What Are UTM Parameters? Examples with Best Practices - (2024)

You need more than one marketing campaign to see great results, but you also want to be able to tell which campaign drives your conversions. Otherwise, you won’t know if you are allocating your budget efficiently or if you are wasting money. UTM parameters can help with this by letting you track where website visitors come from.

Take a closer look at some of the most useful UTM parameters examples to get a feel for how to use these parameters and how they will help you.

In this guide, we’ll cover the following:

• What Are UTM Parameters?
• Benefits of UTM Parameters
• 5 Main UTM Parameters Examples
• How to Write UTM Parameters
• Where You Should Use UTM Parameters Examples
• Best Practices for UTM Parameters
• How to View Google Analytics Data for UTM Parameters
• Wrap Up

What Are UTM Parameters?

UTM parameters are unique tags that sit on the end of a URL and let you track your campaign. UTM is an abbreviation for Urchin Tracking Module. This name comes from the fact that Urchin Software Corporation originally introduced UTM in 2002. Today, most companies use UTM parameters with Google Analytics.

How They Work

When someone clicks on a link that has a UTM parameter at the end, Google Analytics receives information about the link. The tag within the link provides important information, such as the source of the campaign that the person clicked on.

Understanding HTTP Referrer

To provide some context for the UTMs, you also want to be familiar with HTTP referrer. Combined, these are the two ways that Google Analytics determines where traffic comes from.

The HTTP Referrer field gets filled in when someone goes from one page (Page A) to another (Page B). In this case, Page A’s URL is placed in the field. Google Analytics looks at the field to see what the source of the traffic is.

While HTTP Referrer values work in most situations, they will not always be available. In these cases, you need another option, like a UTM parameter, to track the source of the traffic. Some of the situations when an HTTP Referrer value does not exist include:

• Navigating from links on tools without a referring page, such as a spreadsheet, PDF, or emails opened on desktop clients or mobile
• Scanned QR codes
• URLs entered directly
• Browser bookmarks
• Linked shared then clicked in instant messengers or mobile applications
• Navigating between an HTTPS and HTTP page

In these cases, UTMs offer an alternative way to get information on the source. Even in situations when the HTTP Referrer can tell Google Analytics the source of the traffic, there are still some limitations.

Benefits of UTM Parameters

Before using UTM parameters, it is natural to wonder why you should do so.

Analyze the Sources of Your Traffic

Their main benefit is the ability to let you see where your traffic is coming from. With the parameters, you can gather data for individual URLs and clicks instead of relying on page-level data.

You can use this to see what drives the most of your traffic. You can compare potential factors like which backlinks, sources, or channels perform the best. This lets you measure the effectiveness of each campaign strategy, source, or channel.

Allocate Your Budget Efficiently

From there, you can use that information to use your budget more efficiently. You will know which campaigns perform better and should therefore be focused on. You will also know which ones do not produce significant results, so you can reduce the resources you assign to those. You can also use the information about low-performing campaigns to guide you when making adjustments.

Examples of Specific Actions to Take Based on UTM Parameters

To further illustrate how these parameters can help you manage your marketing budget, consider the following concrete actions you could take based on your data:

• Eliminate poorly-performing marketing channels.
• Change campaigns or strategies for poorly-performing marketing channels.
• Decide the most important social media channels to focus on.
• See how well your newsletters perform (such as the Clickthrough rate).

As we go through the various examples and uses of UTMs, you will find even more case-specific uses and benefits, such as:

• Seeing which types of banner ads bring in the most conversions.
• Determining which influencer brings in the most visitors.
• Seeing which types of posts on social media convert the most.
• Determining which type of link in newsletters performs the best (header, footer, signature, etc.).
• Finding where on your website users from a particular source tend to go.
• Determining which promotions and contests are the most effective.

5 Main UTM Parameters Examples

There are plenty of UTM parameters that you can use to track various information. Of those, there are five main ones that you will want to consider adding to your URL.

Campaign

This parameter lets you assign a name to each campaign, so you can compare performance across campaigns. The code appears as “utm_campaign”. An example could be “utm_campaign=campaign1” or “utm_campaign=blog-outreach”.

You decide what to name the campaigns for this parameter.

Content

You can use the content parameter to separate content on one page that is similar but different. Examples would be distinguishing between buttons or CTAs on various parts of the page. The code is “utm_content”. Some examples could include “utm_content=footer” and “utm_content=yellow-button”. This type of UTM is most commonly used for completing A/B testing.

This UTM most commonly describes the button or link in some way, such as with terms like image link or header.

Medium

The medium indicates the type of marketing medium where you shared the link. Its code is “utm_medium”, so an example would be “utm_medium=social”.

Some common examples of mediums include social, display, CPM, PPC, CPC, organic, affiliate, email, and referral.

Source

The source code lets you know what source sends the traffic. It uses the code “utm_source” and an example would be “utm_source=facebook”.

Examples of sources include the tool or platform you use to create the medium, like Facebook, Instagram, Google, or a tool like Mailchimp.

Term

This UTM parameter lets you track keywords linked to your campaign. It is an alternative or supplement to keyword tracking through tools like Google Analytics. The code is “utm_term” so it could look like “utm_term=buy-motorcycle” or something similar.

In addition to search keywords, other example terms can be video titles, post headlines, email subjects, tweet’s bodies, and ad headlines.

How to Write UTM Parameters

Once you are familiar with the above UTM parameters examples and know which ones you want to use, you can start writing your own parameters.

You will likely have noticed some of the guidelines in the above examples and source codes. Follow these rules for success:

• Start the code with a “?”.
• Each parameter appears as the UTM code, the equal sign, and the identifying text. This is: utm_code=identifier.
• Separate multiple parameters with “&”
• Never put spaces in the parameters.
• The parameters are case sensitive.

To put those rules into action and create your URL with tracking parameters, follow these steps:

1. Start with your clean URL, which is ideally SEO friendly.
2. Add a “?” at the end.
3. Start with the source parameter.
4. Connect any other parameters with “&”

So, it will look something like:

yourURL?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=blog-outreach

Create the URLs Manually or With Programs

You can create these URLs manually if you want to. However, that leaves room for human error and can take some extra time. Instead, most companies opt to use a tool that builds their UTM parameters. Google’s Campaign URL Builder is among the most popular, especially since so many companies use Google Analytics. There are also other similar programs.

Where You Should Use UTM Parameters Examples

You can use UTM parameters to help you track any inbound link to your website. Some of the most common types of links you may want to adjust with UTMs include:

• Homepage
• Blog posts
• Landing pages
• Product pages
• Newsletter sign-up pages
• Contact us pages
• Google My Business page
• Mobile application (what links trigger a person being asked to if they want to continue on the app, then doing so)

Across all of those types of pages, you can use UTM parameters to help with a range of situations, providing you with valuable data.

A/B Testing

UTM parameters are incredibly helpful when it comes to A/B testing. In this situation, you can use the parameters to directly compare to alternatives. It is most common to test various types of content or source tags against each, but you can also get creative. You could even use the parameters to test whether you get better results if the link leads to your home page compared to a dedicated landing page.

Banners on Your Website

If you use images like banners to promote your company, then consider incorporating UTM parameters. An example of using this type of source would be to describe the product in a blog post and include a banner image that takes people from your blog post to the product page.

In that example, you may have UTM codes like “utm_content=header-image” and “utm_content=end-banner”.

Contests

If you are running a contest of some sort, you could use UTMs to figure out which channel delivered the most submissions for entries. Each URL would have different source and medium codes but the same campaign tag.

Display Ads

Any display ads should include parameters in the URLs. This makes it easy to compare various versions of the ads to see which one delivers the most conversions. You can use parameters to define things like the type of ad and banner size.

E-books

Companies that create e-books to boost sales can also incorporate UTMs into the links in those books.

One specific example would be to use the content tag to separate clicks from in-text links and CTAs.

Email and Newsletter Links

If you send an email newsletter, you should use UTM parameters examples to track how many people click the links in the email. This will let you compare inbound clicks from email to those from other sources.

For this particular example, you would likely always leave “utm_source=newsletter” in the code but adjust the campaign or content. In the case of content, you would maybe have links that include “utm_content=headlinelink” and “utm_content=imagelink”.

Email Signatures

A subset of email links worth using UTMs for is your email signature. It is common to include a URL in your signature, but you can get even more information by adding UTM codes to it. Use this information to compare the number of website visits or conversions you get from your email signature to those from other methods, such as social media or display ads.

You could also use different content tags to see if a hyperlink in your email signature performs better than a logo-connected link. That example could use coding such as “utm_content=textlink” and “utm_content=logolink”.

Google My Business

You should incorporate UTM parameters into your Google My Business pages for any local campaigns that you have. This is an interesting example on the list, as you can use Google My Business as a page to create UTM-filled URLs to as well as from.

From Google My Business, you can track clicks to your website or a specific landing page, such as the ones to make an appointment or view your blog posts.

Guest Posts

Guest posts are a common source of inbound links to your website. Use the parameters to track which guest posts bring in the most visitors.

Location of Audience

You can also incorporate UTM tags to look at the location of your audience. One example would be adjusting the tags to include the city name on various ads. This can let you know what geographic point to focus your marketing efforts on.

QR Codes

Given their small footprint and the prevalence of smartphones, it is now common for companies to use QR codes in advertising. Consider adding UTM parameters to the URLs for these QR codes, so you can compare them to other marketing efforts or even compare QR codes with each other.

For example, a restaurant could compare the results from a QR code on their menu versus one on a mailed postcard. The key differences could be “utm_source=postcard” and “utm_source=menu”. A retailer could also compare QR codes on product packaging versus those on ads by a bus stop.

Partners, Affiliates, and Influencers

For companies selling products and services, it is common to use UTM parameters to track when people visit your website or make a sale based on an affiliate or partner link. This lets you properly reward affiliates for their efforts and lets you know which ones perform the best.

While affiliates and partners are the traditional use of this parameter, influencers are the most popular modern example.

Press Releases

Adding the UTM codes to your press release links can help you track how far each press release reaches. This can provide you with insights such as how popular the press release was and the number of reporters who used the links in the press release in their own stories.

This can provide insights as to what type of press releases provide the most advertising for your company and which syndication platforms have the best results.

Printed Ads

You will notice that the example of QR codes shows that you can use UTM parameters even on printed advertising. In that example, you would have a different link associated with the QR code.

You could also do this by shortening the long URL with the parameters and sharing that shorter link. The best way to do this would be with a vanity domain that is easy for readers to remember and type in. You could also use any shortener tool. Just keep in mind that viewers will have to type in the URL unless you use a QR code. As such, you don’t want to make it long or too nonsensical.

Once you have a system in place for shortening your URLs or converting them to QR codes, the possibilities are limitless. Add magazine or newspaper ads into your data. Get data from links on in-store advertising displays or on the product packaging. Create specific links for billboards or ads on public transportation.

This essentially lets you bring the ease of collecting data associated with online advertising to offline advertising.

Sales Team’s Links

By assigning unique UTMs to your sales team in general or various segments of it, you can also track how many potential clients they successfully bring in to the website. This is one of several useful metrics for measuring the productivity of your sales team.

Seasonality

One of the more creative UTM parameters examples is to track variations in seasonal campaigns. This could help you compare how effective a certain campaign is at different times of the year. That, in turn, could let you optimize when to start your holiday advertising or another campaign.

Social Media Sharing

All marketing strategies should include social media as they have impact on both advertisers and general users. You can use the parameters to track visitors that come to your website from social media posts. For the most specific information, set up the parameters to not only track which social media page clicks come from but also what type of promotion on the page they are from. For example, Twitter lets you share links via regular tweets, promoted tweets, your profile description, or the website field.

Tags for social media sharing typically fall under source and content. So, they may include “utm_source=twitter” and either “utm_content=postlink” or “utm_content=profilelink”.

Best Practices for UTM Parameters

To make the most of UTM parameters examples, you want to make sure that you follow some best practices.

Be Consistent With Naming

If you don’t create a naming system, it is easy for your UTM parameters to get out of control. Remember that the parameters are case sensitive, so your naming system should include capitalization rules. You may decide to keep everything lowercase or just capitalize the first word. It doesn’t matter what you choose as long as you are consistent.

That consistency should also extend to symbols. Decide the symbol you want to use between words, whether it is an underscore, dash, or plus sign. Decide if you will include other symbols, such as percentages, in the codes.

The consistency with naming also needs to extend to how you refer to common sources. For example, don’t refer to Facebook as “facebook” sometimes and “fb” sometimes. This will lead to confusion.

The best way to make sure you remain consistent across your UTMs is to maintain a list of all of them in a spreadsheet or something similar.

Be Consistent With Everything Else As Well

Your consistency for UTMs should involve more than just the naming. You also want to be consistent about how you apply and use the parameters. One example would be deciding that all paid ads have a “Medium” UTM code. If you decide to do that, you must always apply the rule to get accurate information.

Choose Names With URL Visibility in Mind

As you choose what to name your various UTMs, keep in mind that they appear in your URLs. This means that anyone who clicks on the link will see it. There are two aspects to this: customers and competitors.

Make sure that your URLs and UTMs don’t include anything you wouldn’t want either of them to see.

Consider Shortening the Link

If you want to hide some of the information in the UTM parameters or just prefer the clean appearance of shorter URLs, consider shortening it. Use a URL shortening tool to do this.

Check a UTM Before Pushing It Live

Before you start using a UTM parameter, make sure that it is working properly.

Don’t Use It With Internal Linking

Even if you think it might be a smart idea, try not to use UTM parameters with internal linking. This can result in incorrect information from Google Analytics. It will consider the clicks to be new sessions, meaning you lose the original source information.

Use Google Analytics

If you have not already done so, set up Google Analytics for your website. As mentioned, Google Analytics automatically collects the data related to your UTM parameters, giving you insights.

Use Spreadsheets

Google Analytics provides a fair amount of data on your parameters, but you should also have some organization of your own. Spreadsheets tend to be the easiest method. At the very least, list all of your UTMs, as well as planned ones, in the spreadsheet. To make the most of it, you may also want to include some of the performance metrics.

Put the Data to Good Use

You already know that UTM parameters help you track the performance of various campaigns and sources of visitors, but you can do more with this data. Between your spreadsheet and the data from Google Analytics, you can get greater insights. Combine the UTM data with marketing metrics, so you can measure your marketing ROI. This involves paying attention to data such as sales, traffic, and conversion rates for each link.

Take the Data With a Grain of Salt

When you look at the data from your UTMs, remember that it is not foolproof, just like all other data you gather. Multiple things can negatively affect the accuracy of your data. The most common example is when users copy a link to share it.

How to View Google Analytics Data for UTM Parameters

You already know that you want to incorporate Google Analytics into your UTM parameters examples and the rest of your marketing campaign, but how do you do so?

In Google Analytics, start by heading to the “Acquisition” tab. From there, choose “Source/Medium”. Now, go to “Goals” and choose a conversion to analyze. You will see the relevant data based on your chosen “Source and Medium”.

To get even more insight, set up your Google Analytics Goals. This involves going to the “Admin” tab, clicking your site, and selecting “Goals”. Click on the “New Goal” button in red. The wizard will help you set up the goal.

Other Tools Have a Similar Process

If you choose to use a different tool instead of Google Analytics to gather your UTM data, the process can be different or can be similar. Mostly you will likely find the information under “Conversions”, “Acquisitions”, or a similar heading.

Wrap Up

Anytime you share a link online, it is wise to include UTM parameters. These help you define and track the source and other relevant information about where the traffic comes from. By gathering this data, you can compare various campaigns, channels, and sources to see which ones perform the best. You can then use that information to optimize your marketing budget allocation. UTMs tracking is easy as it is built into Google Analytics.