Source Detection
Zero to One automatically identifies where your visitors come from. You never need to understand UTM parameters — we translate them into plain language for you.
How it works
When a visitor arrives at your website, the tracking script captures two pieces of information:
- UTM parameters — If the URL contains
?utm_source=reddit, we know they came from Reddit - Referrer header — The browser tells us which website the visitor came from (e.g.,
news.ycombinator.com)
We check UTM parameters first (highest confidence), then fall back to referrer detection. If neither is present, it's counted as a "Direct" visit.
Auto-tagging
When you generate distribution content with Zero to One, we automatically add UTM parameters to your product links. You don't need to configure anything.
For example, when you generate a Reddit post for r/SideProject, the link becomes:
https://yourproduct.com?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=launch&utm_content=SideProject
On the dashboard, this shows up as "Reddit" — not the raw parameters.
Supported sources
Social platforms
| UTM source / Referrer | Displays as |
|---|---|
utm_source=reddit or reddit.com | |
utm_source=hackernews or news.ycombinator.com | Hacker News |
utm_source=twitter or t.co / x.com | Twitter / X |
utm_source=linkedin or linkedin.com | |
utm_source=producthunt or producthunt.com | Product Hunt |
utm_source=indiehackers or indiehackers.com | Indie Hackers |
utm_source=bluesky or bsky.app | Bluesky |
utm_source=facebook or facebook.com | |
utm_source=instagram or instagram.com | |
utm_source=youtube or youtube.com | YouTube |
utm_source=tiktok or tiktok.com | TikTok |
Developer platforms
| UTM source / Referrer | Displays as |
|---|---|
utm_source=devto or dev.to | DEV.to |
utm_source=lobsters or lobste.rs | Lobsters |
utm_source=discord or discord.com | Discord |
Search engines
| Referrer | Displays as |
|---|---|
google.com | |
bing.com | Bing |
duckduckgo.com | DuckDuckGo |
Other sources
- Direct — No referrer and no UTM parameters. The visitor typed your URL directly or used a bookmark.
- Unknown referrer — Has a referrer from an unrecognized domain. We display the domain name (e.g.,
somesite.com). - Custom UTM source — Any
utm_sourcevalue we don't recognize is capitalized and displayed as-is (e.g.,utm_source=newsletter→ "Newsletter").
UTM parameter reference
If you want to create your own tracked links (outside of Zero to One's auto-generated content), here are the parameters we support:
| Parameter | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
utm_source | The platform or site | reddit, twitter, newsletter |
utm_medium | The marketing medium | social, email, referral |
utm_campaign | The campaign name | launch, update-v2, black-friday |
utm_content | Specific content variant | SideProject (subreddit), hero-cta |
utm_term | Search keyword (if applicable) | calendar sync tool |
You don't need to use all parameters. Just utm_source is enough for basic tracking. Zero to One's auto-generated content includes utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, and utm_content.
Country detection
We estimate the visitor's country from their browser timezone (e.g., America/New_York → US). This is intentionally imprecise — we don't use IP geolocation, which means:
- No personal data is collected
- The estimate covers major timezones in ~35 countries
- Visitors in less common timezones show as "Unknown"
This is accurate enough to know if your audience is mostly US, EU, or Asia — without compromising privacy.