Understanding lead sources (Organic, Paid, Direct, Referral)

What each lead source means and how Lead Recorder works out where a lead came from.

Every lead in your dashboard has a source: the channel that brought that visitor to your website. Knowing this shows you which marketing is actually generating enquiries.

Source types

Organic

The visitor found you through an unpaid search result, like Google or Bing. This is your SEO traffic.

Paid

The visitor clicked a paid ad: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, etc. For Google Ads, Lead Recorder detects the gclid/gbraid click ID automatically. For Meta (Facebook/Instagram), it detects the fbclid click ID the same way, no UTM parameters needed. UTM parameters (utm_medium=cpc or utm_medium=paid) work too and are the only option for ad platforms without their own click ID, but they're not required for Google or Meta.

Referral

The visitor came from a link on another website: a directory, a partner site, a social media post. Lead Recorder records the referring domain so you can see exactly which site sent them.

Direct

The visitor typed your URL directly, used a bookmark, or came from a source that didn't pass referrer information. Many email clients fall into this bucket.

How Lead Recorder works out the source

1. 1When a visitor first arrives, the snippet reads the UTM parameters in the URL and the HTTP referrer.
2. 2That source is saved in the visitor's browser so it persists across page visits.
3. 3When they hit your thank you page, the snippet sends that stored source to your dashboard along with the new lead.

UTM parameters for paid traffic

For accurate paid attribution, make sure your ad URLs include UTM parameters. A Google Ads URL might look like:

https://yourwebsite.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring-sale