UTM reference

UTM naming conventions: a practical worksheet for your team

Agree your UTM values, copy a naming dictionary and campaign worksheet, then build one consistent link with your team.

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  1. Agree the values before building links
  2. Start with a small naming dictionary
  3. Copy the campaign worksheet
  4. Review changes and build one link
  5. Sources

Agree which UTM values your team will use before building campaign links. Start with a small dictionary, then record each planned link in a shared worksheet. Use the examples below as a starting point, and replace them with names your team has agreed.

In Google's campaign-tagging reference (opens in a new tab), utm_source identifies the referrer, utm_medium the marketing medium, and utm_campaign the campaign or promotion. Their values are case-sensitive. Include all three in your worksheet.

For this worksheet, use lowercase values and hyphens between words. That is a suggested house style, not a claim that GA4 requires hyphens. Choose newsletter rather than asking each person to decide between several spellings. Before changing an existing team's convention, ask the person responsible for its reporting to review the change.

Keep the campaign label separate from the placement. For the example campaign, use guide-launch for all three placements. Put the referrer and medium in their own fields; do not create a different campaign name merely to identify the newsletter.

Build a campaign link

Create a UTM link with the free builder. No account needed.

Open the free UTM builder

Start with a small naming dictionary

Treat this table as a proposed dictionary. Replace the example sources, assign a real owner and remove channels you do not use. Keep the vocabulary short enough that a colleague can choose a value without inventing a new one.

Use Google's parameter definitions (opens in a new tab) to distinguish referrer, marketing medium, campaign and creative differentiation.

Field Proposed values Decision for your team
utm_source newsletter, linkedin, partner-example Which publication, platform or partner is sending the visitor?
utm_medium email, social, referral Which marketing medium describes this placement?
utm_campaign guide-launch Which agreed campaign does this link belong to?
utm_content header-link, organic-post, resource-link Which creative or link do you want to distinguish?

Google's default channel definitions (opens in a new tab) are rule-based classifications. Review those definitions when choosing your team's values; do not treat this example dictionary as a guarantee of a particular channel assignment.

Copy this starter into a file named naming-dictionary.csv:

field,approved_value,meaning,owner
utm_source,newsletter,Our newsletter,replace-with-owner
utm_source,linkedin,Our organic LinkedIn post,replace-with-owner
utm_source,partner-example,Example partner resource page,replace-with-owner
utm_medium,email,Newsletter placement,replace-with-owner
utm_medium,social,Organic social placement,replace-with-owner
utm_medium,referral,Partner resource placement,replace-with-owner
utm_campaign,guide-launch,Shared example campaign,replace-with-owner

Copy the campaign worksheet

Use a second file named campaign-registry.csv. Review each row manually. Substitute the real page you intend to promote before building a link.

destination_url,utm_source,utm_medium,utm_campaign,utm_content,owner,review_status,final_url
,newsletter,email,guide-launch,header-link,replace-with-owner,pending,
,linkedin,social,guide-launch,organic-post,replace-with-owner,pending,
,partner-example,referral,guide-launch,resource-link,replace-with-owner,pending,
,,,,,,pending,
  1. Fill destination_url with the full URL of the intended landing page; example.com/guide is an illustrative destination.
  2. Choose source, medium and campaign values from your agreed dictionary.
  3. Give the row to one named owner. Ask a second person to compare it with the brief for that placement.
  4. Build the URL from the agreed values, then paste the result into final_url.
  5. Open that exact URL and check the destination before changing review_status from pending to approved.

For the newsletter example, compare these parameter values with the builder's result:

utm_source=newsletter
utm_medium=email
utm_campaign=guide-launch
utm_content=header-link

Compare the values rather than requiring the parameters to appear in this exact order. Keep the example rows until the team understands the workflow, then replace them with real campaign plans. Never mark a row approved just because a final URL has been filled in.

Recommend one owner for the dictionary. When someone needs a new value, ask them to propose it there before adding it to a campaign row. Record the reason for a change and who approved it. Assign a person to enforce this review process.

The free UTMTool builder has source, medium and campaign fields and needs no signup. Copy the values from one agreed row into the builder manually, then put its output back in the worksheet. Evaluate conversions separately from your naming review.

Once you need to inspect incoming campaign traffic, use the separate GA4 reporting guide. Keep the dictionary for naming decisions and the campaign registry for the links your team intends to use.

Sources

Tools for this

Frequently asked questions

Are lowercase values and hyphens required?

They are the suggested house style in this worksheet. Google documents case-sensitive parameter values; agree one spelling and reuse it.

Who should review the worksheet values?

Assign one owner to the dictionary and ask a second person to compare each campaign row with the placement brief before approval.

What should we put in the campaign field?

Choose one agreed campaign label. Try guide-launch for your newsletter, organic social and partner placements.

Build a campaign link

Create a UTM link with the free builder. No account needed.

Open the free UTM builder