HubSpot Original Source, explained.
Original Source is the HubSpot property that records the channel a contact first came from. It is set once and never overwritten. Here is exactly what it tracks, how it differs from Latest Source, and where it runs out of detail.
What HubSpot Original Source tracks.
Original Source is a default HubSpot contact property that records how a contact first found you, expressed as a channel category. HubSpot sets it automatically on the first tracked interaction, and it does not change after that, even if the contact comes back through a different channel later. That permanence is the point: it answers “where did this person originally come from?” rather than “how did they get here this time?”
HubSpot fills it from a fixed set of channel categories, including Organic Search, Paid Search, Email Marketing, Organic Social, Paid Social, Referrals, Direct Traffic, Other Campaigns, and Offline Sources.
One is fixed. One is overwritten.
HubSpot keeps two source properties, and confusing them is the most common reporting mistake. Original Source is set once. Latest Source updates every time the contact returns through a new session.
The first touch, kept
- Set on the earliest tracked visit
- Never overwritten by later sessions
- Answers how they first found you
The most recent touch
- Updated on every new session
- A bookmark return can flip it to Direct Traffic
- Reports defaulting to it lose the real origin
If a lead first arrived from Paid Search but later returned via a bookmark, Latest Source reads Direct Traffic. Original Source still reads Paid Search. Know which one your report is using.
Original Source has two sub-properties.
Alongside the main channel, HubSpot stores Original Source Drill-Down 1 and Drill-Down 2. They add a layer of detail, such as the specific search engine or referring domain, depending on the channel and how your tracking URLs are tagged.
- 01For an organic or paid search contact, Drill-Down 1 often holds the search engine. For a referral, it can hold the referring domain.
- 02Drill-Down 2 carries further detail where HubSpot could parse it, which depends on the channel and your URL tagging.
- 03They sharpen the channel, but they are still channel metadata, not the campaign name in plain language, the landing page, or the page journey.
For how to surface and read them, see the Original Source drill-down guide.
A category, where you need a campaign.
Original Source is the right answer to a general question and the wrong answer to a budget question. “Paid Search” does not tell you which campaign, which page they landed on, or what they read before they converted.
The channel a contact came from
- A clean, permanent first-touch channel
- Search engine or referring domain in the drill-downs
- A solid base for channel-level reporting
The detail a budget decision needs
- The specific campaign behind the click, in plain language
- The landing page the contact arrived on
- The pages they read before submitting, ending on the page that converted them
Keep Original Source. Add the detail it cannot hold.
Lead Source does not replace Original Source. One line of JavaScript captures the real source, campaign, landing page and full page journey on every form submission, server-side, and writes it to a custom HubSpot property next to Original Source. You keep HubSpot’s first-touch channel and gain the campaign and journey behind it.
For the full HubSpot setup, see HubSpot lead source tracking. For where this fits across CRMs, see how lead source works across CRMs.
Questions, answered.
What is HubSpot's Original Source property?
Original Source is a default HubSpot contact property that records the channel a contact first came from, expressed as a category such as Organic Search or Paid Search. HubSpot sets it automatically on the earliest tracked interaction and does not overwrite it when the contact returns through a different channel later.
What is the difference between Original Source and Latest Source?
Original Source is the first touch and stays fixed. Latest Source updates on every new session. A lead who first arrived from Paid Search but later returns via a bookmark will read Direct Traffic in Latest Source while Original Source still reads Paid Search. Reports that default to Latest Source can lose the real origin.
Can you change a contact's Original Source?
HubSpot sets Original Source automatically on the first tracked interaction and does not overwrite it on later visits, so it is not designed to be maintained by hand. If you need the campaign, landing page, and journey behind that channel, capture them into a separate custom property rather than trying to rewrite Original Source.
Keep Original Source. Add the campaign behind it.
One line of code captures the source, landing page, and journey, next to Original Source.
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