UTM Builder

Google Analytics 4 sorts visits into channels (Organic Social, Paid Social, Email and so on) using fixed default channel rules. These values match those rules. Upper or lower case doesn’t matter to GA4, but pick one style (lowercase is easiest) and use it everywhere so your reports stay tidy.

• Bio vs stories. Source and medium are the same, so tell them apart with utm_content: bio, stories, reel.

• Campaign names. Use utm_campaign for what you’re promoting, like spring_sale or new_menu. Keep the same name across channels so you can compare them.

• Google Ads. Auto-tagging is the better option: it’s on by default for new Google Ads accounts, and in GA4 auto-tagging takes priority over manual UTM tags. Use google / cpc only if auto-tagging is off.

• Print QR codes. GA4 has no default channel for offline or print, so any honest medium like qr lands in Unassigned. That’s fine: filter by source/medium in reports, or add a rule for it in a custom channel group.

GA4 uses Unassigned when a visit matches none of its channel rules. The rules mostly look at two things: whether the source is on Google’s list of known social, search, video and shopping sites, and whether the medium is one of a few expected words. Common reasons a link misses all of them:

• Source and medium are swapped. utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook lands in Unassigned. The site goes in source, the type of traffic goes in medium.

• The medium is a word GA4 doesn’t know. GA4 recognizes media like social, email, sms, cpc, referral, affiliate and display. Words like newsletter, post, story, bio, flyer or qr mean nothing to it. With a known social source like instagram you’re still covered; with an unknown source you’re not.

• Close, but not exact. The rules are strict. email, e-mail, e_mail and e mail count as Email, but email_blast or mail don’t. social-media and social media count as social, social_media doesn’t.

• The source isn’t on Google’s list. Brand names like mailchimp or meta aren’t known sources. Pair them with a medium GA4 knows (email, paid_social), or use facebook / instagram as the source.

A related trap is Paid Other: a paid medium like cpc or paid_social with a source GA4 doesn’t recognize (for example fb_ads) isn’t Unassigned, but it isn’t Paid Social either.

The default channel group can’t be edited, so the fix is in your links: correct the tags before you share them. If you need a channel GA4 doesn’t have, create it in a custom channel group.

1. 1.

   Enter the page

   Paste the address people should land on.

2. 2.

   Pick where you’ll share it

   Tick the places and name the campaign — each place gets its own tagged link.

3. 3.

   Use the links

   Put each link in its place. Visits show up under Traffic acquisition in Google Analytics.