Channel Detection

AttributionHub classifies every visit into one of 20+ channel groups using a priority-based detection algorithm. The classification follows Google Analytics 4 channel definitions  and extends them with additional channels.

Channel Groups

Detection Priority

The channel detection algorithm evaluates rules in a specific order. The first matching rule wins:

1. Cross-network — utm_campaign = cross-network
2. Mobile Push Notifications — utm_medium = mobile_push_notifications
3. Paid Shopping — paid signal + shopping medium keywords
4. Paid Social — paid signal + social medium keywords
5. Paid Video — paid signal + video medium keywords
6. Display — paid signal + display/banner/cpm medium
7. Paid Search — paid signal + known search engine source
8. Paid Social (by source) — paid signal + known social network source
9. Paid Video (by source) — paid signal + known video platform source
10. Paid Shopping (by source) — paid signal + known shopping source
11. Paid by landing domain — paid signal + landing domain type
12. Paid Shopping (by campaign) — paid signal + “shop” in campaign name
13. Paid Search (by gad_source) — gad_source=1 parameter present
14. Paid Video (by campaign) — paid signal + “video” in campaign name
15. Direct — no referrer, no UTM parameters, no click IDs
16. Click ID inference — channel derived from click ID type (e.g., fbclid implies Meta)
17. Source-based classification — channel derived from utm_source domain type
18. AI Referral — referrer from a known AI assistant domain
19. Referrer-based classification — channel derived from referrer domain type
20. Medium-based classification — channel derived from utm_medium value
21. Paid Other — paid signal but no specific channel matched
22. Referral — external referrer present but unclassified
23. Unknown — no signals available to classify

Recognized Sources

Search Engines (200+)

AttributionHub recognizes over 200 search engines, including:

• Global: Google (all country TLDs), Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Yandex
• Privacy-focused: Brave Search, Ecosia, StartPage, Qwant, Mojeek
• Regional: Naver (Korea), Daum (Korea), Seznam (Czech Republic), Sogou (China)
• Specialized: Kagi, Presearch, Perplexity, Ask, AOL

Social Networks (80+)

Over 80 social networks are recognized, including:

• Major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube
• Emerging: Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon (40+ instances)
• Messaging: WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack
• Professional: GitHub, StackOverflow, Hacker News
• Content: Medium, Quora, Tumblr, Vimeo, Twitch

AI Assistants (18+)

Traffic from AI platforms is classified as “AI Referral”:

• Chat AI: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Grok, Deepseek
• Search AI: Perplexity, You.com, iAsk
• Writing AI: Jasper, Writesonic
• Regional AI: Baidu AI, Qwen, ChatGLM, Le Chat (Mistral)
• Other: Meta AI, NotebookLM

Click ID Detection

When ad click IDs are present in the URL, AttributionHub can infer the advertising platform:

Examples