What are UTM parameters?

UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. You add the tags after a question mark, write each one as a name, an equals sign and a value, and join the pairs with ampersands. When someone clicks, the tags travel with them and Google Analytics reads them, so the visit can be grouped by campaign in its traffic acquisition report.

• utm_source: who sent the visit, for example a newsletter or a platform.
• utm_medium: the kind of channel, for example email or cpc.
• utm_campaign: the name of the promotion, product or slogan, for example spring_sale.
• utm_content: tells two similar links apart, such as two buttons in the same email.
• utm_term: the paid keyword, for ads bought by keyword.
• utm_id: a campaign ID that matches the ones you upload to Analytics.

Google’s guide says to always use source, medium and campaign. A finished link looks like https://www.example.com/?utm_source=summer-mailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=summer-sale, which is Google’s own example.

Without tags, a visit from a link in your bio, a DM and a story sticker can all land in one bucket. With them you can compare which placement brought people who stayed, signed up or bought. That is the difference between knowing a post was liked and knowing it paid for itself.

You can tag any link you control: your link-in-bio page, a link sent in a DM after someone replies, a link inside an email or a creator’s partner link. Links you do not control, such as someone else’s post about you, cannot be tagged.

Values are case sensitive. Google’s guide says utm_source=google and utm_source=Google are different values, and that SpringSale and Spring_Sale count as separate campaigns. Pick lowercase, settle on one spelling for each platform and write it down in a shared sheet.

The same guide says that if you set one UTM parameter you should set all the relevant ones, because missing parameters show up as (not set) in reporting.

Tip: Treat the tags as visible. Anyone who clicks can read them in the address bar, so never put a person’s name, email address or anything private in a value.