Campaign Tracking
Each lead records where the visitor came from: the page they landed on, the site that sent them and the ad tags on their first tagged visit. This is done by the System - DC Leads plugin, which is enabled on install. Nothing that identifies the person is stored.
What Is Captured
| Value | Shown as | Captured |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page | Landed on | The path and query of the first page the visitor opened on your site in this session |
| Referrer | Came from | The page that linked to your site, from the first request in the session. Links from your own site are ignored |
utm_source | Source | From the URL |
utm_medium | Medium | From the URL |
utm_campaign | Campaign | From the URL |
utm_term | Keyword | From the URL |
utm_content | Ad | From the URL |
gclid, gbraid, wbraid | Click id | Google Ads click IDs. gbraid and wbraid replace gclid for some iPhone clicks |
fbclid | Click id | Meta (Facebook and Instagram) click ID |
Each value is cut to 150 characters (landing page and referrer to 255).
When It Is Captured
Tracking is per visitor session, and the first touch wins:
- The landing page and referrer are taken from the first page of the session.
- The tags are taken from the first URL in the session that carries any of them. Later tagged URLs in the same session do not overwrite them.
- Everything is attached to the lead when the form is sent.
A visitor who arrives from an ad, browses a few pages and then fills in the contact form is still credited to that ad.
Click IDs Without UTM Tags
When a URL has a click ID but no utm_source, DC Leads fills in the source and medium:
| Click ID | Source | Medium |
|---|---|---|
gclid, gbraid or wbraid | google | cpc |
fbclid | facebook | paid-social |
A utm_medium on the URL is kept.
Where You See It
- Leads list – the Source column shows the campaign, else the source, else the referring site's domain, else Direct. The By campaign card counts leads and wins per campaign.
- Lead detail – the Where it came from card lists the form, Landed on, Campaign, Source, Medium, Keyword, Ad, Click id and Came from. It shows Direct when no tags or referrer were recorded.
- CSV export – one column per value. See Export to CSV.
- Filters – filter the lead list by campaign.
Tagging Your Ads
Add UTM tags to the landing page URL in each ad, for example:
https://example.com/quote?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring-sale&utm_term=roof+repairGoogle Ads and Meta add their click IDs on their own when auto-tagging is on.
If Leads Show No Source
- Check that System - DC Leads is enabled under System → Plugins. The Dashboard flags it when it is off.
- Tracking needs a Joomla session. When you test, use a fresh private window so the tagged URL is the first page of the session.