What is paid traffic?
Paid traffic is visitors who arrive by clicking an ad you paid for, such as a Google Ads search ad or a paid social media post.
Paid traffic comes from advertising. GA4 sorts it into channels such as Paid Search (ads on search engines), Paid Social (ads on social networks), Display (banner ads) and Paid Video. Google Ads traffic is labeled automatically when the accounts are linked and auto-tagging is on. Ads on other platforms need UTM parameters, usually with a medium like cpc or paid_social, to be sorted correctly.
Why it matters for your business: Separating paid from organic traffic shows what your ad spend actually brings in, so you can judge whether each campaign pays for itself.
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