The Basics — What Google Analytics 4 Is Trying to Tell You

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) tracks visitors to your author website — how they found you, which pages they viewed, how long they stayed, and what they did next. For indie authors, the most valuable information is traffic sources: are readers finding your site from Amazon, from your email newsletter, from social media, or from organic search?

GA4 replaced Universal Analytics in 2023 and is significantly different from the old system. Many authors have GA4 installed but configured incorrectly, or installed correctly but misreading what the data means.

⚠️ WARNING: GA4 takes 24–48 hours to process data into standard reports after installation. If you just installed GA4 and see nothing, wait two days. Check the Realtime report (found in the left navigation) to verify data is arriving immediately after installation.

'(not set)' and 'Unassigned' Traffic — What It Means

The most common confusion in GA4 is seeing '(not set)' or 'Unassigned' as a traffic source. This means GA4 received a visit but couldn't determine where it came from.

The most common causes

• Direct traffic: readers who typed your URL directly or clicked a bookmark — GA4 can't determine the original source, so it shows '(not set)' or 'direct'

• Missing UTM parameters: links in your newsletter, social media posts, or ads that don't have tracking codes — GA4 doesn't know they're from your newsletter

• Ad blockers and privacy tools: a growing percentage of web users block analytics tracking entirely — this traffic is invisible to GA4

• Email clicks: most email clients strip referrer information, so newsletter clicks often appear as 'direct' rather than 'email'

The fix for most of this: UTM parameters — tracking codes you add to links in your marketing to tell GA4 where the traffic came from.

UTM Parameters — The Tracking Tool Most Authors Miss

A UTM parameter is a small addition to any URL that tells GA4 exactly where that traffic came from. Example: instead of linking to https://yoursite.com/book, you link to https://yoursite.com/book?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=june-launch

When a reader clicks this link, GA4 records exactly: Source = newsletter, Medium = email, Campaign = june-launch. You can now see in your GA4 reports that those readers came from your June newsletter launch campaign.

• Go to ga-dev-tools.google.com/campaign-url-builder (Google's free UTM builder)

• Enter your destination URL (your book page or website)

• Fill in: Campaign Source (e.g., 'newsletter' or 'instagram'), Campaign Medium (e.g., 'email' or 'social'), Campaign Name (e.g., 'june-launch')

• Copy the generated URL with UTM parameters

• Use this UTM-tagged URL in your newsletter, social posts, and ads instead of the plain URL

💡 TIP: Create a simple spreadsheet of your standard UTM codes and reuse them consistently. 'newsletter + email + monthly' for your regular newsletter. 'instagram + social + bio-link' for your Instagram bio link. Consistent naming makes your GA4 reports readable at a glance.

The Reports That Actually Matter for Authors

Traffic Acquisition (where readers come from)

Reports > Traffic Acquisition. This shows your traffic sources. After implementing UTM parameters consistently, this report becomes your marketing ROI dashboard — you can see which channels are actually driving readers to your site.

Pages and Screens (what readers look at)

Reports > Engagement > Pages and Screens. See which pages on your site get the most traffic. If readers are visiting your book pages but not your newsletter signup page, that's a clear pointer for where to add more visible CTAs.

Realtime (is it working right now?)

Reports > Realtime. Shows visitors on your site at this exact moment. Useful for verifying that a new newsletter or social post is driving traffic — open GA4, send your newsletter, and watch traffic appear in Realtime.

The filter to remove your own visits

When you visit your own website, your visits appear in GA4 and distort the data. Filter these out: go to Admin > Data Streams > your stream > Configure Tag Settings > List unwanted referrals or use the GA4 internal filter to exclude your own IP address.

How ScribeCount Helps

ScribeCount's Website Traffic panel complements GA4 by tracking traffic to your author website alongside your platform sales data, with UTM link tracking that shows which marketing activities are driving both website visits and actual book purchases. Where GA4 shows you traffic, ScribeCount shows you which of that traffic converted to royalties — connecting your marketing effort to actual income.