Standard Channel Source Medium Mapping

Why this matters

Channel mapping turns messy UTM values into clear marketing channels you can trust in reports. As a Marketing Analyst, you will: diagnose channel performance, reconcile platforms vs analytics numbers, attribute revenue to the right teams, and spot tagging gaps fast. A robust mapping is the backbone of clean dashboards, cohort analysis, MMM inputs, and budgeting decisions.

Who this is for

• Marketing Analysts and Growth Analysts
• Performance marketers who build dashboards
• Marketing ops specialists defining UTM standards

Prerequisites

• Basic understanding of UTM parameters (source, medium, campaign)
• Familiarity with common channels (Search, Social, Email, Referral, Direct)
• Comfort reading simple rules/regex patterns (helpful but not required)

Concept explained simply

Standard channel mapping is a set of rules that converts utm_source and utm_medium into a small, agreed list of channels. For example, utm_source=google and utm_medium=cpc becomes Paid Search. The goal is consistency: different teams can use different words, but your rules translate them into the same, reliable channel.

Recommended standard channels

• Direct
• Organic Search
• Paid Search
• Organic Social
• Paid Social
• Display
• Video (Paid)
• Email
• Referral
• Affiliates
• Influencer
• SMS
• Push
• Audio/Podcast
• Marketplaces
• Partnerships
• Other (Unclassified)

Deterministic mapping rules (with precedence)

Always normalize first: lowercase all UTM values, trim spaces, standardize separators (e.g., replace "+" with spaces if needed), and remove accidental trailing punctuation.

Apply rules in this order to avoid misclassification:

1. Email: medium in [email, e-mail, edm, newsletter] → Email
2. Paid Social: (medium in [paid_social, social_paid, psp, paidsocial, cpc, cpm, paid]) AND source in [facebook, instagram, meta, tiktok, snapchat, twitter, x, linkedin, pinterest, reddit, quora] → Paid Social
3. Paid Search: (medium in [cpc, ppc, paidsearch, sem]) AND source in [google, bing, yahoo, yandex, baidu, duckduckgo] → Paid Search
4. Organic Social: medium in [social, social-organic, organic_social, share] OR (source in social list AND medium in [organic, social]) → Organic Social
5. Display: medium in [display, banner, programmatic, gdn, dsp] → Display
6. Video (Paid): medium in [video, instream, outstream, pre-roll, preroll, trueview] → Video (Paid)
7. Referral: medium in [referral, partner_referral] → Referral
8. Affiliates: medium in [affiliate, affiliates, aff] → Affiliates
9. Influencer: medium in [influencer, creator, ambassador] → Influencer
10. SMS: medium in [sms, text, message] → SMS
11. Push: medium in [push, push_notification, webpush, app_push] → Push
12. Audio/Podcast: medium in [audio, podcast, radio] → Audio/Podcast
13. Marketplaces: medium in [marketplace, marketplaces] OR source in [amazon, ebay, etsy] → Marketplaces
14. Partnerships: medium in [partner, partnership, co-marketing, comarketing] → Partnerships
15. Organic Search: source in [google, bing, yahoo, yandex, baidu, duckduckgo] AND medium in [organic, search, seo] → Organic Search
16. Direct: medium in [direct, none, (not set)] OR (no utm_source and no utm_medium and no referrer) → Direct
17. Other: anything else → Other

Worked examples

1. utm_source=google, utm_medium=cpc
   Rule: Paid Search (search engine + paid medium).
   Channel: Paid Search
2. utm_source=instagram, utm_medium=cpc
   Rule: Paid Social (social source + paid medium).
   Channel: Paid Social
3. utm_source=newsletter, utm_medium=email
   Rule: Email (explicit medium).
   Channel: Email
4. utm_source=facebook, utm_medium=social
   Rule: Organic Social (social source + organic medium).
   Channel: Organic Social
5. utm_source=partner-site, utm_medium=referral
   Rule: Referral (explicit medium).
   Channel: Referral
6. utm_source=gdn, utm_medium=display
   Rule: Display (explicit medium).
   Channel: Display

Build your mapping in 5 steps

1. List standard channels you will support (keep under 18).
2. Normalize UTM values (lowercase, trim, standardize synonyms).
3. Write precedence-ordered rules (paid vs organic, then by ecosystem).
4. Test on a sample of historic UTMs and fix collisions.
5. Document with examples and publish to your marketing team.

Exercises

These mirror the tasks below the lesson. Do them here, then submit in the Exercises section for checking. Progress saving: anyone can take the exercises; only logged-in users will see saved progress.

Exercise 1: Map these UTMs to channels

Decide the channel for each combo (assume values are normalized):

• 1) source=google, medium=cpc
• 2) source=instagram, medium=cpc
• 3) source=newsletter, medium=email
• 4) source=bing, medium=organic
• 5) source=facebook, medium=social
• 6) source=partnerblog, medium=referral
• 7) source=gdn, medium=display
• 8) source=creator-jane, medium=influencer
• 9) source=sms-provider, medium=sms
• 10) source=unknownsite, medium=paidsocial
• 11) source=amazon, medium=marketplace
• 12) source=direct, medium=none

Exercise 2: Write your precedence

Draft a 10–15 line precedence order that your team can follow. Ensure Paid Social comes before Paid Search for social sources with paid mediums, and Direct is near the end.

Self-check checklist

• All rules are lowercase and trimmed.
• Social sources with cpc map to Paid Social, not Paid Search.
• GDN/programmatic map to Display.
• Organic Search only when medium is organic/search and source is a search engine.
• Direct reserved for no-UTM/no-referrer or explicit “direct”.
• There is a catch-all Other.

Common mistakes and how to self-check

• Misclassifying social cpc as Paid Search. Fix: Paid Social precedence before Paid Search for social sources.
• Letting unknown mediums flow into Direct. Fix: send to Other and review monthly.
• Over-fragmented channels. Fix: collapse to a short list and use campaign/adgroup fields for detail.
• Inconsistent casing. Fix: always lowercase and trim before mapping.
• No collision testing. Fix: run a sample and count how many rows hit each rule; inspect outliers.

Practical projects

• Create a mapping dictionary of common synonyms for your company and publish it.
• Write a one-page mapping spec with precedence, examples, and fallback rules.
• Audit last 90 days of UTMs; reduce Other to under 2% of sessions.

Learning path

• Start: UTM basics and naming conventions.
• This lesson: Channel mapping rules and precedence.
• Next: Campaign naming patterns and brand vs non-brand tagging.
• Later: QA automation and alerting for tagging drift.

Next steps

• Finalize your precedence list.
• Share the standard channels with your marketing team.
• Take the quick test below and fix any weak spots.

Mini challenge

You find utm_source=facebook and utm_medium=ppc sending traffic. Where should it map and why? Write one sentence your team could add to the spec to prevent confusion.

Quick Test

Available to everyone; only logged-in users will see saved progress after submitting.