The six tags
- utm_source (required)
- Where the click happens: the site, app, list or partner. newsletter, facebook, local-paper.
- utm_medium (required)
- The kind of traffic. Use the words the channel rules understand: email, social, cpc, display, referral, affiliate, sms.
- utm_campaign (required)
- The push the link belongs to: fall-sale-2026. Every link in one push shares it.
- utm_content
- Which link, when one email or page has several: header-button, photo.
- utm_term
- The paid search keyword. Most other links leave it out.
- utm_id
- A campaign ID, used when campaign data is imported into analytics. Tagwright leaves its case alone.
House style
- Lowercase. Reports keep case, so Facebook and facebook become two rows.
- No spaces. A space becomes + or %20 and often breaks when the link is pasted into a text message or a spreadsheet. Pick - or _ and stay with it.
- A short list of sources and mediums. Write them down once (a Tag Book's rulebook does this) so nobody invents e-mail next to email.
- Never personal details. No names, email addresses or phone numbers in any tag. Google Analytics' terms forbid sending personal information, and tagged links get forwarded.
- Tags go before the #. Anything after # stays in the browser, so analytics never sees it.
GA4 default channel rules, in Google's order
For manually tagged traffic, Google Analytics 4 checks these rules in this order and the first match wins; nothing matching means "Unassigned". Google says the channel definitions are not case sensitive. Source: Google Analytics Help, "[GA4] Default channel group" (support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891), read by Tagwright on 15 October 2026. Google can change these rules; its page is the authority.
| # | Channel | Rule (plain words) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Direct | Source is exactly "(direct)" and medium is "(not set)" or "(none)". |
| 2 | Cross-network | Campaign name contains "cross-network". |
| 3 | Paid Shopping | Source is a shopping site or the campaign name matches the shop/shopping pattern, and medium matches the paid pattern. |
| 4 | Paid Search | Source is a search site and medium matches the paid pattern. |
| 5 | Paid Social | Source is a social site and medium matches the paid pattern. |
| 6 | Paid Video | Source is a video site and medium matches the paid pattern. |
| 7 | Display | Medium is display, banner, expandable, interstitial or cpm. |
| 8 | Paid Other | Medium matches the paid pattern. |
| 9 | Organic Shopping | Source is a shopping site or the campaign name matches the shop/shopping pattern. |
| 10 | Organic Social | Source is a social site, or medium is social, social-network, social-media, sm, "social network" or "social media". |
| 11 | Organic Video | Source is a video site, or medium contains "video". |
| 12 | Organic Search | Source is a search site, or medium is exactly "organic". |
| 13 | AI Assistant | Medium is exactly "ai-assistant". |
| 14 | Referral | Medium is referral, app or link. |
| 15 | Source or medium is email, e-mail, e_mail or "e mail". | |
| 16 | Affiliates | Medium is affiliate. |
| 17 | Audio | Medium is exactly audio. |
| 18 | SMS | Source or medium is exactly sms. |
| 19 | Mobile Push Notifications | Medium ends with "push", or contains "mobile" or "notification", or source is exactly firebase. |
| Unassigned | No rule matched. |
The patterns behind the words:
- Paid medium:
^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$(so cpc, ppc, paid-social, retargeting) - Shopping campaign name:
^(.*(([^a-df-z]|^)shop|shopping).*)$ - Video medium:
^(.*video.*)$
Sources Tagwright knows
Google decides whether a source is a search, social, video or shopping site from its own long list. Tagwright carries only this short excerpt of common values. A source outside it is treated as an unknown site, so the preview can say "Unassigned" or "Paid Other" where Google, with its full list, would name the site's channel. Where it matters, check the source against Google's list.
- Search
- google, bing, yahoo, duckduckgo, baidu, yandex, ecosia, naver, ask, aol, google.com, bing.com, search.yahoo.com, duckduckgo.com, baidu.com, yandex.ru, ecosia.org
- Social
- facebook, facebook.com, m.facebook.com, l.facebook.com, instagram, instagram.com, linkedin, linkedin.com, lnkd.in, twitter, twitter.com, t.co, pinterest, pinterest.com, reddit, reddit.com, tiktok, tiktok.com, snapchat, quora, tumblr
- Video
- youtube, youtube.com, m.youtube.com, vimeo, vimeo.com, twitch, twitch.tv, dailymotion, dailymotion.com
- Shopping
- amazon, amazon.com, ebay, ebay.com, etsy, etsy.com, walmart, walmart.com
Common mistakes Tagwright catches
- Source and medium swapped (utm_medium=facebook).
- The same tag twice in one link, or an empty tag.
- Capital letters in a tag's name (UTM_Source): analytics looks for lowercase names.
- Tags after the #.
- Mediums that match no rule (print, qr, flyer) and show as "Unassigned". If that is fine for your reports, keep them; if not, choose a medium the rules know.
- Using (direct) or (none): those are what analytics writes when a visit has no tags.
Tagwright is an independent tool. It is not made by, affiliated with or endorsed by Google. Google Analytics is a trademark of Google LLC.