What UTM parameters are
UTM parameters are short tags added to the end of a link that tell your analytics tool where a visitor came from. Google Analytics, Plausible, Fathom and most other tools read them automatically. Instead of one lump of “direct” traffic, you see that a visitor arrived from Instagram, via a story, as part of your spring launch.
Enter the page you're linking to, fill in the parameters, and the builder puts together a correctly encoded link you can paste anywhere.
The five UTM parameters
Three are needed to attribute a visit properly; the other two add detail.
- utm_source (required): where the traffic comes from, like instagram, newsletter or google
- utm_medium (required): the kind of channel, like social, email or cpc
- utm_campaign (required): the campaign, like spring_sale or product_launch
- utm_term (optional): the paid keyword, mostly for search ads
- utm_content (optional): which link or creative was clicked, like story_link or bio_link
Tips for clean campaign data
Analytics tools treat “Instagram” and “instagram” as different sources, so pick one spelling and stick to it. Use lowercase, underscores instead of spaces, and keep a shared list of the names you use. Never add UTM tags to links between pages of your own site: that starts a new session and overwrites where the visitor really came from.