UTM FAQs: Everything You Need to Know

UTM parameters are tracking tags added to URLs to monitor campaign performance. They help you track traffic sources, campaigns, and user behavior in Google Analytics.

Use them for email marketing, social media, paid ads, and any marketing campaign to understand which channels drive the most valuable traffic.

Example: https://yoursite.com?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=spring-sale-2025

Ready to create your first UTM? Use our free UTM builder to get started.

GA4 automatically captures UTM parameters. Simply add UTM tags to your URLs using our free UTM builder, then track results in GA4 under Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.

Look for campaign, source, and medium data to analyze performance across different marketing channels.

Key UTM parameters for GA4:

• utm_source: Where traffic comes from (facebook, google, email)
• utm_medium: Marketing medium (cpc, email, social)
• utm_campaign: Campaign name (spring-sale-2025, holiday-promo)

Need help building GA4-compatible UTMs? Try our UTM builder with automatic GA4 formatting.

Use lowercase letters and hyphens (spring-sale-2025), keep names short and descriptive, be consistent across campaigns, and avoid special characters.

Our UTM builder automatically formats parameters correctly to prevent tracking errors and ensure clean data in your analytics.

Best practices:

• Use lowercase: spring-sale-2025 not Spring Sale 2025
• Use hyphens: email-newsletter not email_newsletter
• Be specific: black-friday-2025 not sale

Want to ensure perfect UTM formatting? Use our UTM builder with automatic formatting and validation.

A UTM code is a small tag you add to the end of a URL, like ?utm_source=newsletter. It helps you track where clicks and traffic come from in Google Analytics.

Ready to learn more? Start building UTMs with our free tool.

The standard parameters are:

• utm_source (where the traffic comes from)
• utm_medium (the channel type)
• utm_campaign (the campaign name)
• utm_content (used to differentiate ads or links)
• utm_term (often used for keywords in paid search)

GA4 also supports utm_id for unique campaign IDs.

utm_source identifies where the traffic originated, such as google, meta, or newsletter.

utm_medium describes the channel type, such as cpc, email, or social.

utm_campaign is the name of your marketing effort, like spring-sale-2025.

utm_content differentiates ads or links within the same campaign. Example: banner vs sidebar.

utm_term is often used to track paid keywords. Example: running-shoes.

utm_id is a unique campaign identifier in GA4. It lets you group different UTMs under the same ID for consistent reporting.

GA4 automatically detects UTMs in your URLs and shows them in traffic acquisition reports.

See how in our GA4 guide.

Go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition. Add source, medium, and campaign as dimensions.

Yes. GA4 relies on UTMs for campaign attribution. Without them, GA4 cannot show where traffic came from.

Yes. GTM can capture UTM parameters with URL variables and pass them into tags.

UTMs attribute traffic sources. Conversions are tracked in GA4 or ad platforms, and UTMs show which campaign drove them.

Use lowercase values, hyphens instead of spaces, and consistent naming. Never tag internal links.

Read best practices.

Use a simple format like channel-offer-date. Example: email-spring-sale-2025.

See naming conventions.

Yes. GA4 treats SpringSale and springsale as different campaigns. Lowercase avoids duplicates.

Use hyphens (spring-sale). They are cleaner and easier to read across platforms.

UTMs reset the session in GA4, which breaks attribution. Only use UTMs for external traffic sources.

No. UTMs do not affect search rankings. Google ignores them for indexing.

Yes. Add UTMs to final URLs, or combine them with auto-tagging for deeper insights.

Guide.

Add UTMs to the website URL field in your ad setup. Use source=facebook, medium=paid-social, and a clear campaign name.

Add UTMs to links in your newsletters or automations. Example: source=newsletter, medium=email, campaign=spring-sale.

Add UTMs to posts and ads. Example: source=linkedin, medium=social, campaign=whitepaper-promo.

Give each partner a unique UTM link. Example: source=influencer-name, medium=affiliate.

Generate a UTM link, then turn it into a QR code. Scans will appear as campaign traffic in GA4.

Yes. Use UTMs with short URLs or QR codes to track offline to online engagement.

Use a builder that enforces clean formatting and avoids errors.

Start with our free UTM Builder.

They are the same. Some people search for builder, others for generator.

Free UTM Builder & Generator.

Spreadsheets work but are prone to errors. Builders enforce rules automatically and save time.

Check that it preserves existing query parameters, handles hash fragments, trims spaces, and encodes values properly.

Run our UTM tests.

No. They stay in the URL until clicked. GA4 attribution windows (such as 30 days) determine reporting limits.

Yes. You can add custom fields like utm_region=canada. Just keep them consistent and lowercase.

GA4 stores campaign data based on your data retention settings (2 months by default, extendable to 14 months).