What Are UTM Parameters?
Understand campaign tags and build clean tracked links.
What UTM tags do
UTM parameters are query values appended to a URL. They can identify the source, medium and campaign of a visit in analytics software that supports them. The tags do not track visitors on their own; reporting requires an analytics system on the destination site.
The three useful basics
utm_source names where the link appears, such as newsletter. utm_medium names the channel, such as email. utm_campaign groups a specific promotion. Optional term and content values can distinguish keywords or creative variations.
- Use consistent lowercase names if your reporting treats case separately.
- Keep the destination URL valid and publicly reachable.
- Never put private personal information in a UTM value.
Build and test
Enter the destination and campaign fields in the UTM Builder. It encodes special characters and preserves existing query parameters. Copy the result, open it in a browser and check that it reaches the correct page.