Recommended UTM Tracking Standards

Overview

This guide sets out the recommended UTM tracking standards for website-based traffic that flows into Property Shell.

It is intended to help keep source tracking consistent across projects, agencies, campaigns, websites, portals, email activity, partner links, and other controlled traffic sources.

This guide should be used alongside the Lead Source Integrations Guide and the Lead Source Native Integration Reference. In particular, it aligns to the Property Shell model where:

• First Known Enquiry Category is mapped internally from source
• First Known Enquiry Source comes from the submitted source value
• First Known Enquiry Name comes from the submitted campaign value

Purpose

UTM parameters should be used wherever you control the link that is sending traffic to a project website, landing page, event form, or another web-based lead destination.

The goal is not just to capture raw traffic data. The goal is to set the values in a way that lines up clearly with how Property Shell reports on:

• First Known Enquiry Category
• First Known Enquiry Source
• First Known Enquiry Name

Core Property Shell Approach

For website-based traffic, the recommended model is:

General Principles

1. Most Granular: UTM Campaign

utm_campaign is the most specific reporting label and should describe the campaign, promotion, event, listing, project, ad group, form, or other marketing initiative you want to report on. It should usually be the label you want to see as First Known Enquiry Name.

Recommended characteristics:

• Human-readable
• Stable
• Clearly tied to the campaign / promotion / listing / event / ad initiative
• Not overly technical unless your organisation already follows a naming convention

Examples:

• Project Launch March 2026
• Brand Search April 2026
• VIP Preview Registration
• Smithtown Residences Lead Form
• REA Sponsored Content May 2026

2. Middle Level: UTM Source

utm_source should line up with meaningful product-level source types, similar to the way native integrations already distinguish products and source types. For example, instead of utm_source=facebook.com the recommended pattern is utm_source=Facebook Display Ad.

It will also be used as the First Known Enquiry Source when set on an inbound enquiry.

Examples:

• Facebook Display Ad
• Google Paid Search
• Google Display
• Google Performance Max
• LinkedIn Sponsored Content
• Realestate.com.au Developer Extension Campaign
• Domain.com.au Listing
• Property Shell EDM

3. Broadest Level: First Known Enquiry Category

utm_source will map into a smaller number of high-level reporting categories already set within Property Shell. This is the broadest reporting layer and is intended for simplified management reporting.

Examples:

• Social Media
• Google Ads
• Email
• Referral
• Realestate.com.au
• Realcommercial.com.au
• Domain.com.au
• Event
• Project Website

4. Keep UTM Medium Secondary

utm_medium is still useful, but it should generally support analysis rather than carry the main source meaning. It is best used as a secondary classification field to describe the traffic method or channel type, while utm_source carries the actual reporting source label.

Examples:

• paid_social
• paid_professional_social
• paid_search
• display
• performance_max
• email
• referral
• offline

This means utm_medium can be very useful for filtering, troubleshooting, and secondary analysis, but it should not usually be the main field relied on for source reporting.

Platform-specific Recommendations

Meta: Facebook and Instagram

Meta distinguishes Lead Ads / Instant Forms from ads that send traffic off-platform to a website. Meta also supports adding URL parameters and dynamic URL parameters to ads that link off Facebook or Instagram.

Recommended utm_source values

Recommended utm_medium

Example 1: Facebook Ad to Website

Google Ads

Google Ads supports auto-tagging with gclid, which Google says is required for key Google Ads measurement and is useful for offline conversion tracking. Google also distinguishes campaign types such as Performance Max, and documents that Performance Max runs across multiple Google channels.

Recommended utm_source values

Recommended utm_medium values

Example 1: Google Search Campaign

Example 2: Google Display Campaign

Example 3: Performance Max

LinkedIn

LinkedIn Campaign Manager supports URL tracking parameters and dynamic tracking parameters, which makes it suitable for a structured Source model in the same way as Meta and Google.

Recommended utm_source values

Recommended utm_medium

Example 1: Sponsored Content

Example 2: LinkedIn Lead Gen Form

Real Estate Portals

For website traffic coming from real estate portals, the recommended approach is to keep this separate from native enquiries submitted on the portal itself. This guide only covers portal traffic that clicks through to an external website, such as a project website, landing page, or another controlled destination. Native enquiries submitted on the portal itself should instead follow the Lead Source Native Integration Reference.

Where the exact portal advertising product is known, use a product-style UTM Source that reflects that traffic source. Where the exact product is not known, use a broader Website Traffic label for that portal. This avoids reusing native enquiry-type labels in situations where they do not actually describe the traffic source.

Recommended principles

• Do not default to native portal enquiry-type labels for website traffic unless they genuinely describe the traffic source.
• Use specific product-style Source values only where the campaign product is actually known.
• Otherwise use a broader Website Traffic fallback label for that portal.
• Keep utm_medium simple, usually referral.
• Use utm_campaign for the actual campaign, promotion, project, listing, or marketing label you want reported as First Known Enquiry Name.

Realestate.com.au

REA has paid developer advertising products that are designed to drive campaign reach and traffic, including Developer Native Display Campaigns. REA also refers to Social Extension reporting as part of those campaign types. Separately, Audience Maximiser expands reach across third-party websites and social platforms. These products are different from the on-platform enquiry types listed in REA’s Leads API documentation.

Recommended utm_source values

Domain.com.au

For Domain, the clearest externally traffic-driving product is AIM, which Domain describes as a multi-channel digital marketing solution using channels including Google and Facebook, and says it is designed to drive traffic to websites. Domain also markets Social Boost as a social amplification product. Native InSearch may in some contexts link directly to a URL, but where it instead links back to the portal listing, it should not be treated as external website traffic unless that is genuinely the setup being used.

Recommended utm_source values

Other Real Estate Portals

For other portals, the same principle should be used. Where the exact advertising or traffic-driving product is known, use a clear product-style UTM Source. Where it is not known, use a broader Website Traffic label for that portal.

Examples of broad patterns:

• OpenLot.com.au Website Traffic
• Allhomes.com.au Website Traffic
• Downsizing.com.au Website Traffic
• Urban.com.au Website Traffic

Recommended utm_medium

Example 1: REA Developer Native Display Campaign Traffic

Example 2: Domain AIM Traffic

Example 3: Generic Portal Website Traffic

Email / EDM

For email activity, Source should focus on the actual email source or email product type rather than the software platform unless that distinction is important for reporting.

Recommended utm_source values

Recommended utm_medium

Example 1: Property Shell EDM

Example 2: Partner EDM

General Website Links

Whenever you control the link, you should set UTMs deliberately rather than relying on referrer alone. This may be appropriate for sources like controlled website links, partner pages, articles, PDFs, brochures and QR codes.

This includes:

• Partner websites
• Media articles
• Profile pages
• Downloadable PDFs
• Brochures
• QR codes
• Event pages
• Campaign landing page links
• Links in owned content or controlled organic placements

Recommended utm_source values

Recommended utm_medium

Example 1: Partner Website Button

Example 2: QR Code on Signage

Example 3: Controlled Organic-tagged Link

Recommended utm_medium Values

utm_medium should be used consistently across campaigns.

Recommended Formatting Rules

Use Title-style Source Labels

Recommended:

• Facebook Display Ad
• Google Paid Search
• Property Shell EDM

Avoid:

• facebook.com
• google
• meta
• Inconsistent casing or abbreviations

Keep Source Stable

Use the same exact label each time for the same source/product type.

Keep Campaign Descriptive

Use utm_campaign to identify the campaign / form / event / promotion / listing / ad initiative, not the broad platform.

Keep Medium Standardised

Use a limited set of repeated values.

Summary of Patterns To Be Used In Reporting

Enquiry Category Mapping Examples

The table below sets out the internal mapping examples from submitted utm_source values to First Known Enquiry Category.