Updates, guides, and insights.
Product releases, marketing attribution guides, and lessons from millions of clicks.
utm_term: Why It's Blank in Half Your Campaigns
Google's docs say {keyword} returns a blank value in Performance Max, Demand Gen and DSA. The utm_term advice everyone still repeats is a Search-only rule.
Pinterest Ads UTM Tracking: The Macros That Work
Pinterest auto-tags ads from three separate settings, uses single curly braces, and one macro that every guide copies doesn't exist. The verified list.
Why Your Link Clicks Don't Match GA4 Sessions
Your link tool says 400 clicks. GA4 says 120 sessions. Most of that gap is security scanners pre-clicking your email, and only one tool filters them out.
utm_id: What GA4 Actually Does With It
The top-ranking guide says GA4 ignores utm_id and that cost import requires it. Google's own docs say the opposite on both. What utm_id is really for.
Microsoft Ads Auto-Tagging Rewrites Your UTMs
Microsoft's auto-tagging adds real utm_ parameters, not just a click ID, and its utm_content means ad group. Two settings, one collision, one September change.
GA4 (not set) Campaigns: The Four Real Causes
(not set) isn't (direct)/(none), and it isn't Unassigned. Only one of the three is a real failure. Google's four documented causes, and how to tell them apart.
Your Client Report Is Only as Honest as Your Tags
Agency dashboards make weak data look authoritative. Here's the tagging layer underneath a client report, and a 20-minute audit to run before you send it.
LinkedIn Ads UTM Tracking: The Macros Changed
LinkedIn renamed its ad hierarchy in October 2025 and the dynamic UTM macros moved with it. Here are the current 8, and the one tag that changed meaning.
UTMs Get Lost at Checkout. Here's Why
Your campaign drove the sale and the report credits direct. Here's where checkout eats your UTM parameters, and the Shopify deadline landing August 26, 2026.
Campaign URL Tracking: What Happens After the Click
Campaign URL tracking explained layer by layer: what UTMs capture, what click logs see, where sessions come from, and where each one quietly breaks.
GA4 Bot Traffic From China and Singapore, Explained
Hundreds of GA4 users from Singapore and China you never earned? The bot wave is real, Google hasn't fixed it, and here's how to keep reporting clean.
Google Ads Auto-Tagging and UTMs: Run Both
Auto-tagging gives you gclid. Manual UTMs give you readable reports. Here's the final URL suffix that runs both, and the GA4 toggle that decides which one wins.
How to Track Reddit Ads with UTM Parameters
Reddit ads traffic lands in GA4 as a referral mess. The UTM convention that keeps paid, organic and dark Reddit traffic from blurring together.
Link Rot Is Quietly Breaking Your Old Marketing
Link rot killed 38% of the web from 2013. Your printed QR codes, old emails and bio links are pointing at some of it. Here's how to audit and fix them.
Do UTM Parameters Expire? What GA4 Actually Remembers
UTM parameters never expire, but GA4's memory of them does. Four separate clocks decide how long your campaign attribution actually survives.
How to Track ChatGPT and Perplexity Traffic
AI assistants are sending real traffic and most of it hides in your direct bucket. How to see ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude referrals in GA4.
Bitly Alternatives in 2026 (an Honest List)
Leaving Bitly over interstitial ads or pricing? An honest look at Dub, Rebrandly, Short.io, TinyURL and Attri, including who should just stay put.
Campaign Measurement Without Cookies
Safari caps cookies at 7 days, consent banners gut your tracking, and third-party cookies are on life support. What still measures reliably: the click.
Does "How Did You Hear About Us" Actually Work?
Self-reported attribution catches what UTMs miss and lies in ways UTMs don't. How to design the field, where to put it, and how to read the answers.
Dark Social: Where Your Direct Traffic Comes From
Most content sharing happens in DMs, Slack and WhatsApp where referrers die. You can't track the share, but you can track the click. Here's the playbook.
Getting UTMs Into Your CRM (and Keeping Them There)
The lead converted, the deal closed, and nobody knows which campaign started it. How to capture UTM parameters into HubSpot or Salesforce hidden fields.
How to Track Podcast Sponsorships
Podcast ads convert through ears, not clicks. Vanity URLs, promo codes and lift analysis, the three-layer setup that shows if a show is working.
Tracking Links vs Promo Codes for Influencer Campaigns
Promo codes undercount influencer conversions and tracking links die in bios. How to run both so creator attribution actually adds up.
Newsletter Tracking When Open Rates Are Dead
Apple killed open rates in 2021 and email marketers are still quoting them. How to measure a newsletter on clicks, the metric that survived.
Your Email Platform's Default UTMs Are Breaking GA4
Klaviyo, Mailchimp and HubSpot each auto-tag email links with different UTM defaults. Left unchecked, they fragment your GA4 email channel.
The utm_medium Values GA4 Actually Accepts
GA4 buckets traffic as Unassigned when utm_medium doesn't match its channel rules. The mapping table Google scattered across help docs, in one place.
Why Facebook Ads and GA4 Never Match
Meta says 90 conversions, GA4 says 34. Neither is lying. Here's why the numbers never match and which one to trust for which decision.
Your UTM Spreadsheet Is Lying to You
A UTM tracking spreadsheet documents intent. It can't enforce anything. Why every UTM spreadsheet drifts into chaos and what governance actually requires.
Do Short Links Hurt Email Deliverability?
Generic short links can land your email in spam. Here's why Gmail distrusts shared shortener domains and what to use in email instead.
Click IDs vs UTMs: What gclid and fbclid Actually Do
gclid, fbclid, ttclid, msclkid. What click IDs do, how they differ from UTM parameters, and whether you should run both. Short answer: yes, carefully.
Why Is My GA4 Traffic Showing as Direct?
Half your GA4 traffic says (direct)/(none) and you know that's wrong. The six real causes of direct traffic inflation and how to fix each one.
Custom Domains for Short Links: Worth the Setup?
Branded short links get 39% more clicks. But is a custom domain worth the effort? Here's the real cost, the real benefit, and how to decide.
Add Form Capture to Any Site Without a Backend
You don't need a server to collect form submissions. A plain HTML form and a submission endpoint is all it takes. Here's how.
Why Your GA4 Data Is Messy (and How to Fix It)
Duplicate sources, (not set) campaigns, and inflated session counts. Here's what causes messy GA4 data and how to clean it up.
How to Set Up UTM Naming Conventions That Actually Stick
A naming convention doc doesn't work if nobody reads it. Here's how to build UTM conventions that enforce themselves.
What Is Link Attribution (and Why Marketers Keep Getting It Wrong)
Link attribution connects a click to a business outcome. Most teams stop at the click. Here's what the full chain looks like and why it matters.
QR Codes for Campaign Tracking: The Offline Link You Can Measure
QR codes bridge offline and online marketing. Here's how to track them with UTM parameters and what data you actually get back.
The Best Campaign Tracking Tools in 2026 (Honest Takes)
We looked at the most popular campaign tracking and link management tools. Here's what each one does well, where it falls short, and who it's actually for.
Free UTM Builder Template (and When to Graduate)
Download our free UTM tracking spreadsheet: dropdown-enforced sources, GA4-safe mediums, auto-built URLs. Plus honest reviews of the other templates.
UTM Parameters and SEO: What Marketers Get Wrong
UTM parameters can create duplicate content issues if you're not careful. Here's how they interact with SEO and what to do about it.
Short URLs vs Long URLs: Does It Actually Matter?
Short URLs get more clicks, are easier to share, and give you tracking data. But there are tradeoffs. Here's what marketers should actually know.
UTM Tracking Mistakes That Wreck Your Data (and How to Fix Them)
The most common UTM tracking mistakes we see across hundreds of marketing teams. Case sensitivity, internal tagging, naming chaos, and more.
UTM Parameters: What They Are, How to Use Them, and When Not To
The only UTM guide you need. What each parameter does, when to use which ones, real use cases by channel, and the mistakes that wreck your analytics.
How to Track a Marketing Campaign (Start Here)
A practical system for tracking marketing campaigns from scratch. Goals, channels, UTM conventions, and the tools to tie it together.
Introducing Attri
Short links, UTM governance, and revenue attribution in one platform. Built on what we learned from CampaignTracker.
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