Every lead carries two touches: the first touch (the visit that first found you) and the latest touch (the most recent visit with a known source before the enquiry). Together they show what introduced a lead and what brought them back to convert.
Channels
Channels follow the same rules as GA4's default channel groups, so your numbers line up, plus two extras: AI Assistants and Google Business Profile.
| Channel | Examples |
|---|---|
| Paid Search | Google Ads and Microsoft Ads search clicks. |
| Organic Search | Unpaid results from Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and other search engines. |
| AI Assistants | Visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude and similar. |
| Google Business Profile | Clicks from your map listing, once you tag its website link. |
| Paid Social | Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok ads. |
| Organic Social | Unpaid posts and profiles on social networks. |
Newsletters and email campaigns tagged with utm_medium=email. | |
| Referral | Links from other websites. |
| Display, Paid Video, Paid Shopping, Cross-network | Other Google Ads networks, including Performance Max. |
| Direct | Typed addresses, bookmarks and links without a source. |
The rules
- A visit starts a new touch when it arrives with tags or from another website. Visits within 30 minutes of each other count as one visit.
- A direct visit never replaces a known source. If someone clicks your ad, leaves, then types your address a week later, the lead still shows Paid Search, just like GA4.
- The first touch is kept for 400 days in the visitor's browser, on your own domain.
- Payment pages and booking tools you add under
data-ignore-referrersnever count as a new source. - Leads also record visits before converting and days from first visit, so you can see how long people take to decide.
Why AI Assistants is its own channel
More and more people ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini for a recommendation, then click through. GA4 mixes these into Referral. SourceXray gives them their own channel, so you can see exactly how many enquiries AI answers send you.
What no tracking tool can see
- Someone who saw your ad on one device and enquired on another shows the source of the device they enquired on.
- Phone calls and walk-ins are not website enquiries. Track call clicks with AI Tracking Setup.
- If a visitor blocks scripts or clears their browser storage, their earlier visits are forgotten and the enquiry shows the source of the visit it came from.
Still need help?
Email info@sourcexray.com with your website address and what you tried.