Gemini stops adding UTM parameters to cited links, tracking shows
What this answers
- Does Gemini still add UTM parameters to the links it cites?
- Apparently not — per Search Engine Roundtable, Google stopped appending utm_source=gemini to cited URLs around September 28, after about three weeks of tagging that began in early September.
- Can I still tell Gemini traffic apart in analytics?
- On desktop web, partly — Gemini still passes a gemini.google.com referrer, per SEO Natzir, whose data showed those visits flat throughout. The iOS app sends no referrer, so those visits land in GA4 as Direct.
Google has stopped appending utm_source=gemini to the cited URLs in Gemini’s answers, per Search Engine Roundtable. The tags appeared in early September and disappeared around September 28, according to a chart from analyst Natzir, who says a second analyst (@Xyborg) saw the same drop; Google has not commented. Visits carrying a gemini.google.com referrer stayed flat the whole time, Natzir says, and Google’s John Mueller wrote on Reddit that he had seen the tags a month or so earlier.
The September 28 date means this wire’s October 1 report that Gemini had begun adding UTM parameters ran after, by this account, the tags had already gone. On the iOS app, Natzir says, links open in an in-app browser that sends no referrer, so those visits land in GA4 as Direct; the only trace is the GeminiiOS user agent in server logs.
Why it matters: Gemini's click tag lasted about three weeks, so attribution that leaned on utm_source=gemini needs to fall back to referrer and server-log evidence, which survive only on some surfaces.
Via Search Engine Roundtable ↗
Posted to the wire October 30, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.