What does UTM stand for?

UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. Urchin was the analytics product that Google acquired and later turned into Google Analytics.

Which UTM parameters are required?

None is enforced, but source, medium and campaign are the minimum for useful campaign reports.

What is the difference between source and medium?

Source is who sent the traffic (google, newsletter). Medium is how it was delivered (cpc, email, social).

Do UTM parameters change how a page ranks in search?

Not directly. Search engines can treat tagged URLs as duplicates of the original, which is why pages usually declare a canonical URL without parameters.

UTM Parameters Explained: Source, Medium, Campaign, Term, Content

The five standard UTM parameters

Parameter	Meaning	Examples
utm_source	Where the visitor comes from: a site, platform or list.	google, facebook, newsletter, partner_site
utm_medium	The type of channel the link was placed in.	cpc, social, email, referral, affiliate, display
utm_campaign	The specific promotion, product or initiative.	spring_launch, black_friday_2026, webinar_series
utm_term	The paid keyword that triggered the ad (paid search).	running_shoes, crm_software
utm_content	Which link, creative or placement was clicked, for A/B testing.	hero_button, banner_a, footer_link

Which parameters should you use?

The three parameters that almost every campaign needs are utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign. Add utm_term only for paid search keywords and utm_content when you want to compare two links inside the same campaign.

Rules that keep reports clean

Values are case sensitive. Use lowercase everywhere.
Use underscores or hyphens instead of spaces.
Do not put personal data such as emails or names in UTM values, because they end up in analytics reports and server logs.
Never tag links between pages of your own website. It starts a new session and replaces the real source.
Keep a small, documented list of allowed sources and mediums.

Extra parameters supported by Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 also reads utm_id (a campaign ID), utm_source_platform, utm_creative_format and utm_marketing_tactic. They are optional and mostly used with imported cost data. This site's builder focuses on the five classic parameters.

A complete example

https://example.com/pricing?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=q4_b2b_leads&utm_content=carousel_a

Ready to create a link? Use the campaign URL builder or validate an existing one with the UTM checker.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does UTM stand for?: UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. Urchin was the analytics product that Google acquired and later turned into Google Analytics.
Which UTM parameters are required?: None is enforced, but source, medium and campaign are the minimum for useful campaign reports.
What is the difference between source and medium?: Source is who sent the traffic (google, newsletter). Medium is how it was delivered (cpc, email, social).
Do UTM parameters change how a page ranks in search?: Not directly. Search engines can treat tagged URLs as duplicates of the original, which is why pages usually declare a canonical URL without parameters.