In Google Analytics (GA4), revenue may be attributed to the payment system domain (e.g., pay.monobank.ua) because GA4, by default, assigns the session to the last source of traffic. Since users are redirected to the payment system page (e.g., pay.monobank.ua) during checkout and then return to the website after completing the payment, GA4 may treat this as a new session from a new source, distorting revenue and conversion data.
How to Fix the Issue and Exclude Billing Domains from GA4
To prevent Google Analytics from recording payment services as traffic sources, you need to add these domains to the referral exclusion list.
Steps to Exclude Payment Domains in GA4:
- Open Google Analytics 4.
- Go to Admin (gear icon in the lower-left corner).
- Under Data Streams, select the data stream for your website.
- Scroll down and find Tag Settings.
- Click Show more.
- Select List unwanted referrals.
- Click Add referral exclusion.
- Enter the payment system domain (e.g., pay.monobank.ua, liqpay.ua, wayforpay.com, etc.).
- Click Save.
How Does This Work?
Once set up, Google Analytics will no longer count these domains as new traffic sources. Instead, the returning buyer will remain linked to the original source from which they first arrived at the website.
Which Domains Should Be Excluded?
Apart from pay.monobank.ua, you should also exclude other payment gateways your business uses, such as:
- liqpay.ua
- wayforpay.com
- portmone.com.ua
- fondy.eu
- paypal.com
- stripe.com
Verifying the Configuration
After making changes to the exclusion list, wait a few days and check if payments from these domains are no longer appearing as traffic sources.
Steps to Verify in GA4:
- Open GA4 → Reports.
- Navigate to Traffic Acquisition → Sessions by Source/Medium.
- Ensure that pay.monobank.ua or other payment service domains no longer appear as revenue sources.
Conclusion
Excluding payment systems from traffic sources in GA4 is a crucial step for accurate revenue attribution and effective marketing channel analysis. This prevents data distortion and ensures proper conversion allocation to actual advertising sources.