Free UTM Builder

UTM stands for “Urchin Traffic Monitor”. This name comes from Urchin Tracker, a web analytics software that served as the base for Google Analytics.

A UTM code looks something like this:

https://yourawesomewebsite.com/your-post-title/?utm_source=google

The part in bold starting after ‘?’ is the UTM code. As you might have guessed, this particular code tracks who sent the traffic to the page (i.e. the source).

A UTM code is a snippet of simple code that you can add to the end of a URL to track the performance of campaigns and content. There are 5 variants of URL parameters you can track – source, medium, campaign, term and content. Dimensions you track via UTM codes show up in your analytics reports to give you a clearer insight into marketing performance.

The UTM code itself has two components:

• UTM Parameter – that starts with utm_. There are 5 separate parameters you can track: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term (more on these below).
• Tracking variable – a unique variable to identify the dimension being tracked (such as the name of the traffic source). This variable is preceded by the “=” sign. You can have only numbers, letters, hyphens, ‘+’ sign and periods in the variable.

There are five different UTM parameters. The first 3 are by far the most used parameters (Source, Medium, Campaign), but for additional insights, you may also choose to track all 5. Here’s exactly what you can track with each:

1. Traffic Source

The source parameter allows you to track where the traffic originated from. The parameter added to your url is utm_source. Sources you may track could be facebook, google, bing, or the name of an email list.

Example: &utm_source=twitter

2. Medium

The medium parameter tracks what type of traffic the visitor originated from – cpc, email, social, referral, display, etc. The parameter is utm_medium

Example: &utm_medium=cpc

3. Campaign Name

The campaign name parameter allows you to track the performance of a specific campaign. For example, you can use the campaign parameter to differentiate traffic between different Facebook Ad campaigns or email campaigns. The parameter is utm_campaign.

Example: &utm_campaign=example-campaign

4. Content

In case you have multiple links pointing to the same URL (such as an email with two CTA buttons), this code will help you track which link was clicked. The parameter is utm_content.

Example: &utm_content=navlink

5. Keyword Term

The keyword parameter allows you to track which keyword term a website visitor came from. This parameter is specifically used for paid search ads. The parameter is utm_term.

Example: &utm_term=marketing+tactics

Adding the UTM code doesn’t impact the actual load of your page. You can very well delete the UTM code from the URL and the page would continue to load normally.

The code only serves one purpose: to help your analytics tool track the source of your visitor.

For (agency) marketers, this means that you can use these codes to calculate the impact of your campaigns. If you’ve ever struggled with marketing attribution, UTM codes will come extremely handy.

There are multiple ways to create UTM codes. Below, we’ll cover the most popular ones:

1. Manual Method

There is nothing technically complicated about UTM codes. Your first option is to manually add the parameters.

This is as simple as typing in individual parameters at the end of your URL. The tricky part here is not making any errors! UTM codes can get pretty lengthy and you’re bound to make mistakes, so we generally don’t recommend the manual method.

2. Using our free template

To use it, simply enter your website destination address in the template. You are required to enter the campaign source and the campaign name (so that you can keep track in All Traffic -> Source/Medium); the rest of the parameters are optional.

Getting to the Campaign report in Google Analytics is pretty easy.

1. Navigate to the Acquisition tab on the left-side panel navigation. Click that, and it will expand.
2. Inside, you’ll see the Campaigns link. Click it.
3. Select All Campaigns. Now you’ll see a list of your Campaign Names (utm_campaign).To be sure that you are seeing the data you’d like for the time period of time relevant to the report you are hoping to generate, look in the top right corner of your Google Analytics console for the date selector. Is that date accurate? If not, adjust it before proceeding.
4. Above the list of Campaign Names, you’ll see a button that says “Secondary Dimension”. This is where the hidden gems live.
5. Click Secondary Dimension. From the drop-down, you’ll be able to select data to dive deeper into the UTM reports.
6. Commonly selected UTM’s you may be seeking are Source/Medium. Click it, and you’ll see the utm_source and utm_medium next to the utm_campaign. That will tell you which Source and Mediums drove the traffic to your campaign.
7. Did you use the additional fields in the link builder? If so, you’ll be interested to see the specific utm_content or utm_term in the report. (utm_term should have only been used for your Google Ads – don’t use that one if you’re just publishing organic content)
8. If you used utm_content, select Secondary Dimension again. Now scroll down to Advertising and expand that section. utm_content is a.k.a. Ad Content in the secondary dimensions.