What are UTM parameters?

UTM parameters are manual labels you add to a URL so that analytics tools such as GA4 can see where a visitor came from. The five standard parameters are utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content. They work for every channel, not just for Google Ads.

Why are UTM parameters important?

One language for all channels: you report on newsletters, social media and ads in the same way.
Your own control: you choose the names of the source, medium and campaign yourself.
They work alongside auto-tagging: UTM parameters complement the GCLID for tools outside Google.

Examples of UTM parameters

?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=summer-sale for a Google Ads campaign.
?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=autumn in an email.
A custom utm_content value to tell two ad variants apart.

How do you use UTM parameters?

Agree on fixed spellings, for example lowercase only, because Google and google count as two different sources in analytics tools. Add the parameters in the URL itself or through a tracking template, and combine them with auto-tagging. Read more about measuring in analytics and dashboards.

UTM parameters