How to identify Paid vs Organic traffic in Matomo FAQ - How to

Matomo groups traffic sources into channel types, like search engines, websites, social networks, and campaigns. While Matomo doesn’t label traffic as Paid or Organic, you can distinguish between them using campaigns, segments, and custom dimensions.

What is Organic traffic?

Organic traffic refers to visitors who click organic (unpaid) search results in search engines like Google or Bing.

This traffic does not come from advertising. Your site earns this traffic through search engine optimisation (SEO). For example, by creating high-quality content, improving page load speed, and earning backlinks.

Learn how to improve SEO with Web Analytics.

What is Paid traffic?

Paid traffic refers to visitors who click on advertising links that you’ve paid to place on various platforms. These platforms include Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn, and other ad networks. Paid traffic includes display ads, search ads, sponsored posts on social media, and affiliate promotions with paid links.

This traffic appears in the Campaigns report when visitors land on your site using URLs tagged with campaign parameters. For example, mtm_campaign or utm_campaign. With proper campaign tagging, you can track each ad’s performance and compare it to other traffic sources.

Use Matomo’s URL Builder for Campaign Tracking.

Where to find traffic source information

To analyse how visitors arrive at your website, go to Matomo > Acquisition > All Channels.

This report gives you an overview of your main traffic sources, called channel types. Each visit is categorised based on how the visitor reached your site. It could be through a search engine, paid campaign, social media, another website, or by entering your site URL directly.

Search Engines: Visitors who found your site using a search engine like Google or Bing. This traffic is considered organic by default, unless campaign parameters suggest it’s part of a paid campaign.
Campaigns: Visitors who arrived by clicking a URL tagged with campaign tracking parameters. This channel typically includes paid advertising such as Google Ads, email campaigns, or banner ads.
Social Networks: Visitors who clicked links from social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. This channel includes both organic posts and paid promotions unless campaign parameters are used to separate them.
Websites: Visitors who clicked a link from another website. This includes referral traffic from blogs, directories, or partner sites.
Direct Entry: Visitors who typed your site address directly into their browser. Or they used a bookmark, or clicked a link from an untracked source such as a PDF.

Read the complete guide on How to Check Website Traffic.

Option 1: Track Paid Campaigns

To track paid campaigns accurately, you must tag URLs using campaign parameters (mtm_campaign, mtm_medium, mtm_source) or the equivalent utm_* parameters.

Example campaign link: https://mysite.com/?mtm_campaign=EasterPromo&mtm_medium=cpc&mtm_source=google.

When Matomo detects these parameters, the visit is recorded under Acquisition > Campaigns. This lets you measure traffic volume, engagement, conversions, and other metrics tied to each campaign.

Learn how to analyse marketing campaign reports.

Option 2: Use Segments to isolate or compare traffic types

To drill down into paid traffic performance or compare it against other sources, you can create and compare segments based on campaign data.

Example segments:

Paid traffic: Campaign Name is not empty
Organic search: Referrer Type is Search Engine AND Campaign Name is empty
From campaign “EasterPromo”: Campaign Name contains EasterPromo

Once you’ve created your segments, apply them to any Matomo report and use the Compare segments button to analyse differences in behaviour, conversions, or engagement side-by-side.

Learn how to create a segment to view paid traffic only.

Option 3: Create Custom Dimensions for enhanced visibility

To track paid traffic across reports and not just in the Campaigns report, you can use Custom Dimensions to:

Track paid traffic across all Matomo reports.
Create detailed segments by traffic type or source.
Report on paid visits even if campaign parameters are missing.

Learn how to create, track and manage Custom Dimensions.

Note: Make sure you first create the Custom Dimension in Matomo settings > Measurables > Custom Dimensions with the Visit scope.

Once the Custom Dimension is set, you can create a segment using:

Custom Dimension PaidTraffic equals true, or
Custom Dimension CampaignName contains EasterPromo

Use the Matomo JavaScript Tracking Code

After creating the Custom Dimension in Matomo, you can set it dynamically using the _paq.push() method, e.g.,

_paq.push(['setCustomDimension', 1, 'EasterPromo']);

1 is the ID of your Custom Dimension (visit scope).
EasterPromo is the value you want to store. This could also be true for a simple paid marker.

Use Matomo Tag Manager

If you are tracking using Matomo Tag Manager and not the Matomo tracking code, follow these configuration steps:

1. Create a Variable

When a visitor arrives on your site through the URL containing mtm_medium=cpc, the URL parameter is captured by a variable (mtm_medium). This means the system can tell the visit is from a paid ad (e.g. Google Ads, Bing Ads).

Go to Matomo > Tag Manager and open the container to edit the settings.
Navigate to Variables and click Create New Variable.
Choose the URL Parameter and define the variable with the campaign parameter value, e.g., mtm_medium. This extracts the medium from campaign URLs (e.g. mtm_medium=cpc).
Save the variable.

2. Create a Pageview Trigger

The Pageview trigger listens for when the mtm_medium value equals cpc. This ensures that any actions taken, such as setting a Custom Dimension, only occur for visits from paid traffic.

Navigate to Triggers and click Create New Trigger.
Choose the Pageview trigger.
Add the condition: mtm_medium equals cpc.
Save the trigger.

3. Configure the Matomo Analytics Tag

Once configured, every qualifying pageview (i.e. with the correct URL parameter) is tagged in real time, and the information is sent to Matomo.

Navigate to Tags and open the Matomo tracking tag.
Scroll to the Custom Dimensions section and add the following:
- Index: 1 (or your assigned dimension ID)
- Value: true or {{mtm_medium}} or {{mtm_campaign}} if you want to store the campaign name.
Assign the Pageview trigger and save the tag.

4. Publish the Tag Manager container

Preview and debug the container.
Publish the new version after testing.

Understanding how to distinguish between paid and organic traffic in Matomo gives you greater control over how you analyse visitor behaviour and campaign performance.

By using campaign parameters, creating meaningful segments, and enhancing visibility with Custom Dimensions, you can gain a more accurate view of where your traffic comes from and how it performs.

Next FAQ: How do I create a simple affiliates system and track new customers and new revenue for each affiliate?