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GA4 accepts 9 UTM tags, reports 7, and files ‘newsletter’ under Unassigned

What Google’s GA4 help pages say about the nine campaign parameters, case, channel rules and retention, and what TRAI’s SMS link rule means for tagged links. September 2026.

By TechBag

· 3 min read · Facts checked September 2026

Illustration: The TechBag Journal

Google Analytics 4 reads nine utm_ parameters, tells you to always set three of them, and reports seven; two are accepted and not shown anywhere.1 Which channel a visit lands in is decided by the medium you typed, so a newsletter tagged utm_medium=newsletter is filed as Unassigned while the same link tagged utm_medium=email counts as Email.2 The 2023 version of this piece was written for Universal Analytics, which stopped processing standard properties on 1 July 2023; from the week of 1 July 2024 its data could no longer be opened at all.3

01Nine tags, three required, two unreported

GA4 accepts utm_id, utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_source_platform, utm_term, utm_content, utm_creative_format and utm_marketing_tactic. Google says you “should always use” source, medium and campaign, recommends utm_id and utm_source_platform as well, and states that creative format and marketing tactic are not currently reported in GA properties.1 The builder is not inside Analytics either: Google points to the separate Campaign URL Builder on its developer-tools site, with a second one for Play Store links.1

GA4 accepts nine campaign tags but asks for three and reports seven

Campaign parameters and data retention in a standard GA4 property, as documented by Google, as of September 2026

9

utm_ parameters GA4 accepts

GA Help, URL builders

3

Google says always set: source, medium, campaign

GA Help, URL builders

2

Accepted but not reported: creative format, marketing tactic

GA Help, URL builders

14 months

Longest event-data retention on a standard (free) property

GA Help, Data retention

Source: Google Analytics Help: URL builders; Data retention · as of 30 September 2026

02The medium decides the channel; the case decides the row

GA4’s default channel group matches on source and medium. Email takes a source or medium of “email”, “e-mail”, “e_mail” or “e mail”; SMS takes exactly “sms”; Referral takes “referral”, “app” or “link”; Paid Social needs a known social site as source and a paid medium. Anything that matches no rule is Unassigned.2 Google adds two details that pull in opposite directions: “channel definitions aren’t case sensitive”, but parameter values are, so utm_source=google and utm_source=Google are two different sources.1 2 A team that mixes cases gets the right channel total and a source report split across rows.

03What to keep out of a tagged link in India

Never put a person in a UTM. Google’s policy is that no data Google could recognise as personally identifiable reaches Analytics, and it names custom campaign parameters as a common leak: an email address in utm_content breaks it.4 The same value is personal data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, whose Rules were notified on 13 November 2025 with the notice, consent and security duties applying from 13 May 2027.7 For SMS, TRAI has required since 1 October 2024 that messages carrying URLs, APKs or OTT links that are not whitelisted be blocked, and shortened links must be whitelisted too.5 6 Register tagged links with your telecom operator before the campaign, and ask your SMS provider whether a new UTM string counts as a new link. GA4 itself is free on a standard property; for Analytics 360, budget the quote plus 18% GST. Check that retention is set to 14 months, not 2: it does not touch standard reports but does limit explorations and funnels.8

Sources

  1. Google Analytics Help, [GA4] URL builders: collect campaign data with custom URLs (nine parameters; always use source, medium, campaign; values case sensitive; Campaign URL Builder) — undated page
  2. Google Analytics Help, [GA4] Default channel group (channel rules; Unassigned; definitions not case sensitive) — undated page
  3. Google Analytics Help, Universal Analytics has been replaced by Google Analytics 4 (processing ended 1 July 2023; data inaccessible from the week of 1 July 2024) — last updated 16 July 2025
  4. Google Analytics Help, Best practices to avoid sending personally identifiable information (PII), including in campaign parameters — undated page
  5. TRAI, Press Release No. 67/2024 (direction of 20 August 2024 on non-whitelisted URLs, APKs and OTT links; effective 1 October 2024) — 26 September 2024 PDF not opened; dates as reported by the explainer at [6] and press coverage.
  6. Tanla, TRAI's whitelisting directive explained (URLs, APKs, OTT links; shortened links included; effective 1 October 2024) — undated page
  7. MeitY, Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and DPDP Rules, 2025 (notified 13 November 2025; substantive duties from 13 May 2027) — 13 November 2025
  8. Google Analytics Help, [GA4] Data retention (2 or 14 months on standard properties; affects explorations and funnels, not standard reports) — undated page

Related on TechBag: the Mixpanel Product Analytics page for event analytics beyond acquisition, the Power BI note for the reporting layer, and the data security and privacy guides for the DPDP side.

Disclosure. TechBag is a software reseller: it earns a margin when a reader buys through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.

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