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How to Properly Tag URLs for the Best Accurate Marketing Channel Attribution

A complete guide to correctly tagging URLs with UTM parameters to ensure accurate marketing channel attribution within TickX IQ.

This guide explains how to correctly tag URLs using UTM parameters so TickX IQ can accurately allocate marketing channels and attribute revenue. It covers best-practice tagging for Paid Search, Display, Email, Affiliates, Organic Search, Organic Social, Paid Social, SMS, Referral, Direct, and Lottery traffic. Includes examples of valid UTM structures, definitions of each channel, referring domain logic, and how last-click attribution maps traffic in the IQ Platform. Use this to ensure clean, reliable, and actionable marketing data.

Overview

Marketing channel allocation is crucial for accurately tracking revenue on each order within IQ. Properly tagging your URLs ensures that traffic is categorised correctly, enabling precise attribution of marketing efforts and ROI measurement. This guide outlines the best practices for tagging your URLs so that they align with our channel categorisation logic.

Why Marketing Channel Allocation Matters

Accurate marketing channel allocation helps you:

  • Track revenue attribution for every order in IQ Platform
  • Optimise marketing spend by understanding which channels drive the most revenue.
  • Identify high-performing and underperforming campaigns.
  • Improve reporting accuracy and decision-making.

By following these tagging guidelines, you ensure that your marketing data is clean, structured, and actionable.

UTM Parameters to Use

When tagging URLs, use the following UTM parameters:

  • utm_source: Identifies where the traffic is coming from (e.g., Google, Facebook, Newsletter).
  • utm_medium: Specifies the marketing medium (e.g., cpc, email, display).
  • utm_campaign: The campaign name or identifier.
  • utm_term: Typically used for paid search to track keywords.
  • utm_content: Differentiates between variations of the same ad.
Channel-Specific Tagging Guidelines

1. Paid Search

Description: Paid search refers to traffic from paid advertising on search engines like Google and Bing. These are typically pay-per-click (PPC) ads.

Ensure that either utm_medium or utm_source contains one of the following:

  • utm_medium: cpc, google, pmax, performancemax, perfmax, performance-max, ppc
  • utm_source: cpc, google, pmax, performancemax, perfmax, paidsearch, performance-max, ppc

Example URL:

https://example.com?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring_sale

2. Display Ads

Description: Display advertising includes banner ads, video ads, and other visual media placements across websites and apps.

Use the following values:

  • utm_medium: display, banner, dv360
  • Referring domains that indicate display ads: doubleclick, outbrain, taboola, criteo, adroll, revcontent

Example URL:

https://example.com?utm_source=doubleclick&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=retargeting

3. Email Marketing

Description: Email marketing involves direct communication with customers through email campaigns, newsletters, and automated email sequences.

Ensure utm_medium or utm_source is tagged as follows:

  • utm_medium: email
  • utm_source: mailchimp, klaviyo, substack, directmail, marketingcloud, newsletter, eml, email

Example URL:

https://example.com?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=holiday_promo

4. Affiliate Marketing

Description: Affiliate marketing drives traffic through third-party partners who earn a commission on referred sales.

Use these values to ensure correct tracking:

  • utm_medium: affiliate
  • utm_source: affiliate
  • Referring domains: cj.com, impact.com, awin.com, rakuten, shareasale, pepperjam, partnerize, tradedoubler

Example URL:

https://example.com?utm_source=awin&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=summer_deals

5. Organic Search

Description: Organic search traffic comes from unpaid search engine results.

No UTM parameters required. Identified via referring domains such as:

  • google, bing, yahoo, duckduckgo, baidu, yandex, aol, ask.com

6. Organic Social

Description: Organic social traffic comes from unpaid posts, shares, and links on social media platforms.

Triggered only by referring domains without UTM parameters:

  • facebook, instagram, twitter, linkedin, tiktok, pinterest, reddit, snapchat, youtube

Avoid adding UTM parameters for organic social traffic to ensure proper tracking.

7. Paid Social

Description: Paid social traffic comes from advertisements on social media platforms.

Must include UTM parameters:

  • utm_source: facebook, instagram, twitter, linkedin, tiktok, pinterest, reddit, snapchat, social, ig, fb, meta
  • utm_medium: facebook, instagram, twitter, linkedin, tiktok, pinterest, reddit, snapchat, social, ig, fb, meta

Example URL:

https://example.com?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=black_friday

8. SMS Marketing

Description: SMS marketing involves promotional messages sent via text messaging.

Tag URLs as follows:

  • utm_source: sms
  • utm_medium: sms

Example URL:

https://example.com?utm_source=sms&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=flash_sale

9. Direct Traffic

Description: Direct traffic includes visitors who enter your website URL directly or access it via bookmarks.

Direct traffic occurs when:

  • utm_medium = direct
  • utm_source is NULL
  • utm_medium is NULL
  • There is a referring domain, but it does not match known sources

Avoid adding UTM parameters for direct visits.

10. Referral Traffic

Description: Referral traffic comes from third-party websites linking to your site.

Traffic is categorised as referral if:

  • utm_medium: referral
  • utm_source: referral
  • The referring domain is present but does not match search engines, social platforms, display ad providers, or affiliate networks.

Example URL:

https://example.com?utm_source=partnerblog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=guest_post

11. Lottery Campaigns

Description: Lottery campaigns drive traffic through promotions and giveaways.

Use the following UTM parameters for lottery-related campaigns:

  • utm_medium: lottery
  • utm_source: lottery

Example URL:

https://example.com?utm_source=lottery&utm_medium=lottery&utm_campaign=win_big

12. Other Traffic

If a visit does not fit any of the above categories, it will be classified as Other. Ensure your UTM parameters are set correctly to avoid traffic falling into this bucket.

Final Best Practices

By following these best practices, you ensure accurate marketing channel attribution, leading to better insights and optimisation of your sales strategy within the IQ Platform.