What Are UTM Parameters?

UTM parameters (Urchin Tracking Module parameters) are five simple snippets of text that you can add to the end of a URL to track the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns. When a user clicks on a link with UTM parameters, these tags are sent back to your Google Analytics account, giving you precise details about where the click came from and which campaign it was associated with.

Imagine you are running a "Summer Sale" promotion. You're advertising it through a Google Ads campaign, a Facebook post, and an email newsletter. Without UTM tags, all the traffic from these different sources will just show up in your analytics as "direct" or "referral" traffic, giving you no insight into what is actually working. By adding specific UTM tags to each link, you can see exactly how many visitors, conversions, and how much revenue each specific source generated. This transforms your marketing from a guessing game into a data-driven science.

The 5 Essential UTM Parameters Explained

There are five standard UTM parameters you can use. The first three are required for effective tracking, while the last two are optional but highly recommended for granular analysis.

1. Campaign Source (utm_source) - Required: This identifies the source of your traffic—the specific platform or referrer.
   • Examples: google, facebook, newsletter, twitter
2. Campaign Medium (utm_medium) - Required: This identifies the marketing medium or channel.
   • Examples: cpc (for paid ads), social (for social media posts), email, organic_search, affiliate
3. Campaign Name (utm_campaign) - Required: This identifies the specific campaign, promotion, or slogan you are running.
   • Examples: spring_sale_2024, q4_promo_product_launch, weekly_newsletter
4. Campaign Term (utm_term) - Optional: This is primarily used for paid search campaigns to track the specific keywords you are bidding on.
   • Examples: running+shoes, digital+marketing+agency
5. Campaign Content (utm_content) - Optional: This is used to differentiate between links or ads that point to the same URL within the same campaign. It's perfect for A/B testing.
   • Examples: blue_button_link, image_link_header, footer_text_link

How a Generated URL Looks

When you fill out the fields, our UTM builder combines them into a single, valid URL. For example, if you wanted to track clicks on a specific link in your spring sale newsletter, your generated URL might look like this:

https://www.your-website.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_sale_2024&utm_content=cta_button

When a user clicks this link, Google Analytics will now precisely report that the visit came from the "newsletter" source, the "email" medium, was part of the "spring_sale_2024" campaign, and came from the "cta_button."

Best Practices for Creating UTM Tags

• Be Consistent: Consistency is the most important rule. Decide on a naming convention and stick to it. For example, always use `facebook` and not `Facebook`, `FB`, or `facebook.com`. Inconsistency will split your data across multiple entries in your analytics.
• Use Lowercase: UTM parameters are case-sensitive. To avoid data fragmentation, always use lowercase for all your tags.
• Use Underscores or Dashes for Spaces: URLs cannot contain spaces. Use underscores (`_`) or dashes (`-`) to separate words in your campaign names (e.g., `spring_sale` not `spring sale`).
• Keep it Simple and Readable: Your tags should be easy for you and your team to understand. A campaign named `q4_promo_productx_2024` is much clearer than `p_xyz_123`.
• Use a Builder Tool: A UTM builder like this one ensures that your URLs are always formatted correctly and eliminates the risk of manual errors, saving you time and ensuring your data is clean.