UTM Parameters Explained: The Complete Guide With Examples

UTM parameters are short tags added to the end of a link that tell your analytics tool which campaign, source and medium sent a visitor. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module (a few older sources say Urchin Traffic Monitor), a name that goes back to Urchin, the web analytics software Google later developed. A tagged link looks like this: https://www.example.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=summer-sale. When someone clicks it, Google Analytics reads the three values and files the visit under that campaign. Without them, the same click often lands in "direct" or a vague referral row.

What are UTM parameters?#

UTM parameters are name and value pairs that follow a question mark in a URL, so analytics software can tell which marketing activity produced a visit, but they only work if the tool reading them recognizes the names. According to the Wikipedia article on UTM parameters, the tags identify the campaign that refers traffic to a specific website, and analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics parse them to fill standard and custom reports.

The name is easy to misread. It's got nothing to do with the UTM map coordinate system that shows up in search results for the same letters. If your question was "what does UTM mean in marketing", the answer is short: a UTM is a tag on a link.

Why bother? One page can receive links from a newsletter, a LinkedIn post and a paid ad. Untagged, your analytics tool sees the browser's referrer at best. Tagged, you choose the labels, and the values you type become rows in the Traffic acquisition report, where Google Analytics shows session source, medium and campaign.

What are the five UTM parameters?#

Wikipedia and Google Analytics Help name five standard UTM parameters: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content. Only three of them do the daily work. Google's guidance says that whenever you add parameters to a URL you should always use source, medium and campaign, while term and content are optional extras.

Parameter	What it answers	Example value
utm_source	Where did the visit come from? The referrer, such as a site, newsletter or platform.	google, newsletter4, linkedin
utm_medium	How was the link delivered? The marketing medium.	cpc, email, paid_social
utm_campaign	Which promotion or product push is this?	spring_sale, webinar-q4
utm_term	Which paid keyword triggered the ad?	running+shoes
utm_content	Which creative or link was clicked? Used to tell two versions apart.	toplink, blue-button

Google Analytics reads four more parameters, according to the Analytics Help page on URL builders:

Parameter	What it is for	Reported in GA?
utm_id	A campaign ID that matches the IDs you use when uploading campaign data	Yes
utm_source_platform	The platform that directs traffic, such as a buying platform like Search Ads 360 or Display & Video 360	Yes
utm_creative_format	Type of creative, such as display, native, video or search	Not currently reported
utm_marketing_tactic	Targeting criteria applied to a campaign, such as remarketing or prospecting	Not currently reported

So the answer to "what are the 5 UTM parameters" is the first table, and the answer to "how many UTM parameters are there" depends on whose list you read: five in the classic set, nine in Google's current documentation. One practical note from the same page: if you set one UTM parameter, Google strongly recommends setting all the relevant ones, especially source, medium, campaign, utm_id and utm_source_platform, because missing parameters produce (not set) values in reporting.

How do you add UTM parameters to a URL?#

Add a question mark after the page address, then write each parameter as name=value, and join the pairs with ampersands. Google's page puts it the same way: separate the parameters from the URL with a question mark, list parameter and value pairs separated by an equal sign, and separate each pair with an ampersand. You can add parameters in any order.

1. Start from the final URL

   Copy the exact address of the destination page, including https://. When that page already has a query string, join your pairs to it with & rather than a second question mark.

   Owner: campaign owner · 1 min

2. Choose the values from your naming list

   Source, medium and campaign come from your list of allowed values, never from memory. utm_content earns its place only when two links or creatives need telling apart, and utm_term only when a paid keyword is involved.

   Owner: campaign owner · 2 min

3. Build the URL

   Google offers a Campaign URL Builder for websites and a Play Campaign URL Builder for Android app ads; typing the pairs by hand or filling a spreadsheet works too. Locking the spreadsheet values to a dropdown stops typos before they start.

   Owner: campaign owner · 3 min

4. Test the link

   In a private window, confirm that the page loads and the parameters stay in the address bar. Then find your own visit in the Realtime report or a tag debug view.

   Owner: campaign owner · 5 min

5. Shorten only after testing

   A shortener adds a redirect, so click the shortened version once more and confirm the tags survived.

   Owner: campaign owner · 2 min

The screenshot shows the builder with the newsletter example filled in; it writes the same URL you would type by hand.

Here are three examples taken from the same pattern Google shows, adapted to different channels:

Channel	Tagged URL
Newsletter	https://www.example.com/?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=summer-sale
Blog referral	https://www.example.com/?utm_source=exampleblog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=summer-sale
Newsletter, second link	https://www.example.com/?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=summer-sale&utm_content=toplink

The last row shows why utm_content exists. Google's example: two call-to-action links in the same email can carry different utm_content values, so you can see which version is more effective.

Where you can look at the result: in Google Analytics, session source/medium, session medium, session source and session campaign appear in the Acquisition, Traffic acquisition report.

What is a good UTM naming convention?#

A good convention is a short written list of allowed values, in lowercase, with one separator, and one owner who'll approve new values. The reason is mechanical, and it's costly. Google's documentation states that parameter values are case sensitive: utm_source=google is different from utm_source=Google, and Meta and meta are treated as different values. Each variant becomes its own row, so one campaign can split into several rows, which isn't what anyone wants in a report.

Google's own best-practice table for Analytics points the same way:

Field	Rule from Google's best practices	What it prevents
utm_source	One unique value per platform, such as a separate value for Facebook and Instagram	Merged or mislabeled platforms
utm_medium	One unique value per channel, such as paid_social and organic_search	Channels landing in the wrong group
utm_campaign	One unique name that matches the exact campaign name	One effort split across several rows
utm_content	Unique to the specific creative or format, with consistent naming	Unreadable creative comparisons
utm_term	Unique, strict and consistent keywords, for example all lowercase	Keywords grouped incorrectly
Dynamic parameters	Use dynamic UTMs in platforms that support them, to avoid manual entry errors	Typos at scale

The template below is ready to copy into a spreadsheet. The values are examples of the structure, not a standard, so don't treat them as rules. Change them to fit your channels and keep one list for everyone.

Field	Format	Allowed values or pattern	Example
utm_source	lowercase, no spaces	google, linkedin, newsletter, partner-name	linkedin
utm_medium	lowercase, underscore	cpc, email, paid_social, organic_social, referral, affiliate	paid_social
utm_campaign	lowercase, hyphen, topic first	product-launch, webinar-q4, spring-sale	webinar-q4
utm_content	lowercase, hyphen	creative or placement name	video-a
utm_term	lowercase, plus for spaces	the paid keyword	utm+tracking
utm_id	as in your campaign import	the ID from your ad platform or CRM	cmp-2047

Two habits keep the list alive, and they're cheap. Put the campaign name in the project brief before anyone builds links, so the value exists before the first ad is live. And review the list each quarter, because every platform you add brings new source values that someone will invent on the fly.

How do UTM parameters affect GA4 channel groups?#

Google Analytics assigns every session to a default channel group using rules on the source and medium, so the utm_medium value you choose decides whether a visit lands in Email, Paid Social, Display or Unassigned. Google's help page on default channel group definitions says the channel definitions aren't case sensitive and can't be edited, and that Unassigned is the value used when no other channel rule matches the event data.

The table below shows the manual-traffic rules from that page for the mediums marketers use most.

utm_medium (or source)	Channel it lands in	Rule from Google's definitions
email	Email	Source or medium equals email, e-mail, e_mail or e mail
cpc, ppc, paid_social, paid-social with a social or search source	Paid Social or Paid Search	Source matches a list of social or search sites AND medium matches `^(.cp.\	ppc\	retargeting\	paid.*)$`
social, social-network, social-media, sm	Organic Social	Medium is one of those values, or source matches the list of social sites
display, banner, expandable, interstitial, cpm	Display	Medium is one of those values
affiliate	Affiliates	Medium equals affiliate
referral, app, link	Referral	Medium is one of those values
sms	SMS	Source or medium exactly matches sms
organic	Organic Search	Medium exactly matches organic
Anything else, such as newsletter or post, with a source that matches no rule	Unassigned	No rule matches

If a row says (not set), a parameter was missing. Google's page says missing UTM parameters result in (not set) values in reporting. If you've found a large Unassigned or (not set) bucket in your Traffic acquisition report, compare the medium values in it with the table above first.

Do UTM parameters work with Google Ads auto-tagging?#

UTM parameters work with Google Ads auto-tagging, but the two don't carry equal weight. Google's help page on auto-tagging benefits states that when you use manual tagging and auto-tagging together, the source, medium and other traffic classification dimensions use the auto-tagged values, while your manual utm_content and utm_term values feed the Manual Ad Content and Manual Term dimensions.

That has a practical consequence, and it's easy to miss. For Google Ads clicks, you don't need UTM source and medium at all, and Google recommends leaving auto-tagging on. Its documentation lists the reasons: you can import Analytics key events into Google Ads, you save the work of tagging each final URL, you remove typo risk (utm_source=Google against utm_source=google is Google's own example), you can build audiences from Google Ads dimensions such as ad group, and you see extra dimensions like ad group name, keyword text and query. Google adds that reporting features coming in the future will only be available with auto-tagging.

Use UTM parameters for everything auto-tagging doesn't cover: email, organic social, partners, other ad platforms, QR codes and offline-to-online links. If you also want your own campaign labels on ad platform clicks, Google Ads has ValueTrack parameters for tracking templates. Per Google's page, a tracking template must contain a parameter that inserts your final URL, such as {lpurl}, or the landing page URL will break. A template like {lpurl}?matchtype={matchtype}&device={device} appends several parameters with ampersands, and {campaignid} inserts the campaign ID.

How do UTM parameters get into your CRM?#

UTM values sit in the URL until something saves them. Your CRM learns about a tagged visit only if a form field, a tracking script or a native integration stores it, so check that handoff for every form. It's where good tagging usually goes to waste.

Two common setups behave differently:

System	How UTM data gets in	What to check
HubSpot Marketing Hub	HubSpot's own tracking URLs save the parameters of a visit when someone arrives from a tracking URL. You pick a campaign, a source category and optional medium, term and content values.	The campaign is required, and the source you choose decides where the visit is bucketed. Test with the tracking code validator before the campaign goes live.
Salesforce	Out of the box, a Lead has one Lead Source field and no UTM fields. Teams add custom text fields and hidden form inputs filled by a script from the URL.	Fields must exist on Lead and be mapped to Contact and Opportunity on conversion, and the script has to survive page changes.

Salesforce setups depend on custom work, so ask whoever owns the form to show you a test submission. If your CRM is HubSpot synced to Salesforce, our guide to the HubSpot Salesforce integration shows how field mapping decides which value wins. A practical check is to submit a test lead from a tagged link and confirm that the record carries the source, medium and campaign you typed.

To get UTM values into a CRM record, work through these four steps for each form:

1. Create a field for each of the five standard parameters on the lead or contact record.
2. Add matching hidden fields to the form and fill them from the URL with a script or the form tool's built-in option.
3. Keep the values in a first-party cookie if visitors move across pages before they convert.
4. Submit a tagged test lead and check that the record shows all five values.

If your team keeps first-touch and last-touch values, store them in separate fields. Otherwise the next tagged visit overwrites the first one and you'll lose the original source.

What breaks UTM tracking?#

Yes, a UTM tag can break, for example when a redirect drops the query string, and most failures are silent: the page still loads, the ad still spends, and the report quietly fills with wrong rows. The table lists the common causes and how to spot each one.

Failure	What you see	How to fix it
Mixed case or spelling variants	The same campaign appears in several rows (Email, email, e-mail)	Lowercase naming list, builder with dropdowns
Missing medium or source	(not set) values in reports	Always set source, medium and campaign together
Medium outside GA4 rules	Visits in Unassigned or in the wrong channel	Use mediums from the channel table
UTMs on internal links	A visit that came from an ad shows as coming from your own site	Tag links you share outside your site, not links between your own pages
Redirect drops the query string	Clicks happen, but the landing page shows no campaign	Click the final shortened or redirected link and read the address bar
Auto-tagging and manual tags disagree	Google Ads source and medium differ from what you typed	Leave source and medium to auto-tagging for Google Ads
Form never saves the values	Leads reach the CRM with an empty source	Test a submission end to end, see the CRM section
A tag manager change removes the event	UTMs are fine but conversions stop	Monitor the conversion event, not only the link

Should you use UTM parameters on internal links? No, as a rule. The internal-link row is common practitioner advice rather than something Google's UTM page spells out. It's still a rule worth following, because a link between your own pages that carries a campaign tag can replace the real source in reports.

UTM QA checklist before you launch#

Run this list for every campaign. Ten minutes here saves a week of cleaning data, and it's the cheapest check you'll do. To confirm that a test click really fires your tags, follow our guide to using Google Tag Assistant.

Keeping UTM tracking from silently breaking#

A clean naming convention fixes the first half of the problem, the data you create. It doesn't fix the second. The second half is what happens after launch: a tag manager publish removes an event, a form field gets renamed, a CRM connection expires, and the tagged links keep working while the numbers go quiet. That's the gap between campaign setup and reporting, and it's why many marketing ops teams add regular checks next to the naming list. For the background on the function that owns this work, see our guide to what marketing operations is. If you're picking the tools that sit around your campaigns, our roundup of marketing operations software compares them. And if you'd like an AI assistant to help with the checks, our explainer on the Model Context Protocol shows how Claude and ChatGPT connect to those systems.

The Marketing Ops Manager checks the steps a UTM-tagged click passes through. It monitors landing pages, tracking, forms, CRM connections and sales handoffs on a schedule, opens an incident with evidence when a step fails, and works in Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP client. It's read-only by default and every write needs human approval. Signup is invite-only right now.

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