Tagged links count as the right source

What it is

When a visit arrives with no referrer (apps, AI assistants, email clients and many in-app browsers strip it), quietstats reads the utm_source, ref or source tag on the landing link and maps well-known values to the real site: chatgpt becomes chatgpt.com, fb becomes facebook.com, gmail becomes mail.google.com. The visit then lands in the right channel (AI, Social, Search or Email) instead of Direct.

Why it matters

AI assistants and apps often send no referrer, so their visits hide in “Direct”. If you tag the links you share, the tag tells the story the browser would not.

How it works

1. Only when the referrer is empty: a real referrer always wins.
2. Over 100 well-known tags are mapped (AI assistants, search engines, social networks, webmail). Unknown tags still show as UTM sources in the Campaigns card.
3. Done once, on the server, when the visit is counted: no extra script and no extra rows.
4. Matching ignores case, surrounding spaces, https:// and a leading “www.”.

Set it up

https://quietstats.co.uk/?utm_source=chatgpt
https://quietstats.co.uk/?ref=hn
https://quietstats.co.uk/?source=linkedin

Replace YOUR_SITE_ID with the ID on your site’s settings page. Install guides →

Privacy: what is and isn’t collected

Collected

• The tag value on the landing link (already stored as the UTM source)

Never collected

• Cookies, localStorage or anything else stored on the visitor’s device
• IP addresses or user agents (used in memory, then discarded)
• Anything that links a visitor across days (the visitor ID resets daily)

How quietstats works, and the legal caveats →

Rows and limits

• Rows: 0 extra (it changes how the visit is labelled)
• Applies to new visits only; older visits keep their label

“Rows” are database rows written, which is what our hosting is billed on. Reads are not rows written. Methodology →