What are UTM tags and how to use them

Modern businesses actively use digital marketing, so it is important to understand where visitors come from and which advertising channels bring results. UTM tags are a tool that helps to track the effectiveness of online campaigns and better understand which channel traffic comes from. In this article, we will take a closer look at what UTM tags are, how they work, and how to use them in business.

What are UTM tags?

UTM tags are special parameters that are added to a regular link to a website after the question mark. They do not change the page for the user, but transmit information to analytics systems about where the traffic came from: from which campaign, channel, or ad.

For example, in the link https://example.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=sales_2024, the UTM parameters utm_source=google, utm_medium=cpc, utm_campaign=sales_2024 indicate that the user came from a Google ad, by the type of CPC (pay-per-click) channel, and within the «sales_2025» campaign. This type of UTM tag allows you to record where and how the traffic came from.

UTM tags are derived from Urchin Tracking Module, the name of the Urchin web analytics system that became the basis for Google Analytics. Today, almost all analytical services support these UTM parameters, allowing you to collect data on which channel or ad brought the user to the site. This is especially useful when the link is placed in external sources, such as a social media post, email newsletter, affiliate blog, etc.

Why do you need UTM tags?

UTM tags are used for a comprehensive analysis of marketing campaigns and help businesses allocate their budgets efficiently.

The main advantages of using UTM tags are

1. Traffic source tracking: they give a clear picture of which channels users come from (for example, social networks, search engines, affiliate sites). Source analysis using UTM tags shows which campaign, keyword, or ad brought the most visitors and conversions;
2. marketing budget optimization: allows you to measure ROI (return on investment). You see which campaigns or channels bring customers. For example, if an Instagram campaign generates fewer conversions than Google Ads, you can adjust your strategy;
3. content performance analysis and A/B testing: thanks to the utm_content UTM tag, you can compare different versions of ads or content elements. For example, one campaign contains a blue banner, the other a red one, and using utm_content, you can see which banner led to more clicks and conversions;
4. Evaluation of emails and posts: by adding UTM tags to links in email campaigns or posts, businesses can determine which email or post has led to more clicks. This helps to understand which content is more interesting to users;
5. help with analytics and reporting: data from UTM tags can be easily integrated into analytics systems. For example, Google Analytics automatically collects traffic by utm_source and utm_medium parameters, showing how much clicks from different ads cost by channel. This makes it easy to report on the effectiveness of all campaigns together and separately.

What is included in UTM tags

A UTM tag is a part of a URL link that consists of a parameter and its value. As we have already mentioned, when creating a link with UTM tags, they are placed after the question mark, and the parameters are separated by the ampersand «&». Each parameter and value is connected by an equal sign «=».

In total, a URL can contain up to five UTM parameters: three of them are required and two are optional. Required parameters: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign. If one of them is omitted, the analytics will lose some data about the source or channel. Two optional UTM tags – utm_term and utm_content – can be added as needed.

Each parameter has its own purpose:

• utm_source: Indicates where the user came from;
• utm_medium: describes the type of traffic or advertising channel. For example, pay-per-click in contextual advertising, banner ads, email newsletters, etc. Using standardized values, for example, cpc, email, social, helps to group the data in one report;
• utm_campaign: The name of a specific advertising campaign or promotion. For example, spring_sale or promo_2025. The value of this parameter helps to identify which campaign brought traffic or conversion. Therefore, when you send three email campaigns for different holidays, setting utm_campaign=valentine, utm_campaign=8_march, utm_campaign=mothers_day, you will later find out which one was the most effective;
• utm_term (keyword, optional): used in contextual advertising to indicate the keyword or phrase for which the ad is shown. For example, if your ad is shown for the query «buy sunglasses», you can pass utm_term=buy_sunglasses. This allows you to analyze the effectiveness of individual keywords;
• utm_content (content label, optional): used to distinguish between similar ads or elements in a campaign. For example, if one Instagram post has two links (in the title and in the body of the post) to the same product, you can mark them as utm_content=header and utm_content=body. Google Analytics reports will show which link brought more traffic.

By adding these parameters to the URL, we create a so-called UTM URL. An example of a regular link and one with UTM tags:

• Without UTM: https://example.com/motorcycles/cruiser/2024/7/;
• with UTM: https://example.com/motorcycles/cruiser/2024/7/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=sales_2024.

Such an extended link will show in the analytics that the user came from Google contextual advertising, i.e. source=google, channel=cpc, campaign=sales_2024). Note that the order of the parameters in the line is not critical.

Types of UTM tags

UTM tags can be static (or manual) and dynamic.

You set static UTM tags manually by writing specific words or phrases. For example, utm_campaign=summer_sale is a static value that you entered yourself. This approach is useful when you need to clearly define the name of a campaign or channel.

Dynamic UTM labels use special variables that are substituted by the system automatically when an ad is clicked. In Google Ads or Facebook Ads, you can specify the utm_term={keyword} parameter, and the platform will replace {keyword} with the actual search query that triggered the ad. Similarly, utm_content={device} in Google Ads will substitute the letter «m», «t», or «c» for the clicked keyword depending on the device from which the user clicked. Dynamic tags provide deeper analytics. At the same time, dynamic UTM tags have different names in different systems, so it is better to read the documentation of the advertising platform before using them ( Google Ads , Facebook Ads, etc.).

How to create a UTM tag correctly

For UTM tags to work correctly, you should follow a few rules.

Fill in the required fields

Make sure that utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign are specified in each link. Without one of them, analytics will not be able to understand where the traffic came from. Add utm_term and utm_content as needed for more detailed analysis.

Use clear and standardized values

It is advisable to use common names. For example, utm_source=google, utm_medium=cpc, utm_campaign=autumn_sale. Don’t clutter your labels with long descriptions, as simple short words or IDs make reporting much easier.

Uniform spelling rules

Always use the same case and punctuation within a project. Avoid Cyrillic because only Latin, numbers, and punctuation work. Do not insert spaces: use the «+» sign or the underscore «_» instead. Google Analytics considers a hyphen «-» to be a space, so it’s best not to use a dash as a separator. Avoid capitalization in labels so that all data from the same channel is grouped together.

Unify names

If several managers or agencies create UTM labels in your project, agree on the format in advance. For example, mark all email campaigns with utm_medium=email, and banners with utm_medium=display. This will allow you to filter all emails or banners by one parameter in your reports instead of searching for them individually.

Use UTM label generators

To avoid mistakes and speed up the process, you can use online UTM tag generators. For example, Campaign URL Builder, eSputnik, Google Play URL Builder, ‍ iOS Campaign Tracking URL Builder help you generate links automatically. You just set the parameters, and the generator assembles the ready-made URL. This is useful when you need to create a lot of unique links.

How to add a UTM tag to a link in practice

Adding UTM tags to URLs is very easy. If your website has not had any parameters before, you should put a question mark after the main domain, and then enter the UTM parameters in the form utm_source=…&utm_medium=…&utm_campaign=…. If the link already has some parameter, for example, «?id=123», then immediately after it add the «&» symbol and UTM parameters. Example: https://site.ua/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring_sale

If you need to add several parameters, put «&» between them. For example: ?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=promo&utm_content=header.

If you need to manually change the URL on your website or in an ad, you simply edit the link by adding «?» and «&» with UTM parameters at the end. For example, in a Facebook ad, you can insert a URL with a UTM tag in the Link field. It is important to check that after adding the tags, the link works and does not generate errors, and Google Analytics can receive these parameters.

Adding tags to Google Ads, Meta, and Merchant Center

Some advertising platforms can add tags to links themselves to make it easier to track.

Google Ads.

By default, Google Ads generates automatic tagging by adding the gclid (Google Click Identifier) parameter to the URL when an ad is clicked. If a user clicks on an AdWords ad, ?gclid=XYZ123 is added to the base URL. In case, Google Analytics associates this identifier with the corresponding campaigns.

If you want to use traditional UTM labels manually, you can disable automatic generation, but keep in mind that GA4 prefers the gclid parameter by default.

Meta (Facebook and Instagram Ads)

The Meta ad platform automatically adds UTM parameters to all ads if you do not specify them yourself. The following labels are added to the Meta ad links:

• utm_source=source name (Facebook, Instagram, etc.);
• utm_medium=paid;
• utm_campaign=ID of the campaign;
• utm_content=ID of the ad itself;
• utm_term=ID of the ad group;
• utm_id (additional identifier for analytics).

This allows you to track exactly which ad or campaign the traffic came from. However, Meta recommends that you generate your own label templates to match your internal reporting.

Google Merchant Center

In Merchant Center, you can set rules for adding UTM tags to product URLs in feeds. For example, you can include the parameters utm_source=google and utm_campaign=shopping_* in the product data. This will help you track traffic from Shopping product ads in Google Analytics. In addition, Merchant Center integrates with Google Analytics, and Shopping Ads reports often also distribute sources via UTM. Thus, you can use both UTM tags and built-in Merchant Center markup together in Shopping campaigns.

Where to track UTM links

After the user has clicked on a link with a UTM tag, information about the parameters is transferred to the web analytics system. Most often, Google Analytics is used for analysis. It has special reports on UTM parameters.

1. The Source/Channel report (in the Traffic sources > All traffic section) displays utm_source and utm_medium. It shows how many sessions and conversions came from each source and channel.
2. The All Campaigns report (in the Traffic Sources > Campaigns menu) provides information about utm_campaign, utm_content, and other labels. Here you will see which campaign and which ad were used, as the campaign and ad IDs from UTM tags are displayed next to the basic traffic metrics.

In addition to Google Analytics, UTM tags can be analyzed in other systems, such as Adobe Analytics, CRM systems, BI reporting tools, etc. The main thing is to make sure that these services are connected to the site and receive URL parameters.

Thus, properly configured UTM tags help the marketing department make informed decisions. Using them, you will always know exactly which advertising channel is the most effective for your business.

Iryna Voitovych

Copywriter

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