UTM reference

What is UTM tracking? UTM links and the five parameters, explained with one example

UTM tracking adds named parameters to a link so Google Analytics can report where a visit came from. The parameters, one worked link, where the data shows up.

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On this page
  1. What UTM stands for, and what it is not
  2. The UTM parameters
  3. What a UTM link looks like
  4. Where the data shows up
  5. How to create a UTM link
  6. Six mistakes that break UTM data
  7. What UTM tracking does not tell you
  8. Build your first link
  9. Sources

UTM tracking is the practice of adding named parameters to a link so that an analytics tool can report where a visit came from and which campaign brought it. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module: the parameters were introduced by Urchin (opens in a new tab), the software Google Analytics grew from, which is why Google Analytics reads them without any setup. A UTM link is any URL that carries them. This one, from Google's campaign URL documentation (opens in a new tab), tags a Summer Sale email campaign:

www.example.com/?utm_source=summer-mailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=summer-sale

The rest of this page follows that one link: what each part means, what the link looks like as you build it, where the values show up in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and how to make one of your own.

What UTM stands for, and what it is not

Urchin Tracking Module parameters (opens in a new tab) are URL parameters marketers use to track the effectiveness of online campaigns across traffic sources and publishing media. The name comes from Urchin, the predecessor of Google Analytics, and the parameters are supported out of the box by Google Analytics. Wikipedia notes the abbreviation has other uses; on this page, UTM always means the campaign parameters.

Build a campaign link

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

Open the free UTM builder

The UTM parameters

Google's campaign URL page (opens in a new tab) defines the parameters you can add to a destination URL, and the GA4 dimensions reference (opens in a new tab) names the session-scoped dimensions in the last column. The first three are the ones Google recommends always using.

Parameter What it answers Example from Google GA4 dimension
utm_source the referrer google, newsletter4, billboard Session source
utm_medium the marketing medium cpc, banner, email Session medium
utm_campaign the product, slogan or promo code spring_sale Session campaign
utm_term the paid keyword Session manual term
utm_content which creative or link, when a campaign has several two call-to-action links in one email Session manual ad content
utm_id the campaign ID, matching the IDs used when uploading campaign data Session campaign ID
utm_source_platform the platform responsible for directing the traffic, such as a buying platform Search Ads 360, Display & Video 360 Session source platform
utm_creative_format the type of creative display, native, video, search not currently reported
utm_marketing_tactic the targeting criteria applied remarketing, prospecting not currently reported

Source and medium are the two that people mix up; the source vs medium guide walks through choosing them. Google's note on the last two is that utm_creative_format and utm_marketing_tactic are not currently reported in Google Analytics properties, so leave them out unless another tool reads them.

Start with the page you want people to land on, www.example.com/. Google's manual setup rules (opens in a new tab) are short: separate the parameters from the URL with a question mark, write each parameter and its value as a pair joined by an equals sign, and separate the pairs with an ampersand. The parameters can go in any order.

www.example.com/
www.example.com/?utm_source=summer-mailer
www.example.com/?utm_source=summer-mailer&utm_medium=email
www.example.com/?utm_source=summer-mailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=summer-sale

In Google's example, summer-mailer identifies traffic from the Summer Sale email campaign, email separates the email campaign from an in-app campaign, and summer-sale identifies the overall campaign. Two rules decide whether the data is usable later. Parameter values are case-sensitive, so utm_source=google and utm_source=Google are two different sources; Google's best practice is lowercase throughout. And a missing parameter reports as (not set), so if you set one parameter, set all the relevant ones.

Where the data shows up

When someone clicks the link, the parameter values are sent to Google Analytics and appear in the Traffic acquisition report, which Google's campaign URL page (opens in a new tab) names as the place to view Session source / medium, Session medium, Session source and Session campaign. The Traffic acquisition report (opens in a new tab) sits under Acquisition in the left navigation, and its rows are grouped by Session default channel grouping, a rule-based grouping of traffic sources. For the example link, Google's channel rules (opens in a new tab) put a medium of email in the Email channel, so the summer-sale visits appear under Email, with summer-mailer / email as the session source / medium and summer-sale as the session campaign. Next: the GA4 tracking guide for the report itself.

For HubSpot, start with the HubSpot guide. One more note from Google on GA4: UTM values are omitted from the Landing page + query string and Page path + query string dimensions and populate the Page location dimension instead.

There are three ways, and they produce the same link. You can type the parameters by hand, following the rules above. Google's Campaign URL Builder (opens in a new tab) is the tool Google points to for links to websites. Or use the free UTMTool builder, which builds a campaign URL with UTM parameters for GA4, offers quick-fill buttons for Google Ads, Meta ads, LinkedIn ads, LinkedIn post and Newsletter, suggests cpc, email, social and paid-social as medium values, needs no signup and runs in your browser, so your recent links stay on your device.

Six mistakes that break UTM data

Google's UTM best practices (opens in a new tab) cover the first four.

  1. Mixed case. Meta and meta, or SpringSale and Spring_Sale, are treated as different values. Use lowercase as a standard practice.
  2. Several names for one campaign. Google's rule is one unique name that matches the exact campaign name, so one marketing effort does not split into several rows. A shared UTM naming convention does this for a team.
  3. Several sources or mediums for one platform. Use one utm_source per platform and one utm_medium per channel.
  4. A missing parameter. Set source, medium and campaign together; a gap reports as (not set).
  5. UTM parameters on Google Ads links that are already auto-tagged. Google's manual tagging and auto-tagging page (opens in a new tab) explains that when manual tagging and auto-tagging are used together, Google Analytics uses the auto-tagged values for source, medium and the other traffic-classification dimensions.
  6. Shipping without a check. The campaign link preflight checklist is the last pass before a tagged link goes out.

What UTM tracking does not tell you

Google's campaign URL page (opens in a new tab) describes what the parameters do: when a user clicks the link, the values are sent to Analytics and show which campaign referred the traffic. Whether that visit went on to convert is a separate question to ask your analytics tool. The parameters are part of the destination URL itself. And a session is associated with only one campaign or traffic source (opens in a new tab): Google Analytics does not start a new session when it encounters a new campaign mid-session, so a tagged link clicked inside your own site will not re-attribute the visit.

Pick the page, decide the source and medium, name the campaign in lowercase, and build it in the free UTMTool builder. Then open Traffic acquisition after the first clicks and look for your campaign name.

Sources

Tools for this

Frequently asked questions

Is a UTM the same as a URL?

No. UTM parameters are extra fields added after a question mark at the end of a URL; a UTM link is a normal URL that carries them.

Are UTMs still used in GA4?

Yes. Google Analytics 4 reads utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign into the Session source, Session medium and Session campaign dimensions, and also reads utm_id and utm_source_platform.

Can I use UTM parameters on internal links?

Google documents UTM parameters for referral links and ad campaigns that bring a visitor to your site. A session is tied to one campaign or traffic source, so a tagged internal link does not start a new session; keep UTM parameters on links from outside your site.

Do I need all five parameters?

Google recommends always using utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, and strongly recommends setting every relevant parameter if you set one, because a missing parameter reports as (not set). utm_term is for a paid keyword and utm_content for telling creatives apart.

Build a campaign link

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

Open the free UTM builder