What is the difference between cpc and ppc in utm_medium?

Both describe paid clicks. Choose one term company-wide; mixing cpc and ppc splits the same channel in reports.

Is social a valid utm_medium?

Yes for organic social. Many teams use paid-social or cpc for paid social to separate earned and paid performance.

When should I use referral as medium?

Use referral when another website sends traffic via a standard link—not ads or email—such as directories, guest posts, or partner homepages.

UTM Medium (utm_medium) — Guide & Examples

utm_medium describes the marketing channel type: how the message reached the user, not just where the link was placed.

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Understanding utm_medium

utm_medium describes the marketing channel or delivery mechanism: cpc for paid search clicks, email for newsletters, social for organic posts, referral for partner links, display for banner networks. While utm_source names the platform, medium categorizes how the message reached the audience.

GA4 and Universal Analytics before it use medium heavily in default channel groupings. A mislabeled medium pushes high-intent paid traffic into organic social buckets, corrupting budget decisions.

Standard medium values marketers use

cpc — paid search and sometimes paid social when following Google conventions
email — lifecycle, newsletters, transactional marketing CTAs
social — organic social posts and bio links
paid-social — distinct paid placement on social networks
referral — external websites linking without paid placement
display — banner and programmatic display
affiliate — commission-based partners when not using referral

Best practices

Publish an allowed-medium list in your tracking plan. New hires should not invent mediums like promo, blast, or ads without approval. Align paid social with finance definitions: if finance calls Meta spend paid social, analytics should not label it cpc unless you merge search and social in reporting intentionally.

Examples table

Channel	utm_medium	Example source
Google Ads	cpc	google
Webinar invite email	email	hubspot
LinkedIn organic post	social	linkedin
Guest blog link	referral	industry_blog

Common mistakes

Using medium for campaign names (medium=spring_sale) destroys channel reports. Mixing cpc and ppc splits paid search. Tagging internal links with any medium rewrites acquisition data mid-session.

Real-world use cases

Multi-channel product launch

Keep utm_campaign constant (product-launch-q2) and vary medium plus source to compare email vs paid social contribution in one exploration.

Agency reporting

Agencies export GA4 data filtered by medium=cpc to prove search management impact without blending organic rankings.

Mapping medium to finance and CRM

Finance often categorizes spend as search, social, or events. Align utm_medium with those buckets so marketing dashboards reconcile with monthly P&L lines without manual remapping. When CRM captures lead source, map CRM picklist values to the same medium strings analytics uses—discrepancies between HubSpot and GA4 slow pipeline reviews.

Organic vs paid: keeping reports honest

Organic social should not use medium=cpc even if you boosted a post from the same handle. Boosted posts belong to paid-social or cpc per your policy. Mislabeling pollutes organic performance narratives and inflates paid efficiency metrics.

Related resources

Build tagged URLs on the homepage UTM builder. Deep dives: GA4 UTM builder, email UTMs, Facebook Ads UTMs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between cpc and ppc in utm_medium?: Both describe paid clicks. Choose one term company-wide; mixing cpc and ppc splits the same channel in reports.
Is social a valid utm_medium?: Yes for organic social. Many teams use paid-social or cpc for paid social to separate earned and paid performance.
When should I use referral as medium?: Use referral when another website sends traffic via a standard link—not ads or email—such as directories, guest posts, or partner homepages.