Traffic source targeting lets you show a different message to visitors arriving from different places — Google Ads, Google organic, Facebook or direct — with one setting. With a custom source you can match any utm_source value, so you are not limited to the four built-in ones.
The rule is called Source — Google, Facebook, direct, custom — and the editor sums it up as: Use this field when you want to show the popup to visitors coming from a given source.
How traffic is classified
Direct: the visitor arrives on your site without having clicked a link on another site.
Google organic: traffic from search engine results that is earned, not paid.
Google Ads: traffic from search engine results that is the result of paid advertising.
Facebook: traffic arriving from Facebook.
Custom: anything you can identify by its utm_source value — a newsletter, an affiliate, another ad platform.
Set the rule up
Open Campaigns in the left menu and click the campaign you want to edit.
Open the Settings tab of the campaign.
Scroll to Who should see the popup and click Add new rule.
Pick Source from the list.
Choose the source in the Traffic from dropdown: Google organic, Google Ads, Facebook, Direct or Custom… (the rule opens on Google organic).
Click Save in the rule window, then Save changes in the bar at the bottom of the page.
On a campaign that is already published, the saved rule is pushed to the live campaign, so you don't have to publish again.
💡 You can also ask the assistant on the right to do it for you — "only show it to visitors coming from Facebook".
Custom sources
Pick Custom… and two more controls appear: an operator and a text box. The window explains it: Choosing "Custom" lets you match a specific utm_source value with an operator (equals, contains, starts with, …).
| Operator | Matches when the utm_source value… |
|---|---|
| equals | is exactly what you typed |
| not equals | is anything else |
| contains / not contains | contains (or does not contain) what you typed |
| starts with / ends with | starts (or ends) with what you typed |
Type the value into the box — the placeholder is utm_source value — for example newsletter for links tagged ?utm_source=newsletter. Saving with an empty box is refused: Enter a custom source value.
Excluding a source is done here: pick Custom…, choose not equals (or not contains), and type the value you want to keep out. For example, not equals facebook shows the campaign to everyone except visitors tagged with that source.
Things to keep in mind
The Source rule holds one condition. To combine audiences — for example "Google Ads visitors on the pricing page" — add another rule; targeting rules are combined with AND.
Each rule type can be added once, so a second Source rule is not offered: the row is greyed out with an Added tag. Open the existing card to change it.
The rule card sums the setting up as Traffic from Google Ads, Traffic from Direct traffic, and so on — with a custom source it shows the value you typed.