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 attributes 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] Example URL, UTM parameters highlighted, after the question mark (?):

https://www.example.com/page?utm_content=buffercf3b2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.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] and the equivalent Chrome extension.[5] When a hyperlink is followed that 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).

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
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gollark: 1. GP2. RWTema's cheating inside it3. Just the general thing of undocumented unconfigurable features
gollark: The answer is, of course, "DE comes in and BLOWS IT ALL UP".
gollark: It's one of those things like "what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object".
gollark: I could *probably* fork it and tear out half the code, if you wanted, but you know.

See also

References
  1. "Custom campaigns – Analytics helps". Google. 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. "Google Analytics URL Builder Chrome Extension". Retrieved 20 June 2017.
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