UTM parameters

Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) parameters are five variants of URL parameters used by marketers to track the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns across traffic sources and publishing media. They were introduced by Google Analytics' predecessor Urchin and, consequently, are supported out-of-the-box by Google Analytics. The UTM parameters in a URL identify the campaign that refers traffic to a specific website,[1] and attribute the browser's website session and the sessions after that until the campaign attribution window expires to it. The parameters can be parsed by analytics tools and used to populate reports.[2]

For other uses, see UTM.

This example URL has four of the five UTM parameters highlighted:

https://www.example.com/page?utm_content=buffercf3b2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=snapchat.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Use

UTM parameters in a URL identify the marketing campaign that refers traffic to a specific website.[1] To define and append the relevant UTM parameters to the appropriate URLs, marketers routinely use simple, spreadsheet-based, or automated UTM builder tools,[3] including the Google Analytics URL Builder for websites.[4] When a hyperlink contains a URL with UTM parameters, the web analytics software of the destination website interprets the parameter information and attributes it to the browser's website session and the sessions after that until the campaign attribution window has expired (by default, six months in Google Analytics).[5]

Metrics

UTM parameters that are passed to URLs can be parsed by analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, with the data used to populate standard and custom analytics reports.[2] Web analytics software may attribute parameters to the browser's current and subsequent sessions until the campaign window has expired.

UTM parameters

There are five different UTM parameters, which may be used in any order:[1]

Parameter Purpose Example
utm_source Identifies which site sent the traffic, and is a required parameter. utm_source=google
utm_medium Identifies what type of link was used, such as cost per click or email. utm_medium=cpc
utm_campaign Identifies a specific product promotion or strategic campaign. utm_campaign=spring_sale
utm_term Identifies search terms. utm_term=running+shoes
utm_content Identifies what specifically was clicked to bring the user to the site, such as a banner ad or a text link. It is often used for A/B testing and content-targeted ads. utm_content=logolink or utm_content=textlink

See also

References
  1. "Custom campaigns – Analytics helps". Google Inc. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  2. "Using UTM Parameters in Adobe Analytics". Adam Greco. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  3. "UTM Builders Guide". M. Mitova. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  4. "Google Analytics URL Builder". Google Analytics. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  5. Use UTM parameters in Wordpress Rankmath. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
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