Glossary · Traffic sources & UTMs
What is utm_medium?
utm_medium is the UTM parameter that describes the type of marketing channel that sent a visit — such as email, cpc, social, referral or affiliate — and is what most tools use to assign the visit to a channel group.
Also called: UTM medium, Campaign medium
Updated
Standard utm_medium values
Channel grouping rules match on medium, so the exact value matters. Google Analytics 4, for example, sends a visit to Paid Search when the medium matches cpc, ppc, paid or paidsearch and the source is a search engine, and to Email when the medium (or source) is email, e-mail, e_mail or e mail. Values outside the expected list often land in "Unassigned."
| Channel | Recommended utm_medium |
|---|---|
| Paid search | cpc |
| Paid social | paid_social or cpc with a social source |
| Email / newsletter | email |
| Organic social posts | social |
| Partner or guest post | referral |
| Affiliates | affiliate |
| Display ads | display |
utm_medium example
A team tags its newsletter with utm_medium=newsletter instead of email. In GA4 those visits fall into Unassigned instead of Email, and the email channel looks 40% smaller than it is. Changing the medium to email (and keeping utm_source=newsletter) fixes the report going forward — historical data stays as it was.
Why utm_medium matters
Medium is the bridge between individual campaigns and channel-level decisions. It's how "which channel deserves more budget?" gets answered — but only if every link in a channel uses the same value.
Common utm_medium mistakes
- Using the source as the medium (
utm_medium=facebook). - Several spellings for one channel:
email,Email,e-mail,newsletter. - Tagging organic social posts as
cpc, which inflates paid numbers. - Leaving medium off entirely — many tools then can't classify the visit beyond its source.
How VisitTrack uses utm_medium
VisitTrack stores utm_medium on each session alongside source and campaign and shows it in the campaign breakdown; the first-touch medium is kept with each attributed payment. When a landing URL carries an ad click id and no medium, VisitTrack sets the medium to paid so ad traffic isn't mistaken for organic. Generate consistent values with the UTM builder.
Frequently asked questions
What should utm_medium be for email?
Use email. It's the value channel-grouping rules in Google Analytics and most other tools expect; put the newsletter's name in utm_source instead.
What should utm_medium be for paid social ads?
Use a paid value such as paid_social, or cpc with the social network as the source, so the visits are grouped as paid social rather than organic social.
Related terms
- UTM parametersUTM parameters are five standard query-string tags — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content — added to a link so analytics tools can attribute the visit to a specific source, channel and campaign.
- utm_sourceutm_source is the UTM parameter that identifies the specific site, platform or publisher that sent a visit — for example google, newsletter, x or a partner's name.
- Channel groupingChannel grouping is the set of rules an analytics tool uses to sort every visit into a marketing channel — such as direct, organic search, paid search, social, email or referral — based on its referrer, UTM parameters and ad click ids.
- utm_campaignutm_campaign is the UTM parameter that names the specific campaign, launch or promotion a link belongs to, so visits and conversions from every channel in that campaign can be grouped together.
- Click IDA click ID is a unique identifier that an ad platform or social network appends to a link's URL when someone clicks it — such as gclid for Google Ads, fbclid for Meta or twclid for X — so the click can be matched to a later conversion.
Tools and guides
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