Glossary
A reference of marketing attribution terms, technical concepts, and platform-specific terminology used throughout AttributionHub.
A
Ad Click ID
A unique identifier appended to a URL by an advertising platform when a user clicks an ad. Used to track the visit back to the specific ad click. Examples include gclid (Google), fbclid (Meta), and msclkid (Microsoft). AttributionHub detects these automatically and uses them as paid-traffic signals.
Affiliate
A channel group for traffic from affiliate or partner programs. Detected when utm_medium is affiliate or partnership.
AI Referral
A channel group for traffic originating from AI assistants and chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Grok, and Deepseek. Detected by matching the referrer domain against a list of known AI platforms.
Append Mode
A rules engine mode where default channel detection runs first, then custom rules are evaluated and can override or enhance the result.
Attribution
The process of identifying which marketing channels, campaigns, and touchpoints contribute to a customer conversion. Answers the question: “How did this customer find us?”
Attribution Fields (GA4-like)
Detailed, GA4-compliant marketing attribution fields stored under attribution.* in each touch. Includes channelGroup, source, sourceDomain, sourcePlatform, campaign, medium, mediumDetail, content, contentDetail, term, and isPaid. See Field Reference for the complete list.
Attribution Gap
The disconnect between aggregate analytics data (e.g., “500 visitors came from Google Ads”) and individual lead attribution (e.g., “This specific lead came from the spring_sale campaign”). AttributionHub bridges this gap by writing attribution data directly into form submissions.
Attribution Pipeline
The four-stage process that runs on every page load:
- Detect — read URL params, referrer, and click IDs
- Classify — determine the channel group
- Store — save the touch snapshot to localStorage
- Populate — fill form fields with attribution data
Audio
A channel group for traffic from audio or podcast campaigns. Detected when utm_medium is audio.
C
Campaign
The specific marketing campaign that drove a visit. Derived from utm_campaign when present; otherwise a channel-specific default is applied. Stored in attribution.campaign.
Channel Group
The top-level classification of a traffic source into one of 20+ standardized categories (e.g., Paid Search, Organic Social, Direct, Email, Referral). Follows Google Analytics 4 channel definitions. See Channel Detection for all supported channels.
Channel Detection
The priority-based algorithm that classifies each visit into a channel group by evaluating rules in order: cross-network signals, medium keywords, paid signals, click IDs, source/referrer matching, and fallback rules.
Content
A derived attribution field classifying the type of content that drove the visit (e.g., “Paid Search Ad”, “Social Post”, “Direct Visit”). Stored in attribution.content.
Content Detail
A more specific content descriptor derived from UTM parameters (utm_term, utm_content) or the landing pathname. Stored in attribution.contentDetail.
Conversion
An event triggered when a user submits a form. AttributionHub captures conversion metadata including timestamp, URL, path, event name, target ID, and days to convert.
Conversion Fields
Form fields prefixed with ah_conv_ that capture conversion metadata: ah_conv_timestamp, ah_conv_url, ah_conv_path, ah_conv_event_name, ah_conv_target_id, ah_conv_days_to_convert.
Cross-Network
A channel group for cross-network campaigns. Detected when utm_campaign contains cross-network.
Custom Fields
User-defined URL parameters configured via settings.customFields that are captured and stored alongside standard attribution data. Populated into forms with prefixes like ah_lt_custom_{fieldname}. See Custom Rules Engine for details.
D
Days to Convert
The number of days between a visitor’s first visit and their form submission. Stored as ah_conv_days_to_convert.
Direct
A channel group assigned when a visit has no referrer, no UTM parameters, and no click IDs. Typically indicates the visitor typed the URL directly, used a bookmark, or the referrer was stripped. Direct visits update the latest touch but do not overwrite first or latestNonDirect.
Display
A channel group for banner and display advertising. Detected when a paid signal is present along with display/banner/CPM medium keywords.
Drill-Down Fields
A compact, hierarchical set of 4 attribution fields (channel, drillDown1, drillDown2, drillDown3) similar to PostHog. Enables progressive filtering from broad channel to specific campaign details. The meaning of each drill-down level varies by channel group.
E
A channel group for email marketing traffic. Detected when utm_medium is email (or variants like e-mail, e_mail) or when the source is a known email platform.
Exclude-Direct Model
The model used for first-touch attribution where Direct visits are excluded. The first touch remains null until the visitor’s first non-direct visit, ensuring the first touch captures the actual marketing source.
F
fbclid
Facebook/Meta Click ID. A URL parameter appended by Meta’s advertising platform (Facebook, Instagram) when a user clicks an ad.
Field Mapping
The configuration that maps internal attribution data paths (e.g., latest.attribution.source) to form field names (e.g., ah_lt_source). Can be customized via settings.fieldMapping. See Configuration for details.
First Touch
The first non-direct visit a visitor makes. Uses the exclude-direct model: remains null until a non-direct visit occurs, then is locked permanently and never overwritten. Form fields use the ah_ft_ prefix. If first is null at form population time, resolveForDisplay() falls back to latest.
Form Population
The process of discovering forms on a page and filling matching hidden fields with attribution data. Supports dynamic pages via retry logic and DOM observation (MutationObserver for SPA support). See Form Integrations.
G
GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
Google’s analytics platform whose channel grouping conventions AttributionHub follows for traffic classification.
gad_source
A Google Ads parameter that, when present in the URL, signals paid traffic from Google. Specifically, gad_source=1 indicates a Google Ads paid search click.
gbraid
A Google Ads privacy-safe click ID used for web-to-app attribution. Serves as a paid-traffic signal when the traditional gclid cannot be used due to privacy restrictions.
gclid
Google Click ID. A URL parameter appended by Google Ads when a user clicks an ad. The most common ad click ID and a strong paid-traffic signal.
H
Hidden Fields
HTML form fields (<input type="hidden">) that AttributionHub populates with attribution data. These fields are invisible to the user but included in form submissions, passing attribution data to the CRM or backend.
Hostname Normalization
The process of stripping identity-preserving prefixes (www., m., mobile., search., l., lm.) from hostnames to normalize referrer and landing URLs for consistent matching.
I
Internal Navigation
When a visitor navigates between pages on the same domain. During internal navigation, the latest touch is preserved with a previousPageURL update rather than creating a new touch.
isPaid
A boolean field indicating whether a visit is from paid traffic. Set to true when any paid signal is detected: paid medium keywords (cpc, ppc, display, etc.), medium starting with “paid”, any ad click ID, or gad_source presence.
L
Landing Page Group
A grouped representation of the landing URL path. Set to / if 0-1 path segments exist, or /{segment1}/{segment2}/ if 2+ segments exist. Useful for aggregating traffic by page category.
Landing Path
The pathname portion of the landing URL (e.g., /pricing, /blog/article-name).
Landing URL
The URL where a visitor landed, captured in two forms: base URL (origin + pathname, no query params) and full URL (including query string and hash).
Latest Non-Direct Touch
The most recent visit from an external (non-direct) marketing source. Preserved across direct revisits, providing the best view of which marketing effort most recently influenced the visitor. Form fields use the ah_lnd_ prefix.
Latest Touch
The most recent visit of any type, including Direct. Updated on every page load. Form fields use the ah_lt_ prefix.
Lead
In AttributionHub’s billing context, a lead is counted each time a form submission includes AttributionHub attribution data. Multiple submissions from the same visitor count as separate leads.
li_fat_id
LinkedIn First-Party Ad Tracking ID. A URL parameter appended by LinkedIn Ads when a user clicks an ad.
localStorage
A browser-based key-value storage mechanism used by AttributionHub to persist attribution data across page loads and sessions. Does not expire and is not sent to servers automatically (unlike cookies). Data is origin-scoped and stored under the attrhub key.
M
Medium
A derived classification of the type of traffic (e.g., paid, organic, social, email, referral, direct). Not always equal to utm_medium; the script applies rules to normalize and override the raw value based on context.
Medium Detail
A subtype of the medium providing additional granularity (e.g., search, display, video). Stored in attribution.mediumDetail.
Mobile Push Notifications
A channel group for traffic from mobile push notification campaigns. Detected when utm_medium is mobile_push_notifications.
msclkid
Microsoft Click ID. A URL parameter appended by Microsoft Ads (Bing Ads) when a user clicks an ad.
Multi-Touch Attribution
An attribution model where conversion credit is distributed across multiple touchpoints in the customer journey. AttributionHub captures the data needed for multi-touch analysis by storing first, latest, and latest-non-direct touches.
N
Non-Direct
Any traffic that is not classified as Direct. Includes all visits with a recognized referrer, UTM parameters, or click IDs. The first and latestNonDirect touches only capture non-direct visits.
O
Organic Search
A channel group for unpaid traffic from search engines. Detected when the referrer is a known search engine domain and no paid signals are present. Recognizes 200+ search engines including Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Yandex, and Brave Search.
Organic Shopping
A channel group for unpaid traffic from shopping platforms. Detected when the referrer is a known shopping platform and no paid signals are present.
Organic Social
A channel group for unpaid traffic from social media platforms. Detected when the referrer is a known social network and no paid signals are present. Recognizes 80+ social networks including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Reddit, and Mastodon instances.
Organic Video
A channel group for unpaid traffic from video platforms. Detected when the referrer is a known video platform (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo) and no paid signals are present.
P
Paid Other
A channel group for paid traffic that does not match any specific paid channel classification. Assigned when a paid signal is present but no specific channel rule matches.
Paid Search
A channel group for paid advertising on search engines (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads). Detected when a paid signal is present along with a search engine source or gad_source=1.
Paid Shopping
A channel group for shopping and product listing ads. Detected when a paid signal is present along with a shopping medium or “shop” in the campaign name.
Paid Social
A channel group for paid advertising on social media platforms (Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok Ads). Detected when a paid signal is present along with a social network source.
Paid Traffic
Any visit where a paid signal is detected. Paid signals include: medium keywords (cpc, ppc, cpm, display, banner, retargeting, sem, boosted, influencer, native), medium starting with paid, any ad click ID, or gad_source parameter.
Paid Video
A channel group for paid video advertising. Detected when a paid signal is present along with a video platform source or “video” in the campaign name.
Prepend Mode
The default rules engine mode where custom rules are evaluated first. If a rule matches, its overrides are applied. If no rule matches, default channel detection runs as fallback.
Previous Page URL
The URL of the previous page during internal navigation. Stored only for latest and latestNonDirect touches to track intra-site navigation paths.
Priority (Rules)
A numeric value determining rule evaluation order. Lower numbers are evaluated first (higher priority). Default priority is 100.
Push
A channel group for push notification traffic. Detected when utm_medium contains push-related signals.
R
Raw UTMs
The unprocessed UTM parameter values captured directly from the URL query string. Stored separately from derived attribution fields. Key-lowercased and value-trimmed but otherwise unmodified.
Referral
A channel group for traffic from external websites that link to your site but don’t match any other classification. Detected when an external referrer is present without UTMs or other recognizable signals.
Referrer
The URL of the page that linked the visitor to the current page, accessible via document.referrer. A key input for attribution classification. May be empty (typed URL, bookmark, HTTPS-to-HTTP, or stripped by privacy settings).
Replace Mode
A rules engine mode where only custom rules are used and default channel detection is entirely skipped. Unmatched traffic gets the channel “Unknown”.
resolveForDisplay()
A function that guarantees all touch types are non-null before form population. If first is null (direct-only visitors), it substitutes latest so that ah_ft_* form fields are always populated.
Rule
A user-defined configuration in the rules engine containing conditions and a result. When conditions match the current page load context, the result overrides attribution fields.
Rule Condition
A test evaluated against the current page load context. Each condition specifies a field (e.g., utmMedium), an operator (e.g., equals, contains, matches), and a value. Multiple conditions can be combined with AND/OR/NOT logic.
Rule Context
The set of data available for rule condition evaluation, including UTM parameters, landing hostname, referrer hostname, click IDs, hasClickId, isPaid, and gadSource.
Rules Engine
A configurable system allowing marketers to customize attribution classification via settings.fieldRules without code changes. Supports three modes (prepend, append, replace) and evaluates rules with priority ordering and condition operators. See Custom Rules Engine.
S
SMS
A channel group for text message campaign traffic. Detected when utm_medium ends with sms.
snapclid
Snapchat Click ID. A URL parameter appended by Snapchat Ads when a user clicks an ad.
Source
The name of the traffic source, derived with precedence: (1) utm_source if present, (2) referrer domain mapping, (3) “Direct” as fallback. Examples: “Google”, “Facebook”, “Newsletter”, “Direct”.
Source Domain
The normalized referrer hostname (e.g., google.com, facebook.com). Set to None when no referrer is present.
Source Platform
A label representing the ad platform for paid traffic or the traffic-type label for organic traffic (e.g., “Google Ads”, “Meta Ads”, “Organic Search”). Derived from click IDs, gad_source, utm_source_platform, or domain type fallback.
stopProcessing
A flag in a rule result that, when true, prevents further rules from being evaluated. In prepend mode, it also prevents default detection from running.
T
Touch
An attribution snapshot captured at a single point in time (page load). Contains a timestamp, landing URL, referrer URL, GA4-like attribution fields, drill-down fields, raw UTMs, ad click IDs, and optional custom fields.
Touch Count
The total number of recorded visits (page loads) for a visitor. Stored globally and populated into the ah_touch_count form field.
ttclid
TikTok Click ID. A URL parameter appended by TikTok Ads when a user clicks an ad.
twclid
Twitter/X Click ID. A URL parameter appended by Twitter/X Ads when a user clicks an ad.
U
Unknown
A channel group assigned when no detection rules match the current visit.
UTM Parameters
Urchin Tracking Module parameters added to URLs to identify traffic sources. The standard set:
utm_source— where traffic comes from (e.g.,google,newsletter)utm_medium— the marketing medium (e.g.,cpc,email,social)utm_campaign— the specific campaign (e.g.,spring_sale)utm_content— differentiates ad variants (e.g.,banner_a)utm_term— the paid search keyword (e.g.,running shoes)
V
Visitor ID
A unique UUID generated on a visitor’s first page load and persisted in localStorage. Used for visitor deduplication across form submissions. Stored as ah_visitor_id.
W
wbraid
A Google Ads privacy-safe click ID used for app-to-web attribution. Serves as a paid-traffic signal alongside gclid and gbraid.