Observed Signal · May 18, 2026 · Technical Guide · Source: DEV Community · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Official GA4 Channel Rules for Email, SMS, Push
This technical guide decodes Google Analytics 4's (GA4) official Default Channel Group rules for Email, SMS, and Mobile Push, showing exactly which utm_source and utm_medium values map to each of GA4's 23 default channels. The author explains that the default channel logic is centralized and cannot be changed in GA4's built-in reports, and that Google publishes both the channel definitions and a Source Categories .xlsx (819 entries). Concrete rules are provided: Email matches four specific spellings (email, e-mail, e_mail, e mail) on either source or medium; SMS requires an exact, case-sensitive match on the literal string "sms"; Mobile Push triggers on three OR conditions (medium ending in "push", medium containing "mobile" or "notification", or source = "firebase"). The post includes UTM naming recommendations, common mistakes that cause misclassification, and brief guidance on auditing and connecting channel classification to revenue measurement.
Clarifies Google's official GA4 channel classification rules that directly affect campaign UTM naming, measurement accuracy and downstream revenue attribution for marketers and analytics teams.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- GA4's Default Channel Group classifies each visit using utm_source and utm_medium against a fixed rule set of 23 channels.
- Google publishes the channel definitions help page and a Source Categories .xlsx file with 819 entries (verified May 2026).
- Email channel matches if utm_source or utm_medium contains any of: "email", "e-mail", "e_mail", or "e mail".
- SMS channel requires an exact, case-sensitive match of the literal string "sms" on utm_source or utm_medium.
- Mobile Push is triggered if utm_medium ends with "push", contains "mobile" or "notification", or if utm_source equals "firebase".
Connected Companies & Entities
5 Entities mappedOntology Mapping & Concepts
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