UTM parameters, click ids and ref links

Statsy reads a fixed set of query parameters from the landing URL. Everything else in the query string is ignored by default.

What is read

• utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content. Each becomes a breakdown you can group and filter by.
• Ad click identifiers: gclid, wbraid, gbraid, msclkid, dclid, gad_source and yclid for search ads; fbclid, ttclid, li_fat_id, twclid, rdt_cid, igshid, sccid and epik for social ads. The first one present is kept.
• ref or via, the usual parameters of referral and affiliate programs.

Parameter names are matched case-insensitively, values are trimmed to 200 characters, and a hash-routed URL such as /#/pricing?utm_source=x is read too.

How a visit becomes a channel

Each visit lands in exactly one channel. The first rule that matches wins:

1. An ad click id: search ids mean paid search, social ids mean paid social.
2. utm_medium: cpc, ppc, sem and friends mean paid search, unless the source is a social network, in which case paid social; display, banner, cpm and native mean display; email and newsletter mean email; affiliate and partner mean affiliate; social means social; organic and seo mean organic search.
3. A ref or via parameter means affiliate.
4. The referrer host: known mail hosts mean email, AI assistants mean AI, search engines mean organic search, social networks mean social, anything else means referral.
5. With no referrer at all, utm_source alone is used as a hint.
6. Nothing matched: direct.

Tag links you control

Ads carry click ids by themselves. What needs your own tags is everything else: newsletters, partner placements, sponsorships and community posts. utm_source plus utm_medium is enough for the channel to be right, and utm_campaign groups a launch together.

https://yourstartup.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=launch

Query strings in page paths

Page paths drop their query string by default, so /pricing?ref=abc is recorded as /pricing. That keeps one page from splitting into hundreds of rows and keeps tokens out of your reports. UTM tags and click ids are still read and still attributed. If you genuinely need the query string in the path, turn it on under Site settings › Tracking and read the warning there first.