that is not specific regarding where all the traffic comes from presents challenges with data attribution, a crucial aspect of getting marketing campaigns working correctly.

This section will discuss precisely what these challenges are for marketers.

Lack of Network Level Visibility

When dealing with a channel that groups traffic from various networks in the same place, marketers cannot pinpoint exactly which ad network led to a user session or, more importantly, a conversion.

This makes it incredibly difficult for marketers to evaluate each ad network’s performance and compare their effectiveness.

This is important for marketers to do; if a specific ad channel is not working correctly, it must be looked at. Without the granular data telling us which channel is failing and why it is failing, more guesswork is involved, which can lead to more incorrect decisions.

Data-Driven Attribution Model

GA4 relies primarily on a data-driven attribution model. This model assigns credit across touchpoints based on an algorithm.

The data-driven attribution model used in GA4 makes it hard for marketers to determine how much credit each marketing touchpoint deserves. Although the model tries to give a complete picture by using an algorithm, it can be tricky to figure out the contribution of each network, especially when different networks interact. This confusion can make it difficult for marketers to evaluate their campaigns’ effectiveness and allocate resources appropriately.

Limited Insights for Each Network

When marketers do not know which network drives the best results, it can be challenging to optimize their campaigns effectively.

As a marketer, you cannot directly adjust budgets or strategies based on individual network performance within the channel if you do not have access to all the data.

Let’s say, for example, that you want to increase your budget for Performance Max campaigns. If you do not know which pages work best for a Performance Max campaign, it’s hard to know where to put this budget increase.

Difficulty Isolating Individual Campaign Impact

When multiple multi-network campaigns are run simultaneously, common for large companies and brands with a large marketing budget, their combined impact is aggregated within the cross-network channel in GA4. This makes it incredibly difficult to isolate each campaign’s impact and understand its unique contribution to your bottom line.

Solutions to Use

Now that we have explained the problems marketers can face when using this cross-network channel within GA4, we will discuss some solutions marketers can use.

Use Custom Channel Groupings

Custom channel groupings allow marketers to define and organize their channels based on specific criteria most relevant to their business. By creating these tailored groupings, marketers can better understand how different channels contribute to their marketing efforts.

This customization helps you pinpoint which channels drive the most value, enabling more precise optimization of marketing strategies and budget allocation.

Leverage the Source Platform Dimension

The source platform dimension within GA4 provides marketers with detailed insights into where traffic is coming from, breaking down performance by platform.

By utilizing this dimension, you can better understand each platform’s role in your customer journey. This granular view helps you identify high-performing platforms and those that need improvement, allowing for more targeted and effective campaigns.

Use Additional Analytics Tools

While GA4 offers some excellent analytics capabilities, adding additional analytics tools can provide a more comprehensive view of your marketing performance.

Tools like:

• CRM systems.
• Advanced attribution software.
• Business intelligence platforms.

Can offer deeper insights and more sophisticated data analysis. These additional tools help fill gaps left by GA4 and provide a more holistic view of customer behavior and campaign performance.

Experiment with Different Data Attribution Models

Experimenting with various data attribution models allows marketers to compare and determine how different models assign credit to marketing touchpoints.

Marketers can test last-click, first-click, linear, and time decay models to identify which best aligns with their business goals and customer journey.

This experimentation can lead to more accurate attribution of marketing efforts, ensuring that resources are allocated to the most impactful channels and strategies.

What are the Benefits of Cross-Channel Grouping?

Cross-channel grouping within GA4 offers several key benefits that enhance the effectiveness of marketing strategies.

Firstly, it provides a comprehensive traffic overview, allowing marketers to see the cumulative impact of their advertising efforts across various platforms such as Google Discover, Performance Max Campaigns, and Google Shopping Campaigns. This holistic perspective simplifies performance tracking by consolidating data from multiple sources into a single view, saving time and reducing the potential for errors in data interpretation.

Secondly, cross-channel grouping simplifies campaign management by streamlining the monitoring process. Managing campaigns across several platforms can be complicated. Still, marketers can more easily track performance and make necessary adjustments by providing a unified view of all campaigns running on platforms like:

• Google Display Network
• Google Discover
• Gmail
• YouTube.

This centralized approach also facilitates the development of integrated marketing strategies, ensuring that all campaigns are aligned and working towards the same business goals, ultimately enhancing overall effectiveness.

Lastly, cross-channel grouping enhances the understanding of multi-platform campaigns by providing insights into their combined impact. This holistic analysis helps marketers see how different platforms interact and contribute to the customer journey, revealing synergies that can be leveraged for better campaign performance. Additionally, viewing the performance of multi-platform campaigns can uncover insights that might be missed when looking at each platform in isolation. This aids in making informed decisions about resource allocation, allowing marketers to identify the most effective combination of platforms and allocate their budgets more effectively to maximize ROI.

Wrapping Up

The Cross-Network concept in GA4 is a vital tool for modern marketers. It offers a comprehensive traffic overview and simplifies tracking and interpreting performance data from various advertising platforms.

This holistic approach enables marketers to manage and monitor their campaigns more efficiently, particularly those running across multiple networks such as Google Display Network, Google Discover, Gmail, and YouTube.

By providing insights into the combined impact of multi-platform campaigns, cross-network grouping allows marketers to develop integrated strategies and make more informed decisions about resource allocation.

Although it presents challenges, such as data attribution complexities, the solutions discussed – like custom channel groupings and leveraging the source platform dimension-can help marketers overcome these issues.

Ultimately, cross-network grouping enhances the effectiveness of marketing strategies, leading to more precise optimization and maximized ROI.

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