Whats 'Other' in Google Analytics (in Acquisition)

[Dan-Lawrence]

When i look in GA under Channels (under Acquisition) 'other' is listed

What is 'other' ?

I have been told its other unidentified channels as they did not allow 3rd party cookies or surfers were in anonymous/private mode.   Other is usually organic traffic that couldn't be identified for the aformentioned reasons. This data is encrypted and available but it violates Google guidelines as they are not allowed to pass personal info//data to third parties so it is automatically filtered. But they are not 'Not Provided' (since that still shows under organic) but is usually/mainly some form of organic visits.

Hence Seo can take credit for much of that traffic, is this correct ?

Many Thanks

[insiderockstar]

https://look.djfiln.com/offer?prod=3&ref=5163496&sub_id=ANYTHING

[AndaazFashion]

Hello All,

We are not running any paid ads, our all traffic from organic search and social media, referral sites where we promote our website organically then why we are seeing this "other" option in GA. Most of the conversions we are getting from "other" and confused from which source of medium getting this traffic.

Sunil Kumar

KM: Edited to remove unnecessary link

[Sable_Group]

Thanks Kate!

[katemorris]

It's going to depend on how your tracking is setup but out of the box, GA's channel for Social is anything that is tagged as social. Any untagged campaigns, including social ones, are going to be put into Other.

[Sable_Group]

Thanks Kate. In terms of social search, does this refer to all traffic generated from social media sites? If 'other' is from untagged paid advertising like Facebook, then 'social search' does not include traffic from FB ads?

[katemorris]

It's traditionally untagged paid advertising like Facebook. Paid Search is typically campaigns from AdCenter or AdWords, the search engines themselves.

[Sable_Group]

How does 'other' differ to paid search?

[katemorris]

It is most likely the names of campaigns you might have set up. It's best to discussion with your marketing and advertising departments.

[betterlinksmedia]

I am seeing a significant number of sessions under "other" as well. and when I go into Other for details, I see 2 entries - cd and DC. Can any one elaborate on what these mean.

Thanks!

[Dan-Lawrence]

great thanks for that additional info Geoff !

all best

dan

[GeoffKenyon]

+1 Kate

To add on what Kate said, you can typically get a little more data to help you pinpoint what it is by clicking on other and then looking at secondary dimensions such as medium, ad distribution network, placement domain, campaign, etc.

[Dan-Lawrence]

cool cheers

[katemorris]

PLA = Product Listing Ads

[Dan-Lawrence]

many thnaks for further comments Kate

Sorry but whats PLA ?

No but i will now

All Best

Dasn

[katemorris]

Paid is typically AdWords and AdCenter, paid search things. But stuff like Reddit advertising, Facebook, Twitter, and other display advertising, and maybe PLA based advertising (that might be your Google), is Other Advertising.

When you click into Google, have you added a second metric of something like destination URL to see where the traffic is going? That might give you some clues.

[Dan-Lawrence]

isnt cpc type activity going to show in Paid search ?

when i click on 'other' within channels it shows 4 sub channels no 1 is Google and the others are know activity like Buffer.

When i click on Google there's no further breakdown apart from the traffic details (sessions/goals etc).

[katemorris]

Not sure. All organic search traffic should be going into Organic and Other is really set to CPC type tracking. Can you list what the other section says for you?

[Dan-Lawrence]

ok thanks Kate

Seems a tad strange though since all known paid channels being reported elsewhere.

It would be good to know if theres a way to find out whats causing it since all paid campaigns, PPC, emails, display, etc etc being reported in other places and traffic from this 'Google Other' source is 4x current organic search traffic

All Best

Dan

[katemorris]

Most of what you see in other is from paid sources, even traffic from Google. I would not count the traffic you see in Other as natural search traffic unless you are 100% sure. Everything in my various client's Other categories are paid sources.

[Dan-Lawrence]

what about what these guys are saying:

http://moz.com/community/q/analytics-other

[Dan-Lawrence]

Many Thanks for that Kate !

[katemorris]

According to Google, Other is actually not organic. It's other advertising channels. See the link below and how they define other.

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3297892?hl=en&ref_topic=3125765