{"id":218,"date":"2025-02-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/?p=218"},"modified":"2026-03-02T18:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:59:16","slug":"google-analytics-correct-manual-attribution-using-utm-parameters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/es\/google-analytics-correct-manual-attribution-using-utm-parameters\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Analytics: Correct Manual Attribution Using UTM Parameters"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are UTM Parameters?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Google Analytics (GA4) <\/strong>uses different attributes to allocate traffic and conversions to various channels. These attributes also add more context for analysis and reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Source <\/strong>&#8211; Identifies where the traffic is coming from (e.g., google, newsletter, facebook).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Medium <\/strong>&#8211; Specifies the marketing medium (e.g., cpc, email, organic).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Campaign Id<\/strong> (optional) &#8211; A unique identifier for a campaign.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Campaign <\/strong>&#8211; The name of the campaign (e.g., spring_sale, holiday_promo).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Content <\/strong>(optional) &#8211; Differentiates between variations of the same ad or link (e.g., banner_ad, text_ad).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Term <\/strong>(optional) &#8211; Used in paid search campaigns to track keywords.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Use UTM Parameters?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When adding campaign links, the attributes mentioned above should be included as query string parameters using the following convention:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>https:\/\/example.com?<strong>utm_source<\/strong>=google&amp;<strong>utm_medium<\/strong>=cpc&amp;<strong>utm_campaign<\/strong>=spring_sale&amp;<strong>utm_id<\/strong>=001&amp;<strong>utm_term<\/strong>=shoes&amp;<strong>utm_content<\/strong>=banner_ad<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The values used in the <strong>UTM parameters<\/strong> should follow Google&#8217;s defined rules for correct attribution. <strong>Google Analytics<\/strong> has default channels, but custom channels can be created. Below is an overview of GA4\u2019s default channels and the rules it uses for channel attribution:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Default Channel<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Rules<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Direct<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> exactly matches &#8220;(direct)&#8221;<br>AND<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> is one of (&#8220;(not set)&#8221;, &#8220;(none)&#8221;)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Cross-network&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Campaign Name<\/strong> contains &#8220;cross-network&#8221;<br>Cross-network includes Demand Gen, Performance Max, and Smart Shopping.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Paid Shopping&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> matches a list of shopping sites<br>OR<br><strong>Campaign Name<\/strong> matches regex ^(.*(([^a-df-z]|^)shop|shopping).*)$<br>AND<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Paid Search&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> matches a list of search sites<br>AND<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Paid Social&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> matches a regex list of social sites<br>AND<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Paid Video&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> matches a list of video sites<br>AND<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Display<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Medium<\/strong> is one of (&#8220;display&#8221;, &#8220;banner&#8221;, &#8220;expandable&#8221;, &#8220;interstitial&#8221;, &#8220;cpm&#8221;)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Paid Other<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Medium<\/strong> matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Organic Shopping&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> matches a list of shopping sites<br>OR<br><strong>Campaign Name<\/strong> matches regex ^(.*(([^a-df-z]|^)shop|shopping).*)$<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Organic Social&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> matches a regex list of social sites<br>OR<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> is one of (&#8220;social&#8221;, &#8220;social-network&#8221;, &#8220;social-media&#8221;, &#8220;sm&#8221;, &#8220;social network&#8221;, &#8220;social media&#8221;)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Organic Video&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> matches a list of video sites<br>OR<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> matches regex ^(.*video.*)$<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Organic Search&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> matches a list of search sites listed under &#8220;SOURCE_CATEGORY_SEARCH&#8221;<br>OR<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> exactly matches &#8220;organic&#8221;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Referral&nbsp;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Medium<\/strong> is one of (&#8220;referral&#8221;, &#8220;app&#8221;, &#8220;link&#8221;)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Email<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> is one of (&#8220;email&#8221;, &#8220;e-mail&#8221;, &#8220;e_mail&#8221;, &#8220;e mail&#8221;)<br>OR<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> is one of (&#8220;email&#8221;, &#8220;e-mail&#8221;, &#8220;e_mail&#8221;, &#8220;e mail&#8221;)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Affiliates<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Medium<\/strong> exactly matches &#8220;affiliate&#8221;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Audio<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Medium<\/strong> exactly matches &#8220;audio&#8221;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>SMS<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong> exactly matches &#8220;sms&#8221;<br>OR<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> exactly matches &#8220;sms&#8221;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Mobile Push Notifications<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Medium<\/strong> ends with &#8220;push&#8221;<br>OR<br><strong>Medium<\/strong> contains &#8220;mobile&#8221; or &#8220;notification&#8221;<br>OR<br><strong>Source<\/strong> exactly matches &#8220;firebase&#8221;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Google Analytics Default Channels Rules<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tools Available to Generate and Validate UTM Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Google provides an official <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ga-dev-tools.google\/campaign-url-builder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Campaign URL Builder<\/a><\/strong> for generating UTM links. However, I\u2019ve developed a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/utmtool.alejandrobecerril.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tool <\/a><\/strong>that not only generates UTM links but also validates them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/utmtool.alejandrobecerril.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UTM Tool Link<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tool has a tab for generating UTM links, where you can enter the attributes mentioned above and click <strong>&#8220;Generate URL&#8221;<\/strong> to create a link that can be used in different campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-222\" width=\"629\" height=\"717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8.png 616w, https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-8-263x300.png 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The tool also includes a tab to validate UTM links, ensuring compliance with Google\u2019s attribution rules for default channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"629\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-629x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-629x1024.png 629w, https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6-184x300.png 184w, https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/image-6.png 686w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Proper use of <strong>UTM parameters<\/strong> ensures accurate attribution of traffic and conversions in <strong>Google Analytics<\/strong>. By following Google\u2019s <strong>attribution rules<\/strong> and leveraging UTM tracking tools, you can improve the accuracy of your campaign performance analysis. Utilizing the right parameters and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/utmtool.alejandrobecerril.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">validation tool<\/a><\/strong> will help prevent discrepancies and ensure reliable data for reporting and decision-making.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are UTM Parameters? Google Analytics (GA4) uses different attributes to allocate traffic and conversions to various channels. These attributes also add more context for analysis and reporting. How to Use UTM Parameters? When adding campaign links, the attributes mentioned above should be included as query string parameters using the following convention: https:\/\/example.com?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=spring_sale&amp;utm_id=001&amp;utm_term=shoes&amp;utm_content=banner_ad The values &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.alejandrobecerril.com\/es\/google-analytics-correct-manual-attribution-using-utm-parameters\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continuar leyendo<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Google Analytics: Correct Manual Attribution Using UTM Parameters&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[18,6],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Google Analytics: Correct Manual Attribution Using UTM Parameters - Alejandro Becerril<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Proper use of UTM parameters ensures accurate attribution of traffic and conversions in Google Analytics. 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