Understanding UTM parameter best practices is essential for making your analytics data nuanced and consistent. When you use UTM parameters correctly, you create cleaner reports, better attribution, and more actionable insights across every marketing campaign.
This guide serves as your comprehensive source of information for everything related to UTM tracking, from standard parameters to advanced use cases that work best for different scenarios.
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Contents
Checklist Part 1: Using Standard and Custom Parameters
1. Source Parameter Best Practice
☐ Use utm_source for the platform or website name sending traffic
☐ Use lowercase for all source names consistently across campaigns
☐ Omit the “.com” from domain names in your UTM parameter values
☐ Maintain consistency across your team (use “facebook” not “fb”)
Examples: utm_source=facebook, utm_source=mailchimp, utm_source=newsletter
When multiple team members create UTM codes, inconsistent source naming will splinter your traffic acquisition data and make analysis difficult. A proper naming convention prevents fragmented data and ensures accurate campaign reporting. The source parameter is often the first thing you’ll check when analyzing where traffic is coming from.
2. Medium Parameter Best Practice
GA4 channel groupings are determined by a combination of source and medium rules, not the medium alone.
☐ Use utm_medium for channel type, not platform name
☐ Understand the difference: source and medium work together but serve different purposes
☐ Match your medium parameter values to GA4’s default channel groupings when possible
Think of source as the origin (like the country on a travel ticket) and medium as the vessel type. Common medium parameter values include:
- utm_medium=email
- utm_medium=paid-social
- utm_medium=display
- utm_medium=referral
A common UTM mistake is putting platform names in the medium field. For email campaigns, “email” is always the medium parameter; the source should be your email platform name or list identifier. Understanding source and medium distinctions improves your reporting accuracy and helps you track traffic patterns effectively.
3. Campaign Parameter Guidelines
☐ Use utm_campaign for campaign name that works across all platforms
☐ Make campaign name specific, concise, and readable for easy identification
☐ Include identifiers like country, year, or product in your campaign parameter
☐ Keep concurrent campaigns separate with distinct campaign name values
Example: A marketer running a winter sale in Spain might use: utm_campaign=es_winter_sale_2026
This campaign name specifies the country, timing, and promotion type. The same campaign parameter can be used across paid social, email, and display ads while keeping your analytics data organized. Proper campaign parameters make cross-platform analysis possible and help you track UTM performance across all your marketing efforts.
Make Building UTMs Fast & Easy
4. Content Parameter for Placement Differentiation
☐ Use utm_content to differentiate link placements within the same campaign
☐ Tag different CTAs, ad placements, or creative versions with unique content parameter values
☐ Don’t skip this parameter—it adds valuable nuance to campaign reporting
Examples: utm_content=main-feed, utm_content=sidebar-ad, utm_content=header-cta, utm_content=footer-button
Many marketers make the mistake of skipping the content parameter because it’s optional. Instead, they create multiple campaigns with different campaign name values, which makes it harder to get granular insights for a single marketing campaign.
The content parameter is essential for A/B testing different creative versions and understanding which placements are driving traffic most effectively.
5. Term Parameter for Keywords and Copy Testing
☐ Use utm_term for paid search keywords in your Google Ads campaigns
☐ Extend usage to track email subject lines or ad headlines in the term parameter
☐ Apply this parameter for A/B testing copy variations across campaigns
Examples: utm_term=black_boots_sale, utm_term=win-free-trip-subject-line
The term parameter originated in Google Ads for tracking search keywords, but digital marketing professionals use UTMs broadly to track which phrases or headlines resonate with audiences.
This metric helps optimize ad spend allocation and identify winning copy. You can use Google Analytics to analyze which terms drive the most valuable website traffic.
6. Custom Campaign Parameters for Special Attributes
☐ Add custom parameters when standard UTM parameter options don’t meet your needs
☐ Use custom parameters for attributes you report on frequently
☐ Examples include: &geo=chicago, &affiliate=partner-name, &agency=agency-name
Custom campaign parameters allow marketers to differentiate campaigns without overloading the five standard parameters.
They work best when you need to track attributes like geographic targeting, affiliate partners, agency collaborations, or sub-brands. Note that GA4 does not automatically register custom query parameters and you may need to configure your GA4 to capture custom parameters.
Checklist Part 2: Naming Conventions and Systems
7. Establish Clear Naming Conventions
☐ Document your naming convention in a shared location accessible to all team members
☐ Define exact values for each UTM parameter type
☐ Ensure all team members follow the same consistent rules
☐ Use a tool like UTM.io to enforce naming conventions automatically
A naming convention is your single authoritative source for how to create UTM codes. Without it, team members might use “fb” versus “facebook,” creating fragmented data in your analytics.
Your naming convention should specify exact formats for source and medium values, campaign naming patterns, and content descriptors. This prevents inconsistencies that undermine your analytics and ensures everyone on your team can contribute to accurate UTM data collection.
8. Align with GA4 Default Channel Groupings
☐ Review Google Analytics’ default channel definitions before creating UTM parameters
☐ Match your medium parameter values to GA4 channel groups for consistency
☐ Use established patterns rather than reinventing the wheel for your campaign tracking
When your UTM parameter values match GA4’s default channels, you can easily compare campaign data with organic traffic data within your analytics platform.
GA4 automatically categorizes traffic based on session source and medium values, so alignment ensures accurate reporting in your analytics tools. This best practice helps you use Google Analytics more effectively for cross-channel analysis.
9. Document Link Creation and Ownership
☐ Record who created each UTM link for accountability
☐ Track when URLs were created and for which campaigns
☐ Use a builder that auto-populates creator information
When questions arise about UTM data, knowing who built the URL helps resolve issues quickly. A URL builder tool can automate this tracking, while spreadsheets require manual work to maintain records. Consider using a template for recurring campaign types to streamline your UTM process and reduce errors.
10. Use a Dedicated URL Builder Tool
☐ Choose a URL builder that enforces your naming conventions
☐ Use Google’s Campaign URL Builder for basic needs
☐ Consider a third-party tool like UTM.io for team collaboration
☐ Save builder configurations for repeated campaign types
Manually creating UTMs with a spreadsheet gets messy over time and leads to inconsistencies. A dedicated UTM builder allows you to create UTM codes quickly while maintaining standards.
The Campaign URL Builder from Google is free, but advanced teams benefit from builders that offer saving, team permissions, and validation rules. A tool like this eliminates guesswork and ensures your UTM strategy remains consistent across all campaigns.
Checklist Part 3: When to Use (and When Not to Use) UTMs
11. Always Tag Email and Social Campaigns
☐ Add UTM parameters to all email campaign URLs without exception
☐ Tag all paid and organic social media platform links with appropriate UTM parameters
☐ Use UTM codes you create rather than relying on platform auto-tagging
Email and social are the marketing channels most often miscategorized as “Other” or “Referral” in analytics. Always include UTM codes in these channels.
Use UTMs you create rather than relying on auto-generated tags from email platforms, as auto-generated UTM parameters may not follow your naming convention. This ensures you can accurately track the performance of each channel.
12. Don’t Use UTMs on Natural Referrers
☐ Don’t tag organic search traffic with UTM parameters
☐ Don’t use UTM parameters on links shared organically by users
☐ Don’t attempt to tag social posts made by the public
UTMs are not designed for traffic you don’t control. Organic search, user-shared links, and public social mentions cannot be tagged consistently. Attempting to do so results in incomplete, unverifiable data that clutters your analytics reports. Focus your UTM tracking efforts on channels where you control the links.
13. Do Tag Referrers You Control
☐ Add UTM tracking to business directory listings you manage
☐ Tag affiliate partner links with appropriate UTM parameters
☐ Add UTM parameters to any referral URL you place yourself
Channel reports with directory listings
Local directory listings on Google Business Profile or Yelp are valuable lead sources. Since you control these URLs, you can add UTM parameters to your URLs to differentiate directory traffic from other referrals. These parameters help you understand which listings drive the most valuable traffic acquisition and inform your online marketing decisions.
14. Never Tag Internal Links
☐ Don’t apply UTM parameters to internal links within your website
☐ Understand that UTMs on internal links start new visitor sessions
☐ Keep UTMs exclusively for external traffic sources
UTMs on internal links will restart visitor sessions, which skews your session counts, bounce rates, and conversion attribution. You lose the user’s original traffic source when UTM parameters trigger a new session mid-visit. This is a critical mistake that can completely distort your analytics data.
15. Use UTM Parameters with Google Ads (Hybrid Tagging)
☐ Keep auto-tagging (GCLID) enabled as it drives Google Ads attribution and cost reporting in GA4
☐ Enable hybrid tagging if you use Google Analytics alongside other analytics tools
☐ Use UTMs for cross-platform consistency and access them via manual dimensions (session source manual, session medium manual, session campaign manual)
Google Ads auto-tagging (GCLID) handles attribution and cost reporting in GA4, and UTM parameters will not override this. However, UTMs remain valuable for cross-channel consistency and are accessible in GA4 Explorations, BigQuery, and downstream reporting tools.
16. Implement a UTM Cleaner Script
☐ Add a cleaner script that removes UTMs from browser URLs after page load
☐ Ensure analytics still captures the UTM data before removal
☐ Prevent users from sharing tagged URLs in organic contexts
When users copy URLs with UTM codes and share them via messaging apps or email, the UTM code travels with the link. This leads to incorrect attribution – someone clicking a link shared on WhatsApp might be recorded as coming from a paid social ad campaign.
A cleaner script removes UTMs from the browser address bar after tracking fires, preventing this issue while maintaining accurate UTM data in your reports.
Checklist Part 4: Formatting Rules
17. Use Dashes Instead of Spaces
☐ Replace spaces with dashes in all UTM parameter values
☐ Use underscores only to connect words meant to read as one unit
☐ Avoid plus signs and special characters in your UTM parameters
Spaces auto-convert to “+” in URLs, creating messy links and inconsistent data. Use dashes to separate words (spring-sale) and underscores when two words should read as one concept (best_practice). This formatting best practice ensures your URLs remain clean and readable.
18. Enforce Lowercase in All Parameters
☐ Use lowercase letters exclusively in all UTM parameter values
☐ Remember that UTM codes are case-sensitive and treat uppercase differently
☐ Configure your builder tool to auto-convert to lowercase
Because UTM codes are case-sensitive, “Facebook” and “facebook” appear as different sources in GA4 reports. Here’s an example of unreadable uppercase tagging:
Faire’s Facebook Ad
This fragments your data and makes analysis harder. Using lowercase throughout eliminates this problem and makes URLs easier to read. The effectiveness of your UTM implementation depends on this consistency.
19. Avoid Redundancy Across Parameters
☐ Don’t repeat information across different UTM parameters
☐ If source says “facebook,” don’t include “facebook” in medium or campaign
☐ Use each parameter for unique, non-overlapping information
Each UTM parameter should add new information. Repeating “facebook” in multiple parameters wastes space and doesn’t add analytical value. Use each parameter to capture a distinct dimension of your campaign effort and maximize the insights you can derive from your UTM data.
20. Prioritize Readability
☐ Create UTM links that can be summarized in one sentence
☐ Keep UTM parameter values short and descriptive
☐ Test readability by reading the URL aloud
A good UTM link tells a story.
For example: ?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mothers-day-giveaway-2026&utm_content=win-free-trip-cta translates to “A Facebook user clicked our Mother’s Day giveaway campaign via the win-free-trip CTA.”
If you can’t easily summarize your UTM link, simplify it. This allows you to track campaign performance while maintaining clarity.
21. Shorten Long URLs
☐ Use a link shortener for user-facing URLs
☐ Consider branded short domains for better trust
☐ Maintain full UTM tracking even with shortened links
Long URLs with visible UTM codes can deter clicks—users may worry about malware or tracking. A link shortener or a custom branded domain shortener creates clean, trustworthy URLs while preserving all UTM data for analytics.
Configuring Custom Branded Domains (UTM.io tool)
This improves click-through rates while maintaining full tracking capabilities across all your marketing efforts.
What Are UTM Parameters?
UTM parameters are tags you can add to the end of a URL to track clicks and measure campaign performance. These small text strings contain valuable information about where visitors came from, which campaign brought them, and what specific link they clicked.
When someone clicks a URL with UTM codes attached, your analytics tools capture that traffic data and display it in reports. This allows you to track traffic from different marketing channels and understand exactly which campaigns are driving traffic to your website.
A standard URL looks like this: example.com
The same URL with UTM parameters looks like this:
example.com/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-cpc&utm_campaign=spring-sale-2026&utm_term=discount-shoes&utm_content=video-ad
The five standard UTM parameters include:
utm_campaign: Identifies the specific marketing campaign or promotion. Use this parameter to track campaign name across all platforms and channels, making cross-platform performance comparison possible.
utm_medium: Identifies the channel type, such as email, social, CPC, or display. This parameter helps categorize your traffic source by type within your analytics reports.
utm_source: Identifies the platform or website sending traffic. Examples include facebook, google, newsletter, or mailchimp. This parameter tells you exactly where your visitors originated.
utm_content: Differentiates similar content or links within the same ad campaign. Use this parameter to test different CTAs, images, or placements within a single campaign effort.
utm_term: Tracks paid search keywords or other distinguishing terms. The term and content parameters help add granularity to your reporting and allow for detailed A/B testing.
Why UTM Parameters Matter for Web Analytics
Without UTM parameters, your analytics would lack attribution data for many traffic sources. When traffic comes from emails opened in desktop apps, clicks from PDFs, or scanned QR codes, the referring URL often cannot be passed. This results in sessions being categorized as direct traffic or appearing under “Other” in your Google Analytics reports, making it impossible to understand which campaigns drove those valuable visitors.
UTM tracking solves this problem by embedding traffic data directly into URLs. When you add UTM parameters to your URLs, you gain the ability to answer critical questions about campaign performance:
- Which marketing campaign generated the highest-value conversions and best ROI?
- Which ad creative or CTA within a campaign drives the most clicks and engagement?
- Which email subject line leads to higher engagement and conversion rates?
- Where is your most valuable website traffic coming from across all channels?
While individual ad platforms like Facebook Ads and Google Ads provide detailed performance data, UTM parameters allow you to standardize campaign tracking and ROI attribution across all platforms.
You can view UTM parameters in GA4 to compare performance across channels in a single unified view, rather than jumping between multiple platform dashboards. Understanding where traffic is coming from helps you optimize your entire digital marketing strategy.
Practical Examples: Putting It All Together
Here’s how a marketer might use UTM parameters for a trade show campaign across multiple channels. These common UTM examples demonstrate how the same campaign can be tracked across platforms while maintaining consistent naming:
Paid LinkedIn: example.com/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social-cpc&utm_campaign=annual-tradeshow-2026
Organic LinkedIn: example.com/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=annual-tradeshow-2026
Twitter Video Post: example.com/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=annual-tradeshow-2026&utm_content=video-format
Affiliate Email Banner: example.com/?utm_source=activecampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=annual-tradeshow-2026&utm_content=banner&affiliate=partner-name
Notice how the campaign parameter stays constant while source, medium, and content parameters differentiate each touchpoint.
This approach helps you track traffic from each channel and see which drives the most valuable conversions. These tags you can add to the end of any URL provide the granularity needed for sophisticated campaign analysis.
With proper UTM implementation, you’ll be able to report on:
- Originating website or platform (traffic source)
- Medium type such as paid vs. organic
- Campaign name that spans a variety of marketing efforts
- Link placement in the messaging design
- Format of social posts
- Affiliate partner attribution
Conclusion
UTM parameters are essential tags you can add to your URLs to understand where your traffic is coming from and which campaigns drive results. By following this checklist, you establish a proper UTM system that delivers accurate, actionable analytics data across all your digital marketing initiatives.
Remember these core principles: maintain a consistent naming convention, align with GA4’s channel groupings, use a dedicated builder tool to create UTM codes efficiently, and always review your UTM data to track traffic patterns and optimize performance. Include UTM codes in every marketing campaign link to ensure complete attribution.
Whether you rely on Google Analytics’ reports or another analytics platform, our checklist helps you standardize your UTM tagging strategy and track the performance of marketing campaigns with precision.
By following these guidelines, every marketer on your team can contribute to consistent naming and reliable data collection that drives better business decisions.
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Very informative
Nice