What each parameter is for
- utm_source
- Where the click came from. A specific platform or publication:
instagram,linkedin,newsletter. - utm_medium
- The kind of channel:
social,email,cpc,referral. Keep this list short and fixed across the agency. - utm_campaign
- The name everything groups under. One campaign, one name, used identically everywhere.
- utm_content
- Distinguishes two links from the same source, a bio link from a story link, or creative A from creative B.
- utm_term
- Paid search keyword. Leave it empty for organic social.
A convention worth agreeing once
The value of UTMs is entirely in their consistency. A tagging scheme that three people apply three ways is worse than no scheme, because it produces reporting that looks precise and is not. Agree the medium list, the campaign naming pattern and the casing rule once, write it down, and tag from the same sheet every time.
One rule that saves the most pain: never put UTMs on internal links. They restart the session attribution and overwrite the original source, so an internal tagged link makes your own site look like the source of its own traffic.
Frequently asked questions
What do the five UTM parameters mean?
Source is where the traffic came from (instagram, newsletter). Medium is the kind of channel (social, email, cpc). Campaign is the name you group everything under. Content distinguishes two links in the same place, a bio link from a story link. Term is for paid keywords and is usually left empty for organic social.
Why is everything forced to lowercase?
Google Analytics treats Instagram and instagram as two separate sources. When several people on a team tag links by hand, that inconsistency splits one campaign across multiple rows in reporting and nobody notices until the numbers do not add up. Forcing lowercase removes the most common cause.
Do UTM parameters affect SEO?
They create separate URLs for the same content, which is why you should never use them on internal links. On external campaign links, social posts, emails, ads, they are standard practice and the canonical tag on your page handles the duplication.
How is this different from Google’s Campaign URL Builder?
Google’s tool builds one link at a time, which is fine for one link. An agency launching a campaign needs the same URL tagged for a bio link, stories, a LinkedIn post and a newsletter, consistently. This builds all of them at once and gives you a table to paste into your campaign sheet.