Filters let you categorize your traffic by defining rules that match sessions and assign them to channels, groups, or custom dimensions. This is the foundation of meaningful traffic analysis in Staminads.
A default set of common traffic sources is created for you (Google SEO, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, etc.). However, you should create filters for your specific traffic sources to avoid them being grouped as “not categorized”.
How Filters Work
Each filter consists of:
- Conditions — Rules that match incoming sessions (e.g., “utm_source contains google”)
- Operations — What to do when conditions match (e.g., “set channel to Google Ads”)
- Priority — When multiple filters match, the highest priority wins
Session arrives → Conditions evaluated → Operations applied → Session categorized
What You Can Match (Conditions)
Filters can match on a wide range of session attributes:
| Category | Fields |
|---|
| UTM | utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content, utm_id, utm_id_from |
| Traffic | referrer, referrer_domain, referrer_path, is_direct |
| Pages | landing_page, landing_domain, landing_path, path |
| Device | device, browser, browser_type, os, user_agent, connection_type |
| Geo | language, timezone |
Operators
| Operator | Description |
|---|
equals | Exact match |
not equals | Does not match exactly |
contains | Contains substring |
not contains | Does not contain substring |
is empty | Field has no value |
is not empty | Field has a value |
matches regex | Matches regular expression pattern |
What You Can Set (Operations)
When conditions match, filters can write to these dimensions:
| Category | Dimensions |
|---|
| Channel | channel, channel_group |
| Custom | stm_1 through stm_10 (Custom Dimension 1-10) |
| UTM | utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content |
| Traffic | referrer_domain, is_direct |
Actions
| Action | Description |
|---|
| Set value | Always set to the specified value |
| Clear value | Set to null/empty |
| Set default | Set only if the field is currently empty |
Custom Dimension Labels
By default, custom dimensions are labeled stm_1 through stm_10. You can assign meaningful names to these dimensions in Workspace Settings > Custom Dimensions to make reports easier to understand.
Example labels:
| Slot | Label |
|---|
stm_1 | Product Category |
stm_2 | Funnel Stage |
stm_3 | Content Type |
Use Cases
Channel Mapping
The most common use case — categorize traffic by marketing channel.
Example: Google Ads filter
- Condition:
utm_id_from equals gclid
- Operation: Set
channel to Google Ads, set channel_group to Paid Search
Example: Google SEO filter
- Condition:
referrer_domain contains google
- Condition:
utm_id_from is empty
- Operation: Set
channel to Google SEO, set channel_group to Organic
Page Categorization
Use custom dimensions to categorize pages by product, funnel stage, or content type.
Example: Product category filter
- Condition:
landing_path contains /shoes/
- Operation: Set
stm_1 (Product Category) to Shoes
Example: Funnel stage filter
- Condition:
landing_path equals /pricing
- Operation: Set
stm_2 (Funnel Stage) to Consideration
Brand vs Non-Brand Organic
Separate branded searches (people searching for your company name) from generic organic traffic.
Example: Brand organic filter
- Condition:
landing_path equals /
- Condition:
referrer_domain contains google
- Condition:
utm_medium equals referral
- Condition:
utm_id_from is empty
- Operation: Set
channel to Brand Organic, set channel_group to Direct
Brand organic traffic typically lands on your homepage from Google without UTM parameters. These visitors already know your brand — they should be measured separately from discovery-phase organic traffic.
Priority & Overlap
When a session matches multiple filters, the filter with the highest priority (0-1000) wins.
Example priority structure:
| Priority | Filter | Rationale |
|---|
| 900 | Google Ads | Specific paid traffic, should override organic |
| 800 | Facebook Ads | Specific paid traffic |
| 500 | Google SEO | General organic |
| 500 | Direct Traffic | General direct |
| 100 | Catch-all | Default for unmatched traffic |
Backfill Historical Data
When you create or modify filters, they only apply to new sessions by default. Use the Backfill feature to apply your current filter rules to historical data.
This is useful when:
- You add a new filter and want it to apply retroactively
- You fix a misconfigured filter
- You add new custom dimensions
Backfilling rewrites dimension values for historical sessions. The operation is safe (original source data is preserved), but large date ranges may take time to process.
UTM Parameters Reference
UTM parameters are the standard way to tag campaign URLs for tracking.
| Parameter | Description | Example |
|---|
utm_source | Traffic source | google, facebook, newsletter |
utm_medium | Marketing medium | cpc, email, social, referral |
utm_campaign | Campaign name | black-friday-2025, spring-sale |
utm_term | Paid search keywords | running shoes, best crm |
utm_content | Ad variation | banner-v1, text-link |
Ad Network Click Identifiers
Staminads automatically extracts click IDs from ad network URLs and stores them in two fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|
utm_id | The click ID value |
utm_id_from | Origin of the click ID (see table below) |
Google Ads Click IDs
Google uses multiple click identifiers depending on the user’s device and privacy settings:
| Parameter | Name | When Used |
|---|
gclid | Google Click ID | Desktop, Android, and iOS users who grant tracking consent |
gbraid | Google Browser ID | iOS 14.5+ web clicks when user declines tracking (privacy-preserving, aggregated) |
wbraid | Google Web ID | iOS web-to-web and app-to-web journeys when gclid cannot be passed |
Unlike gclid which identifies individual clicks, gbraid and wbraid are privacy-preserving parameters that use aggregated signals to comply with Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework.
Other Ad Networks
| Parameter | Ad Network |
|---|
fbclid | Meta (Facebook, Instagram) |
msclkid | Microsoft Ads (Bing) |
ttclid | TikTok Ads |
li_fat_id | LinkedIn Ads |
twclid | Twitter/X Ads |
dclid | Google Display & Video 360 |
https://example.com?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=Cj0KCAiAxea5...
utm_id = Cj0KCAiAxea5...utm_id_from = gclid
To reliably identify Google Ads traffic regardless of which click ID is used, create a filter with:
utm_id_from matches regex ^(gclid|gbraid|wbraid)$
