## TL;DR

Track per-channel traffic with strict UTM tagging on every outbound link, a weekly review of sessions and signups by channel, and per-channel landing pages where it matters. The discipline is the whole game: one untagged link breaks the comparison. Review weekly, reallocate monthly, and accept the numbers are directional.

```text
how to track which channel drives what traffic
```

## Use this when

- Distributing content across multiple channels
- Deciding where to invest effort
- Reporting on channel performance

## Not for this skill when

- You have one channel (nothing to compare)
- Links cannot be tagged (fix that first)
- You need exact multi-touch attribution (different tooling)

## Steps

1. Define the channel list. Every place you publish or share: newsletter, dev.to, social networks, directories, forums. Expected: a fixed list with no "misc".

2. Tag everything. UTM source per channel on every link you control; a documented convention so tags stay consistent. Expected: zero untagged outbound links.

```
tag convention:
  utm_source: [channel name, fixed spelling]
  utm_medium: [content | social | directory | email]
  utm_campaign: [piece or batch id]
```

3. Review weekly. Sessions by channel, then signups by channel. Expected: a one-page weekly read you can do in ten minutes.

4. Use per-channel landing pages for big channels. When a channel matters, a dedicated landing page removes all attribution doubt. Expected: clean numbers for the channels that count.

5. Reallocate monthly. More effort to channels with signups, maintenance mode for the rest. Expected: the calendar reflects the data.

## Variant phrasings

### content channel attribution

Fixed channel list, strict UTM tagging, weekly review, monthly reallocation.

### which marketing channel works best

Tag every link, review sessions and signups by channel weekly, follow the data.

### tracking traffic by channel

UTM discipline plus per-channel landing pages for the big ones; directional numbers are enough.

## Why it happens

Without tagging, all traffic looks like "direct" or "organic" and every channel claims credit. UTM discipline is cheap and turns channel debates into a weekly ten-minute read of actual numbers.

## Edge cases / pitfalls

- Ad blockers strip tags; treat numbers as directional.
- Dark social (copied links, DMs) shows as direct; a "how did you hear about us" field calibrates.
- Keep tag spelling fixed; "newsletter" vs "Newsletter" splits your data.
- Do not compare channels on different attribution windows.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_9BfZAWZNYHtQpb2a1GyVfA