Threads grew fast, and a lot of marketers started posting on it without setting up any tracking first. The result: they now have months of Threads activity and no idea whether any of it actually sent traffic to their website.
If you open Google Analytics right now and look at your referral sources, Threads might appear — or it might not. Some Threads traffic shows up as l.threads.net. Some shows up as threads.net. Some doesn't show up at all because the Threads mobile app uses an in-app browser that drops referrer headers, so it lands under Direct.
The only way to get consistent, reliable attribution from Threads is to not depend on referrer data at all.
The fix: tagged links in every Threads post
Whenever you drop a link in a Threads post, the link should carry UTM parameters. Even if your post is casual and conversational — especially then, because those are the posts that tend to spread.
A basic tagged URL looks like:
yoursite.com/article?utm_source=threads&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=july-content
That information lives inside the URL. When a user clicks it — regardless of which browser Threads opens it in — the UTM data gets read by your analytics tool and the visit gets attributed to Threads correctly.
The obvious problem is that nobody wants to click a link with five query parameters in a Threads thread. Shorten it to something like yourbrand.co/threads-july and paste that instead. The redirect carries the UTM parameters through to the destination.
Separate your content formats
Threads is used for several different types of posts — short text takes, link shares, replies, polls. The click behavior on each is very different. If you're going to be serious about it, differentiate your tracking by format:
- Direct link posts:
utm_medium=threads-link - Link in bio (someone finds your bio after seeing a text post):
utm_medium=threads-bio - Cross-posted from Instagram:
utm_medium=threads-cross-post
After a month, you'll have actual evidence of which format sends real traffic versus which one gets engagement (likes, replies) but no clicks.
How to find where Threads traffic is hiding
If you haven't tagged your Threads links yet, you can do some detective work. In Google Analytics 4, go to Acquisition → Traffic Acquisition and look for:
l.threads.netas a referral sourcethreads.netas a referral source- Any direct traffic spikes on days you posted something that got traction
The spike method is rough, but it at least tells you whether Threads is doing anything. Once you start tagging, you get the actual numbers.
For finding your organic traffic sources more broadly — especially channels like Threads that tend to appear as Direct — this guide on identifying where website visitors come from covers the full investigation process.