Guide · 5 min read
What are UTM parameters?
UTM parameters are ordinary query-string tags appended to a link so an analytics tool can attribute a visit to a specific campaign. They are just text — nothing enforces them — which makes a shared naming convention more important than the tags themselves.
The five parameters
Three are effectively required and two are optional. Source identifies where the traffic came from, medium describes the channel type, and campaign names the initiative. Term carries a paid keyword and content distinguishes two variants of the same ad or link.
- utm_source — newsletter, google, partner-site
- utm_medium — email, cpc, social, referral
- utm_campaign — spring-launch, q3-webinar
- utm_term — the paid search keyword
- utm_content — header-link versus footer-link
Case sensitivity splits your reports
Most analytics platforms treat Email and email as two separate mediums, so a single inconsistent link fragments a campaign across two rows. Pick lowercase, use hyphens instead of spaces, and apply the rule automatically rather than trusting everyone to remember it.
Never tag internal links
Adding UTM tags to a link between two pages of your own site restarts the session attribution and overwrites the original source. The visitor who arrived from a newsletter is suddenly recorded as coming from your own homepage. Use internal link tracking or event tracking instead.
They are visible to the visitor
UTM tags appear in the address bar and get copied when someone shares the link. Keep them descriptive and professional, and never put personal data, internal codenames or anything confidential in a campaign name.