In plain English
Where source names the origin, medium names the type: organic, cpc, referral, email, social. Together they classify the visit.
Analytics uses medium to assign traffic to channel groups. A misspelled or invented medium puts the traffic in an unassigned bucket, where it is effectively invisible.
What to know
Names the type
Not the origin.
Drives channel grouping
Which reports depend on.
Conventions matter
Standard values are recognised.
Case-sensitive
Email and Email are different values.
Why it matters
Most unassigned traffic in a channel report is a medium naming error. Agreeing the values once and using them consistently prevents the whole problem.
Common mistakes
×Invented medium values.
×Inconsistent capitalisation.
×Using source values in the medium field.
×No documented convention across the team.
FAQs
What medium should I use for email?
email, lower case, consistently.
Why is my traffic unassigned?
Usually a non-standard medium value.
WRITTEN BY TARIQ SALLAM
Marketing Consultant. Entrepreneur. Content Creator.
I'm a marketing consultant, entrepreneur and content creator. I help businesses grow through practical marketing, websites, SEO, content and AI.
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