Track ads and referral links
See Google Ads, Meta, and ref links as sources, with no UTM tags.
Dodolytics finds the source of a visit from the referrer and from UTM
tags. It also reads two more things in the address of the first page:
a ref tag, and the click ID that ad platforms add to
their links.
Referral links with ref
Add ref (or via) to a link that you share:
https://example.com/?ref=producthunt
The visit then shows with the source producthunt on the
Sources report, in the Referral channel. If the visit also has a
search engine or a social network as its referrer, that channel is
used. A ref value can have up to 100 letters, numbers,
dots, dashes, underscores, and spaces.
The same rule applies to a link with only utm_source
and no utm_medium.
Ad clicks
Ad platforms add a click ID to the address when a person clicks an ad. Dodolytics sees which one it is, and sets the source:
| Click ID | Source | Channel |
|---|---|---|
gclid, gbraid, wbraid | Paid | |
msclkid | Bing | Paid |
ttclid | TikTok | Paid |
twclid | X | Paid |
li_fat_id | Paid | |
fbclid | Social |
The script sends only the name of the click ID, never its value. The value identifies one click, and Dodolytics does not store it.
Meta ads: Facebook adds fbclid to
every link that leaves Facebook, also to normal posts. So it shows
as Social, not Paid. To see your Meta ads as Paid, add UTM tags to
the ads, with utm_medium=paid.
Which one wins
- UTM tags. If the address has
utm_sourceorutm_medium, Dodolytics uses them and ignores the rest. - A click ID.
- A
reforviatag. - The referrer.
Dodolytics reads ref, via, and click IDs
from 2 November 2026. Visits from before that date keep the source
that they had, with one exception: an old visit with only
utm_source and no referrer now shows with that source,
in the Referral channel. Before, it showed as Direct.
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