UTM parameters are the foundation of campaign tracking. They tell you exactly where your traffic comes from, which campaigns drive results, and how different channels compare. This guide covers everything you need to know to use UTM parameters effectively.
Published December 1, 2025 -- Updated March 9, 2026
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are tags you add to the end of a URL. They were originally created by Urchin, which was later acquired by Google and became Google Analytics. Today, UTM parameters are a universal standard supported by virtually every analytics tool.
When someone clicks a URL with UTM parameters, those tags are sent to your analytics tool, letting you see exactly where that visitor came from and which campaign brought them. Combined with a link tracker, UTM parameters give you a complete picture of your marketing performance.
There are five standard UTM parameters. The first three are commonly used; the last two are optional but helpful for granular tracking.
Identifies which site or platform sent the traffic. This is the origin of the click.
Identifies the marketing channel or type of traffic. Think of this as the category of the source.
Names the specific campaign. This groups all links from the same marketing initiative.
Identifies paid search keywords. Useful for tracking which search terms drive traffic from Google Ads or Bing Ads.
Differentiates similar content or links within the same campaign. Great for A/B testing different calls to action or ad creatives.
UTM parameters are added to the end of your URL after a question mark. Multiple parameters are separated by ampersands. You can build them by hand or use our free UTM builder to assemble them automatically. Here is the structure:
// Base structure
https://yoursite.com/page?utm_source=value&utm_medium=value&utm_campaign=value
When you use a tracking link generator, you can add UTM parameters to your destination URL before creating the tracked link. Track Link automatically captures and stores these parameters, so you can filter and analyze clicks by campaign, source, and medium in your dashboard.
Here are ready-to-use UTM patterns for the most common marketing channels:
Consistent UTM naming is critical. Without it, your analytics become messy and hard to interpret. Follow these rules:
UTM parameters are case-sensitive. 'Email' and 'email' show as different sources. Always use lowercase to keep your data clean.
Hyphens are URL-safe and readable. Use 'spring-sale' instead of 'spring_sale' or 'spring%20sale'.
Use descriptive values like 'weekly-newsletter' rather than vague ones like 'email1'. Your future self will thank you.
Create a shared spreadsheet or document that lists your standard UTM values for sources, mediums, and campaign naming patterns.
UTM parameters should only be used for external traffic sources. Using them for internal site navigation will overwrite the original source data in your analytics.
Use a standardized template for your UTM values. For example, always use the platform name as the source (google, twitter, linkedin), a fixed set of mediums (email, social, cpc, paid-social, referral), and a consistent campaign naming pattern (product-feature-date or initiative-quarter).
When you create a tracked link with Track Link, any UTM parameters on the destination URL are automatically detected and stored with each click. This means you get two layers of data:
In your dashboard, you can filter clicks by any UTM parameter. This lets you answer questions like: "Which source drove the most clicks to my spring sale campaign?" or "How does my email newsletter compare to my social media posts?"
Track Link also works with UTM parameters on the tracked link itself. If someone shares your link with additional UTM tags, those are captured too. See the UTM parameters documentation for technical details.
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