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Acquisition

The Acquisition tab answers one question: where do your visitors come from?

What you see​

  • Channels and referrers — the sites and platforms that sent traffic (Google, Meta, direct, and so on).
  • UTM source performance — visits and engagement per utm_source, so you can compare campaigns.
  • Geography — top countries and top cities.
  • Technology — devices (desktop, mobile, tablet), browsers, and operating systems.

All cards respect the shared site, page, referrer, and date filters.

Getting good campaign data​

Acquisition is only as good as your links. Tag your ad and email links with UTM parameters:

https://yoursite.com/offer?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=blackfriday
  • Use consistent, lowercase values (meta, not Meta / facebook / fb mixed together).
  • Set UTMs in your ad platform's URL settings so every ad carries them.

Typical uses​

  • Compare which ad platform sends visitors that actually engage.
  • Spot unexpected referrers (affiliates, organic mentions).
  • Check the device split before deciding where to optimize first — mobile-heavy traffic means mobile-first pages.

Frequently asked questions​

Why is so much traffic 'direct'?

Visits without a referrer or UTM are counted as direct. Untagged ad links, links from apps, and privacy settings all increase direct traffic. Tag your links with UTMs to reduce it.

Can I filter other tabs by a traffic source?

Yes. Use the referrer filter in the shared filter bar — it applies across Overview, Acquisition, Behavior, Heatmaps, and Visitors, so you can inspect one source end to end.