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If you are using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and you check the Landing page report, you may notice a “not set” value under the ‘Landing page’ dimension. This means that GA4 cannot identify which page your prospect/customer first visited on your website or app.

This can be frustrating, as the Landing Page report is very useful for SEO and conversion optimization. It shows you which pages attract and retain your prospects/customers, and which ones need more work.

In this blog post, we will explain what causes the “not set” value and how to deal with it.

What is the Landing Page Report in GA4?

A landing page is any page on your website or app that is the first page seen when a session starts. A session is a period of time during which your prospect/customer interacts with your website/app. By default, a session ends after 30 minutes of inactivity, but it can last for as long as there are interactions.

The Landing Page report in GA4 provides you the landing page information to help you identify which pages are performing well and which ones need improvement.

Why Does “Not Set” Appear?

The “not set” value appears when GA4 cannot associate a “page_view” event with the start of a session. A “page_view” event is triggered when a prospect/customer views a page on your website or app.

There are two common scenarios that can cause this issue:

• A prospect/customer lands on a page, then leaves it open without interacting, and comes back after the session has expired. If they interact with the page by scrolling or converting without triggering a new page view event, GA4 will not know which page they landed on in the previous session.
• You use Measurement Protocol to send offline conversions to GA4 without a page view event, or you create an event from an audience trigger without a page view parameter.

In short, if a session starts without a page view event, GA4 will show “not set” for the landing page dimension.

Note that a technical issue with your implementation can also cause the page view event not to be sent, which will affect other aspects of your GA4 reporting.

How to Fix the “Not Set” Issue?

One possible workaround is to increase the session timeout from the default 30 minutes to a longer duration, up to 7 hours and 55 minutes. This will keep the page view information for longer before the session expires due to inactivity.

Go to:
Admin > Data streams > Web stream > Configure tag settings > Show more > Adjust session timeout

However, this will also affect other aspects of your GA4 reporting, such as the number of sessions and other metrics. Therefore, you should evaluate the pros and cons of this option before applying it.

Conclusion

The “not set” value in the Landing Page report in GA4 is a result of the way GA4 defines landing pages based on the initial page view event. Unless Google changes this logic, you will likely see some “not set” values in your report.

If you need help with auditing your GA4 setup or evaluating the impact of configuration changes, our team of experts is ready to assist you. Contact us today and let’s get started!

Vitor Morais

I am the Martech Ninjas founder, covering all things digital analytics. With 10+ years’ worth of experience in marketing and analytics, and having the privilege of working across 4 different countries, I have seen it all! Something I have always seen in the world of digital analytics is how poor data quality and the lack of standardisation is hurting businesses in their data-driven decisions to achieve growth. When I’m not immersed in the world of digital analytics, I enjoy working out and try new cuisines – yes, in this order!