Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Let your reputation grow with Reviews AI
      Moz Local

      Let your reputation grow with Reviews AI

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Reporting & Analytics
    4. Why does Google Analytics think PPC traffic is organic?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Why does Google Analytics think PPC traffic is organic?

    Reporting & Analytics
    6
    8
    14953
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • Red_Mud_Rookie
      Red_Mud_Rookie last edited by

      I have a bastard of a problem... Google Analytics is incorrectly tracking PPC traffic as SEO which is screwing up all my reporting .

      I don't care for rankings, I care for actual SEO traffic and I can't be sure that what i am seeing is correct which is driving me nuts.

      Any ideas?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • LinkRightMedia
        LinkRightMedia Subscriber last edited by

        Ralph, If you're using a call tracking Software doing Dynamic Number insertion like Mongoose Metrics does, The visit will appear in many cases to Analytics to be Organic or Direct. Since tools like that use a URL Extension to Know when to insert the tracking number, you can add a Custom Channel Grouping and Define the following rule:

        Landing Page URL -- Contains -- mm_replace=true (that rule is specific to Mongoose Metrics, but most will have some common phrase in the URL extension that you can use)

        o5uco

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Gruenagency
          Gruenagency @Red_Mud_Rookie last edited by

          Hey Ralph,

          I know this was posted a while ago but I'm running into the same issue. Our PPC urls are showing up as "organic" landing pages and screwing up organic traffic and conversion data. Did you ever hear back from Google on this?

          Thanks!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Branden_S
            Branden_S last edited by

            Google analytics will place Ppc traffic in the "direct traffic"  bucket if you do not tag your ppc campaigns correctly.  Google Adwords is easy, just enable auto tagging. In AdCenter, you need to make sure that you use utm codes in all of your keyword destination urls...otherwise google analytics will just place this traffic in the direct traffic category.

            There was a good blog post about this last month.  http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-google-analytics-tagging-matters-whiteboard-friday

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Red_Mud_Rookie
              Red_Mud_Rookie @damionbrown last edited by

              Thanks Damion... I have got Google looking at it now so fingers crossed they can find the fault.

              Gruenagency 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • damionbrown
                damionbrown last edited by

                I fully sympathise, and I fully identify with your assessment of it as a bastard of a problem!

                Just to be square on the baseline stuff, is your Analytics correctly linked to your Adwords account? Incorrect linking can cause all manner of weirdness. It's pretty easy to link accounts these days but it didn't used to be, so if the adwords and/or analytics accounts for this site are more than a couple of years old that could be causing a problem.

                Secondly, is Adwords auto-tagging set up correctly? It could be that Adwords isn't passing on the correct URL handling parameters, and so in the absence of appended campaign data Analytics is interpreting it all as a referral from Google, and therefore as organic traffic.

                Red_Mud_Rookie 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • Red_Mud_Rookie
                  Red_Mud_Rookie @scanlin last edited by

                  When I have "organic only" segmenting on i.e. non paid search traffic, it is showing that the top organic keywords are keywords that i have no top 30 rankings in organic, yet my ppc ad is number one.

                  Biggest traffic driver - cheap flights - no rankings for this domain, but the sister domain is on page 2
                  Second biggest - cheap hotels - pos 15-16

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • scanlin
                    scanlin last edited by

                    What makes you think it's adding your PPC traffic to your organic report? When you are in Analytics and click on Traffic Sources, do you see "google (organic)" as one of the sources? Are you saying google is adding PPC visits to that row in the traffic sources table?

                    Red_Mud_Rookie 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • 1 / 1
                    • First post
                      Last post

                    Got a burning SEO question?

                    Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                    Start my free trial


                    Browse Questions

                    Explore more categories

                    • Moz Tools

                      Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                    • SEO Tactics

                      Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                    • Community

                      Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                    • Digital Marketing

                      Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                    • Research & Trends

                      Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                    • Support

                      Connect on product support and feature requests.

                    • See all categories

                    Related Questions

                    • RosemaryB

                      We have a client that wants to apply UTM URL tagging to track local organic traffic in Google Analytics. Is there any benefit in doing this?

                      One of our clients requested that we apply UTM URL tagging to better track organic traffic in Google Analytics.   We found this to be an odd request because we are most familiar with UTM tracking for special campaigns (referral tracking, PPC, email tracking, etc). Is there any benefit of applying UTM tags to urls to analyze local organic traffic in Google Analytics?  Are there any resources out there about this? Thanks!

                      Reporting & Analytics | | RosemaryB
                      0
                    • SarahLK

                      Organic Traffic From...Mountain View, CA?

                      I've noticed something a little odd in my organic search traffic lately.  Looking at several websites that target the Minneapolis area, I'm seeing some organic searches come in (typically using head keywords - no geo-modifier) from Mountain View, CA.  There's no way we are truly ranking well on these terms in California, so it certainly feels like Google sniffing around.  I was worried that perhaps they were checking into penalizing us or something, but we've actually seen upticks in search traffic lately.  This traffic is not showing up in Google Analytics, just Adobe SiteCatalyst.  In the past, spikes from random locations were probably some sort of crawler, like the preview bot, but these are coming in as searches with (for now) keyword data. Has anyone else seen anything like this?

                      Reporting & Analytics | | SarahLK
                      0
                    • 10SL

                      Google Analytics Organic Search Keywords Suddenly Displaying FulL Urls

                      In my Google Analytics, the top keywords for Organic Search are suddenyl displaying full URLs. For example, now the third and fourth keywords are http://www.domain.com/highly-specific-URL. These have all started recently around the same day, July 12th. I've checked back, and we've made no internal changes to the site around that time that could affect this. Any thoughts on this? Thanks! P.S. It might be related to rich snippets, but I cannot tell at this point.

                      Reporting & Analytics | | 10SL
                      0
                    • AdvanceSystems

                      Google Analytic - Is it possible to see which organic keyword triggered goals?

                      Hi, I am trying to see which of my Google organic keywords triggered my goals? In GA I click > Conversion > Goals > Overview > Source Medium (This then says where my goals came from but when I click Google / Organic it just brings me to the overview page of my organic traffic). Is it possible to see which organic keywords trigger goals?

                      Reporting & Analytics | | AdvanceSystems
                      0
                    • Resultify

                      Google Analytics for multiple languages on multiple domains

                      Hi folks A quick question in regards to setting up Google Analytics for a website with multiple languages on multiple domains. The domains that needs to be tracked are: www.example.com -> English www.example.se -> Swedish www.example.dk -> Danish To my best knowledge this can be acheived in Google Analytids using 3 different setups: Different accounts Different properties Profiles What would you guys consider the best approach?
                      Pros and cons? Have a great day Fredrik

                      Reporting & Analytics | | Resultify
                      0
                    • pwpaneuro

                      No Social Sources in Google Analytics - what am I doing wrong?

                      Hello Everyone, I'm having a strange issue: I DO NOT have in my Google Analytics the "Social" tab under the Traffic Sources category. Look at the first image of this post: http://marketingland.com/google-analytics-social-reports-8138 How do you "get" that to show? Hope somebody has this issue and can help, Thanks a lot, Alex

                      Reporting & Analytics | | pwpaneuro
                      0
                    • ocelot

                      Weird info from google analytics?

                      Hi Could anyone explain what these visits are in Google Analytics?  Under traffic sources and organic I am seeing lots of entries with data like below.  Any ideas what kind of traffic this is?  Is it a bot and if so what is their purpose of it and is it recommended that you block it? Pages/Visit 1.00 Avg. Time on Site 00:00:00 % New Visits : 100% Bounce Rate: 100.00% Many Thanks

                      Reporting & Analytics | | ocelot
                      0
                    • johnshearer

                      AW Stats vs Google Analytics

                      Hey Moz Community, I am looking to get opinions on the best practice for analytics/traffic analysis. From experience I know that AW Stats reads high and Google Analytics reads low for traffic for reason in this article http://www.smartz.com/blog/2009/01/23/analytic-confusion-%E2%80%93-awstats-vs-google-analytics/ It drives me a little nuts how far off both are for some pages.  I have one article that shows 100 views (GA) and AW stats shows 5 times that number of views. Any suggestions or systems you recommend? Thanks

                      Reporting & Analytics | | johnshearer
                      0

                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                    Start my free trial
                    Products
                    • Moz Pro
                    • Moz Local
                    • Moz API
                    • Moz Data
                    • STAT
                    • Product Updates
                    Moz Solutions
                    • SMB Solutions
                    • Agency Solutions
                    • Enterprise Solutions
                    • Digital Marketers
                    Free SEO Tools
                    • Domain Authority Checker
                    • Link Explorer
                    • Keyword Explorer
                    • Competitive Research
                    • Brand Authority Checker
                    • Local Citation Checker
                    • MozBar Extension
                    • MozCast
                    Resources
                    • Blog
                    • SEO Learning Center
                    • Help Hub
                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                    • How-to Guides
                    • Moz Academy
                    • API Docs
                    About Moz
                    • About
                    • Team
                    • Careers
                    • Contact
                    Why Moz
                    • Case Studies
                    • Testimonials
                    Get Involved
                    • Become an Affiliate
                    • MozCon
                    • Webinars
                    • Practical Marketer Series
                    • MozPod
                    Connect with us

                    Contact the Help team

                    Join our newsletter
                    Moz logo
                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                    • Accessibility
                    • Terms of Use
                    • Privacy

                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.