UTM source vs medium: choose the values for your next campaign link
Choose a referrer for UTM source and a marketing medium for UTM medium, with newsletter, organic social and partner examples.
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Use UTM source to identify the referrer and UTM medium to describe the marketing medium. Google's campaign-tagging reference (opens in a new tab) makes that distinction. Decide those two values separately, then keep the campaign label for the promotion you are running.
Ask two different questions
For utm_source, ask where this link will be placed: your newsletter, a social platform or a partner's resource page. For utm_medium, ask which kind of marketing placement it is: email, organic social or a referral. Treat these as planning questions, not a required list of brand names.
Google's parameter definitions (opens in a new tab) describe source as the referrer and medium as the marketing medium. The campaign field identifies the campaign or promotion. Include source, medium and campaign in your plan.
Here is a small decision table to use before building your next link:
| Question | Field | Example answer |
|---|---|---|
| Which publication, platform or partner will carry this link? | utm_source |
newsletter |
| Which marketing medium describes that placement? | utm_medium |
email |
| Which promotion does the link belong to? | utm_campaign |
guide-launch |
Use a source specific enough for your team's question. If you operate two newsletters and need to compare them, agree two names rather than copying this example unchanged. Choose the distinction before creating the links, and put it in your dictionary.
Build a campaign link
Create a UTM link with the free builder. No account needed.
Work through three campaign links
Suppose you want to promote a new guide through a newsletter, an organic LinkedIn post and a partner's resource page. Use one campaign label for this example and separate the placements with source and medium.
| Placement | Proposed source | Proposed medium | Campaign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your newsletter | newsletter |
email |
guide-launch |
| Your organic LinkedIn post | linkedin |
social |
guide-launch |
| Example partner resource page | partner-example |
referral |
guide-launch |
Use these values as suggestions. Replace the partner label with the name your team has approved. Review your analytics channel rules separately.
For the newsletter, start with these proposed values:
utm_source=newsletter
utm_medium=email
utm_campaign=guide-launch
If that newsletter has two different links to compare, Google documents utm_content (opens in a new tab) for distinguishing creatives or links. For this example, consider header-link and footer-link. Leave the campaign label agreed for the promotion rather than hiding the placement inside it.
Keep your vocabulary consistent
Campaign parameter values are case-sensitive (opens in a new tab). For your team's process, recommend lowercase and one spelling for each source and medium. Ask a colleague to use the agreed value rather than making a new spelling for the same planned placement.
Google's default channel definitions (opens in a new tab) classify traffic using rules; the document separately notes that channel definitions are not case-sensitive. Do not confuse that statement about channel rules with case-sensitive campaign parameter values.
Review the channel definitions if classification matters to your reporting. Evaluate reporting and conversions separately from your choice of names.
Build the link and choose the next guide
Open the existing free UTMTool builder after agreeing your source, medium and campaign values. Its campaign fields are labelled source, medium and name; no signup is required. Inspect the output before sharing it.
Next: GA4 reporting guide. Keep your team's agreed names alongside the links you plan to share.
Sources
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Frequently asked questions
Should email be my source or my medium?
For the newsletter example, use newsletter as the source and email as the medium. The source identifies the referrer; the medium describes the marketing medium.
Can one campaign have several sources?
Try guide-launch as the campaign label across newsletter, LinkedIn and partner links. Choose a source and medium separately for each placement.
Is medium the same as a GA4 channel?
No. Medium is a campaign-tagging field. Google Analytics default channels use rule-based classifications; review the rules rather than assuming a label forces a channel.
Build a campaign link
Create a UTM link with the free builder. No account needed.