What is UTM Tags?

Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) is a tracking code you add to the end of a URL/link to track analytics through digital analytics software – for example, Google Analytics.

UTM tags can be handy for understanding which marketing efforts are most effective.

Example of UTM tag:

yoursite.com/?utm_source=facebbook&utm_medium=paid_ads&utm_campaign=christmass_sale&utm_content=video_ad

The code consists of five different parameters:

1. Source – Facebook, Twitter, blog, newsletter
2. Medium – organic social, paid social, email
3. Campaign – Christmas Sale, Free Trial
4. Term – paid keywords or key phrases, like Website Design Toronto
5. Content – video ad, photo ad

Google says the first three parameters – ‘source’, ‘medium’, and ‘campaign’ are required. The ‘term’ and ‘content’ are optional and provide added context for you.

So, always use utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign when adding parameters to your URLs.

You can use UTM tags to track both online and offline marketing campaigns. For example, add them to:

1. QR Codes
2. Social Media Ads
3. Influencer Ads
4. Email marketing
5. Affiliate links

Google and Facebook let you add UTM tags automatically, but sometimes you need to do it manually. Here is a tool to generate your UTM tags.