Channels are a way of measuring how people reach your website. Understanding how people reach your website can help you improve the way you reach people and raise awareness for your business or organization.
Here are the most common channels you will see in Google Analytics and progress reports:
Organic Search – Website visitors who found your site through a search engine. Note: This only includes visitors who came to your site by clicking on an organic result (not an advertisement).
Paid Search – Website visitors who reached your site after clicking on a pay-per-click advertisement within a search engine or one of its network partners. This will primarily be through Google Ads for most websites.
Direct – Website visitors who came directly to your website by typing in your URL in their browser or following a bookmark.
Referral – Website visitors who reached your site by following a link on another website.
Social – Website visitors who came to your site from a social media website such as Facebook or Twitter.
Email – Website visitors who came to your site from an email.
Other – Website visitors who do not fit into any of the pre-defined categories.
