Multi-channel Funnel Report Now Showing Paid Search & Display
Hi Community!
I have an analytics account that has been connected to a shopify store & is recording eCommerce transactions successfully. I can see traffic & also see transaction values from the last month.
Paid google ads were run for the last month. Auto tagging is enabled & I can see traffic being attributed to paid search.
Could anyone help me understand the following please?
There is an unusually large number of transactions attributed to “Direct” for a recently launched website. And paid search does not appear within multi-channel funnel reports, even within the top paths and assisted conversion report tabs.
Thank you!
The short answer is:
The large number of transactions attributed to “Direct” and the absence of Paid Search in the Multi-Channel Funnel (MCF) reports is almost certainly due to how your Google Analytics property is configured, specifically related to the Attribution Settings and Lookback Window, and how the tracking on your Shopify site handles cross-domain navigation or session timeouts.
You can fix the attribution issue immediately by verifying your Channel Groupings and Conversion Window settings within Google Analytics.
However, the most effective long-term solution to eliminate “Direct” and ensure accurate multi-touch attribution is to switch from the standard, browser-based tracking to a server-side solution that uses the Google Ads API and Google Analytics Data API for offline conversion imports, which bypasses all common browser and session-based tracking limitations.
The long answer is:
Your experience is a classic symptom of the limitations of client-side (browser-based) tracking, which is what your Shopify store is using by default, even with auto-tagging enabled.
The system is likely losing the original paid source information just before the conversion is recorded.
There are two main reasons for the “Direct” surge and the MCF problem.
First, the large “Direct” attribution is a sign that the Google Click ID (gclid), which is the unique parameter from auto-tagging that identifies the paid click, is being lost during the customer journey.
This usually happens because of a redirect issue from the ad to the landing page, a session timeout for users who take a long time to convert (which can be as short as 30 minutes in default settings), or a cross-domain tracking problem if your checkout process moves to a different subdomain or an external payment gateway that is not correctly configured in your Google Analytics tracking.
When the gclid is lost, Google Analytics resorts to its default attribution for the final step, which is often “Direct.”
Second, Paid Search failing to appear in the Multi-Channel Funnel report, even though you see it in other reports, is baffling but can be explained by two key settings.
MCF reports rely on a specific Channel Grouping definition to classify traffic.
If the default or custom Channel Grouping is misconfigured, it might be classifying your paid search as a different channel, like “Other Advertising,” thereby excluding it from the Paid Search line item in the MCF report.
Furthermore, the MCF reports are specifically designed to show traffic sources that assisted or completed a conversion within a set Lookback Window (usually 30 to 90 days).
You need to ensure your conversion event is correctly defined and the channel groupings are accurate.
While you can patch these issues by checking your redirects, ensuring the GA tracking code fires immediately, and correcting your Channel Groupings, the best solution is to move to a server-side tracking model.
The server-side solution involves using the Google Ads API and the Google Analytics Data API along with your Shopify API/webhooks and a Google Tag Manager Server Container hosted on a cheap service like Stape or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Here is why this is the superior and reliable solution: Instead of relying on a fragile browser session, the server-side architecture works like this:
When a user clicks your Google Ad, you capture the unique gclid and the customer’s identifying information (like email or phone number) as soon as they reach your site.
The Shopify API/webhooks notify your server when a definitive event – a purchase, a subscribe, or any Standard Event – is completed.
This notification is sent directly from the Shopify server to your GTM Server Container.
Your GTM Server Container then takes the confirmed purchase data, pairs it with the gclid and customer data it previously collected, and sends a guaranteed, server-to-server Offline Conversion signal via the Google Ads API directly to Google Ads.
It can also enrich and clean the data before sending it to the Google Analytics Data API.
This dual API approach completely eliminates the “Direct” attribution problem because the conversion is guaranteed to be attributed using the gclid, regardless of browser issues, long user sessions, or ad blockers.
It ensures that the Paid Search interaction is never lost, giving you a perfectly clean multi-channel funnel view, which is necessary for accurate smart bidding.
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