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.

Let us ask you a question. How do you think Google Analytics knows where your visitors are coming from?

If you guessed browser Referrer, you’d be right.

But the Referrer is not always set due to many reasons, including:

• Bookmarked URL
• Direct typing the URL in the browser
• Mobile apps
• Email clients
• Going from HTTPS to HTTP website
• and many other reasons

So if you cannot rely on the Referrer, you need to take matters into your own hands. That’s when you add UTM parameters to the URL. They help you minimize your Direct visits in your analytics.

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.

Indeed, UTM parameters are case-sensitive, and it is advisable to maintain a consistent lowercase naming convention in your campaigns.

Our free UTM Campaign Generator assists you in effortlessly transitioning between uppercase and lowercase while creating your tracking codes. Furthermore, the tool is designed to eliminate spaces and substitute them with a + sign, ensuring consistency and ease of use in your campaign management.

Certainly, it is possible to track a Google Ads campaign, but utilizing UTMs for monitoring performance in Google Analytics is not necessary. By linking your Google Analytics and Google Ads accounts, data can be shared using the GCLID (Google Click ID) parameter associated with the ad.

This method creates an automatic connection between the ad click and the session, enabling seamless data import in both directions without any extra setup. Opting for this approach is more straightforward, efficient, and precise compared to employing UTMs for tracking Google Ads campaigns.

If you run paid ad campaigns, the best practice is to use utm_source as facebook, utm_medium as cpc. For utm_term we recommend describing the name of an Adgroup targeting with a few descriptive words, e.g.. “20-35-interested-in-travel”. utm_content could be your ad variant.

If you are running a/b tests with your ads, you might want to see which version performed better.

The best option is to generate two links with different utm_content for each ad in the same ad group or campaign.

There are many reasons to use UTM parameters. It is a very useful tool that helps marketers track ads and campaigns.

As a marketer, you can use these to data and track the effectiveness of published media and online marketing campaigns. Some examples of when to use them are:

1. When you run ads on Google or social media and want to know where your website visitors come from.
2. When you use different ways to get people to visit your site and want to learn more about their sources.
3. When you send newsletters through email services and wish to check how well they work.

There are three mandatory UTM parameters:

1. utm_source: This parameter identifies the traffic source, such as the platform or website where the visitor clicked the link (e.g., Google, Facebook, or a specific website).
2. utm_medium: This parameter specifies the marketing medium, such as the type of channel used for the promotion (e.g., email, social, or CPC).
3. utm_campaign: This parameter denotes the specific campaign or promotional effort that the link is associated with (e.g., a seasonal sale, product launch, or content promotion).

The last two parameters, term, and content, are optional fields. Still, they add further context when tracking your campaign, so adding as many parameters as possible and being as specific and unique as possible is recommended.

UTMs do not affect SEO, but they can be used to track the performance of your organic search traffic. They can also be used to measure the impact of your SEO efforts on your overall website traffic.

Yes, you can use UTMs for email marketing. By adding UTMs to the links in your emails, you can track how your email campaigns are driving traffic to your website and which emails are most effective.

You should plan to use UTMs for every social media post you create so that you can more easily track how your social content and strategy are driving traffic to your website.