Generic UTM Source Names Kill Your Attribution Analysis
Using 'social', 'email', or 'partner' as utm_source makes all campaigns look identical. Here's why specificity matters in GA4.
UTMGuard Blog
Fixing attribution and source tracking errors in your analytics.
Using 'social', 'email', or 'partner' as utm_source makes all campaigns look identical. Here's why specificity matters in GA4.
Using 'null' as utm_source tells GA4 'no source exists' instead of 'source is null'. Here's why this destroys attribution and how to fix it.
Using 'null', 'undefined', or '(not set)' in utm_source makes your campaign data invisible in GA4. Here's the complete forbidden keyword list.
Added utm_source but campaign traffic shows as (direct)? utm_medium is required—here's how GA4's attribution hierarchy actually works.
utm_source tracked but GA4 shows 'Unassigned' traffic? Missing utm_medium creates orphaned parameters that break attribution.
Partners driving traffic but not showing in GA4? Missing UTM parameters on partner links make their valuable traffic invisible.
Traffic showing as direct but coming from external sites? Here's how to identify, fix, and prevent direct/referrer mismatch attribution errors.
Reserved keywords like 'null', 'undefined', '(not set)' break GA4 attribution. Here's how to identify, fix, and prevent them forever.
Orphaned UTM parameters break attribution and hide campaign performance. Here's how to identify and fix them across all your marketing channels.
GA4 shows 'direct' traffic but HTTP referrer says users came from external sites. Missing UTM parameters on partner links cost you attribution.