Problem with GA4 Landing Page Filtering

[Dylan]

This seems to be a known issue with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) where the ‘Landing Page’ dimension only returns the request URI part of the URL, not the domain. Unfortunately, as of now, GA4 does not provide an out-of-the-box way to display full landing page URLs including the domain and subdomain.

However, you can try a workaround by sending the full URL as a custom event parameter. You’d have to modify your tracking code to capture the full URL (window.location.href in JavaScript) and then send it along with your page_view events. When setting up your reports, instead of using the “Landing Page” dimension, you can use this custom parameter.

You may also reach out to Google support or their product forum for an update or an alternative solution to this issue. Keep an eye out on GA4 updates as they are in the process of improving the tool and might include a proper solution in coming updates. Your patience would be needed as this isn’t a straight forward fix and might take some time to implement.

[Elizabeth]

The standard “Landing Page + Query String” filter/tag in Google Analytics (GA) strips out the domain and just provides the landing page URL path. This is to accommodate the fact that you may have multiple domains reporting in one GA profile, but it can indeed be frustrating when you need the full URL. While GA4 doesn’t provide an out-of-the-box way to add the domain name to the landing page dimension, the possible workaround is modifying your tracking setup to record the full URL (including the domain) in a custom dimension. You’ll need to have the appropriate permissions and technical know-how or the support of someone who does to implement this. Keep in mind, though, that GA doesn’t retroactively modify data, so this solution would only start collecting the full URL data from the time you implement it forward. As always, be sure to test thoroughly in a staging environment before deploying to production.