Check Organic Shopping in Google Analytics (2025)

How Do I Check Organic Shopping in Google Analytics?

To see traffic from unpaid product listings or direct links in Google Analytics, check the "Organic Shopping" channel group in Google Analytics 4. This shows how users reach your site from free listings without clicking on ads.

Here's a quick guide on what Organic Shopping means, how it's tracked, and where to find this data. We'll also explain what "free listings" are and why they're important.

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Set Up Google Analytics and Check Organic Shopping

Here is an in-depth guide that shows you exactly how to access organic shopping in Google Analytics:

1. Confirm Your GA4 Property Setup

Before you can analyze Organic Shopping data, ensure that your GA4 property is set up correctly. This includes having a GA4 property installed on your website and properly tagging URLs with UTM parameters, especially if you’re manually tagging campaigns.

2. Locate Organic Shopping in Reports

To find Organic Shopping data in your reports, go to the "Reports" section in your GA4 property. Select "Acquisition" and then click on "Traffic acquisition." In the data table, look for "Organic Shopping" under the "Default Channel Group" column.

This category aggregates traffic from unpaid links on shopping platforms like Google Shopping, Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, and can also include organic search results related to shopping.

3. Understand How GA4 Classifies Organic Shopping

GA4 automatically groups traffic into channels based on the source or campaign parameters.

Google Sources

For Google sources, if your products appear in Google’s “Shopping” tab via free listings or in organic search results, a click to your site is classified as Organic Shopping. Common Google placements for free product listings include the Shopping tab, Google Search, Google Images, and YouTube.

What Are Free Listings?

Free listings refer to your products or services that appear organically (at no cost) on shopping platforms, most notably Google’s Shopping tab, as well as in Google Search, Google Images, or YouTube. Unlike paid ads, these listings do not incur a cost-per-click.

To have your products displayed for free, you typically need to submit product data to a platform’s merchant center (e.g., Google Merchant Center). When users click on these free listings and end up on your site, GA4 classifies that visit as Organic Shopping traffic.

Pro Tip: What are free product listings? If you are not quite sure, check out this article to find out more about them, and how to optimize them.

Non-Google Sources

For non-Google sources, traffic from platforms like Amazon, eBay, or Shopify can also be classified as Organic Shopping, provided it’s coming via unpaid links.

GA4 inspects the utm_source parameter, and if it detects sources categorized under “shopping” (e.g., Amazon, eBay), then sessions are labeled as Organic Shopping.

Alternatively, if the utm_campaign parameter contains certain keywords like “shop” or “shopping,” GA4 will classify it as Organic Shopping as well.

4. Verify Your UTM Parameters (If You Manually Tag)

If you’re manually tagging links on non-Google platforms, use utm_source to specify where the link is coming from (e.g., utm_source=amazon) and utm_campaign to indicate the campaign name (e.g., utm_campaign=spring_shopping_promo).

GA4 checks these parameters to decide whether to categorize a session as Organic Shopping. If it matches the recognized sources or campaign naming conventions, it appears under “Organic Shopping” in your reports.

5. Analyze Your Organic Shopping Performance

Once you’ve identified the “Organic Shopping” channel in your Traffic acquisition report, you can dive deeper to measure various metrics. Look at session volume to see how many visits you’re getting from Organic Shopping.

Examine engagement metrics such as engagement rate, pages per session, and session duration. Additionally, track conversions to understand how many purchases, sign-ups, or other key events come from Organic Shopping traffic.

Frequently Asked Questions

We have answered some of the most asked questions about organic shopping in Google Analytics.

Do I have to pay for Organic Shopping listings?

No. By definition, Organic Shopping means non-paid (unpaid) placements. If you see traffic categorized under Organic Shopping, it indicates these visitors came from free links on shopping platforms or search results.

What’s the difference between Organic Shopping and Organic Search?

Organic Shopping focuses on free listings that appear on shopping platforms or as product-related results in search engines.

Organic Search generally covers unpaid results on search engines (like Google or Bing) not specifically tied to shopping feeds.

Do I need Google Merchant Center for Organic Shopping traffic?

To appear in Google’s free Shopping listings, yes. You must submit product data via Google Merchant Center so Google can display your items in relevant shopping sections.

Can Amazon traffic be classified as Organic Shopping?

Yes. If someone clicks a non-ad link (for example, a product link in a listing or a user-generated referral) on Amazon that leads to your site, GA4 can group it as Organic Shopping, provided the traffic meets GA4’s classification rules (e.g., matching the “shopping” category or containing relevant UTMs).

How do I accurately track Organic Shopping from other platforms?

Use proper UTM parameters (e.g., utm_source=ebay or utm_campaign=spring_shopping) to make sure GA4 recognizes the source as shopping-related. GA4’s default channel grouping then places those sessions under Organic Shopping.