How to Create UTM Links to Track Traffic from Marketing Campaigns
To create a UTM link, take the page address you want people to visit and add tracking parameters to the end: at minimum utm_source (who sent the visitor), utm_medium (the type of channel) and utm_campaign (which campaign). When someone clicks, your analytics platform reads those tags and credits the visit to the right campaign instead of lumping it in with general traffic.
Typing parameters by hand invites typos that split your data into fragments. A UTM builder assembles the link from labelled fields, handles the question marks and ampersands, and produces a URL you can paste straight into an email, ad or social post.
The five standard parameters
Google Analytics recognises several UTM parameters. Five are used by almost every marketing team, and the first three should appear on every tagged link; leaving one out produces “(not set)” entries in your reports.
| Parameter | Answers the question | Example values | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| utm_source | Which site, platform or list sent the visitor? | newsletter, facebook, linkedin, partner-blog | Always |
| utm_medium | What kind of channel was it? | email, social, paid-social, cpc, referral, print | Always |
| utm_campaign | Which campaign or promotion? | spring-sale, webinar-onboarding, product-launch | Always |
| utm_term | Which paid keyword or audience? | accounting-software, lookalike-us | Mainly paid search |
| utm_content | Which ad, link or creative variation? | header-button, footer-link, video-a | A/B tests and multiple links |
Google Analytics also supports utm_id for a campaign ID and utm_source_platform, which are useful if you import cost data or manage campaigns across several platforms. For most small and mid-sized businesses, the five above cover everything.
Worked example: building and decoding a campaign link
A US software company is sending its monthly customer newsletter to promote a free webinar. The email contains two links to the same registration page: a button near the top and a text link at the bottom. The marketing manager wants to know how many registrations came from the newsletter, and which link performed better.
The registration page is:
https://www.example-software.com/webinars/year-end-reporting/
Here is how each field is filled in for the top button.
| Line | Field | Value entered | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Website URL | https://www.example-software.com/webinars/year-end-reporting/ | The exact page, with HTTPS and trailing slash, to avoid a redirect |
| 2 | utm_source | customer-newsletter | Distinguishes it from the prospect newsletter |
| 3 | utm_medium | Matches the channel name analytics expects for email | |
| 4 | utm_campaign | webinar-year-end-reporting | Groups every link promoting this webinar across all channels |
| 5 | utm_term | (left blank) | Not a paid keyword campaign |
| 6 | utm_content | top-button | Separates this link from the footer link |
The resulting link is:
https://www.example-software.com/webinars/year-end-reporting/? utm_source=customer-
newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=webinar-year-end-reporting&utm_content=top-button
Line 1. Use the final URL of the page. If the address you tag redirects, most redirects keep the parameters, but some strip them, and the extra hop slows the click. Check with a redirect checker if you are unsure.
Line 2. “customer-newsletter” is more specific than “newsletter”. Six months from now, it will be obvious which list this was.
Line 3. “email” is lower case and singular. Google Analytics groups traffic into default channels partly by medium, and using the conventional value helps the visit land in the Email channel rather than “Unassigned”.
Line 4. The same campaign name will be used on LinkedIn posts and partner promotions for this webinar, so the report can show total registrations across every source.
Line 5. Leave optional fields empty rather than inventing values. A blank parameter is simply omitted from the URL.
Line 6. The footer link is identical except for utm_content=footer-link. Comparing the two shows whether readers act early or only after reading the full email.
Build your own tagged link: enter your page address, source, medium and campaign in the free UTM link builder to generate a clean, correctly formatted campaign URL you can copy into your email, ad or post.
A naming convention saves your reports
Parameter values are case-sensitive in Google Analytics, so Facebook, facebook and FB appear as three different sources. Most messy campaign reports trace back to inconsistent naming rather than missing tags. Agree a few rules and write them down:
- Lower case only. No exceptions.
- Hyphens instead of spaces. Spaces become
%20or+in URLs and are easy to mistype. - A fixed list of mediums. For example: email, social, paid-social, cpc, display, referral, affiliate, print, qr.
- Descriptive, durable campaign names. Name the offer or event, not the person who set it up.
- A shared log. A simple spreadsheet listing every tagged link, its date and its purpose keeps the whole team consistent.
Where UTM links help, and where they hurt
Use them on: emails, social posts, paid social ads, partner and affiliate links, press releases, podcast show notes, and printed material through a short link or QR code. If you print a code on a flyer, tag the destination first and then generate the code with a QR code generator, using utm_medium=print or qr, so offline campaigns show up in your reports too.
Never use them on internal links within your own website. Clicking a UTM-tagged link starts a new attribution, so a visitor who arrived from a Google search and then clicked a tagged banner on your home page would be credited to the banner instead. Your organic search figures shrink and the internal campaign looks far better than it is.
Check before tagging paid search. Google Ads auto-tagging already passes detailed campaign data to Google Analytics. Adding manual UTMs on top can conflict with it unless you have deliberately configured both.
Frequently asked questions
Which UTM parameters are required?
Analytics will record a link with just one parameter, but you should always include utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign. Google’s guidance recommends those three as the minimum, and leaving any of them out leads to “(not set)” values that make reports harder to read. utm_term and utm_content are optional.
Do UTM parameters affect SEO?
Not when used properly on external campaign links. Search engines generally treat a tagged URL as the same page, especially when your page has a canonical tag pointing to the clean address. Problems arise when UTM links are used internally or get widely shared and indexed, so keep them for external campaigns.
Why are my UTM campaigns showing as “(not set)” or “Unassigned”?
Usually a parameter is missing, misspelled (utm-source instead of utm_source) or uses an unusual medium value that does not match a default channel. A redirect that strips the query string can also lose the tags. Rebuild the link with a builder and test it by clicking and checking your real-time report.
Can I shorten a UTM link?
Yes. Long tagged URLs can look untidy in social posts and print. A link shortener redirects to the full URL, and the parameters are passed through as long as the redirect keeps the query string. Test the short link once before publishing to confirm the tags arrive.
Tagged links turn “we got some traffic” into “this email and this button produced these sign-ups”, which is the evidence you need to decide where the next marketing dollar goes. Set your naming rules once, then create every campaign link with the TechBullion campaign URL builder so the data stays clean from the first click.
