UTM parameters by platform

Deep references for every platform's UTM conventions, dynamic tokens, and attribution gotchas. Built on primary sources, kept current.

Analytics & receivers

Google Analytics

The receiver where UTMs land — source, medium, campaign reports in GA4 and the default channel grouping.

Multi-channel ad platforms

One platform spanning Search, Display, YouTube, Shopping, Performance Max, and Demand Gen. ValueTrack macros drive every UTM.

Meta Ads

Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network — one ads account, four surfaces, fbclid attribution, and dynamic creative tokens.

Paid search

OpenAI's self-serve Ads Manager for placements inside ChatGPT — four ID-only macros, one query-parameter field, and oppref appended on every click.

Paid social

Quora Ads

Quora's self-serve ad platform — question-context targeting, the Quora Pixel, and a B2B-friendly audience other paid-social channels miss.

Reddit Ads

Reddit's self-serve ad platform — community-context targeting, rdt_cid for click attribution, and a Conversions API for the iOS-era gap.

TikTok Ads UTM tracking: the double-underscore macros, the __AID__/__CID__ naming trap, ttclid auto-tagging, and a standards-only template.

AI assistants & answer engines

How ChatGPT traffic shows up in analytics, why GA4 classifies it automatically from the referrer, and why tagging it yourself makes your reports worse.

Claude cites sources and links out when it browses. GA4 files those referrals under Referral, not AI Assistants — read them there, don't tag your URLs.

Gemini referrals land in GA4's AI Assistants channel automatically. AI Overviews don't — they're organic search. Here's how to keep the two apart.

Microsoft Copilot

GA4 detects Copilot by referrer and files it under AI Assistants automatically. Here's where it lands, the Bing/Edge blur, and why not to tag your URLs.

Perplexity cites sources with outbound links. GA4 files those referrals under Referral, not AI Assistants — here's how to read them without tagging anything.