Google Analytics Audit Test #

89

Organic Shopping Attribution for All 'srsltid'

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding where your traffic is coming from and assigning appropriate credit.

Industries:

Ecommerce

Checks For:

Accuracy

How accurate is your recent data?

Insight Category:

Attribution

Can you tell which marketing efforts are working?

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Background

A GA4 audit is essential for uncovering missing insights—key data points that organizations don't yet know and can act upon. A well-done audit evaluates both behavioral tracking and traffic attribution, ensuring each is accurate and useful. It also assesses whether the data collected truly supports business decisions and reporting.

Test Detail

This test checks whether traffic containing the srsltid parameter is correctly attributed to Organic Shopping in Google Analytics.

The srsltid (Search Result Shopping Listing ID) parameter is typically added to URLs from Google Organic Shopping results—such as the product listings found in Google Images, the Shopping tab, or sometimes general organic search results.

When these sessions are not attributed correctly, they may:

  • Be lumped into (not set) or unassigned channel groupings
  • Appear as organic search or referral, masking the true source
  • Undermine the perceived value of Organic Shopping exposure
  • Lead to underinvestment in optimizing product feeds and structured data

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How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In Google Analytics > Explore, create a Free-form report with:
    • Dimensions: Landing page + query string, Session source/medium
    • Filter for landing pages that contain srsltid=
  • Review how those sessions are attributed in GA4:
    • Ideal: google / organic_shopping or at least google / organic
    • Concerning: direct / (none), (not set), or referral

Advanced QA

In BigQuery, run this query:

    SELECT session_source, session_medium, page_location
    FROM `your_dataset.events_*`
    WHERE page_location LIKE '%srsltid%'
    LIMIT 1000

Automated, Free Audit

Want to check this across all your product pages automatically? Run our Instant Audit

Or hire a pro to configure your attribution for clarity and precision.

How To Fix

  • Google Analytics does not natively recognize srsltid as a special parameter—so you must help it:
    • Create a custom channel grouping rule that flags traffic containing srsltid= in the landing page URL
    • Optionally, configure GA4 audience definitions or segments for this traffic for deeper analysis
    • If attribution still shows as “Direct,” check:
      • Whether srsltid is stripped in redirects or landing page load
      • Whether page URLs break on click due to CMS or tracking layers
  • Hire a pro to implement clean attribution for Organic Shopping so you can measure what matters and invest confidently in your product visibility.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

Every Google Analytics audit should result in a plan for more insights.

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An insight is:

  • something you don't know
  • and can act on to improve performance

The Goal

Identify and remove insight blockers. Don't get tempted to track things you can't act on!

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