What does UTM stand for?

UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module.

The Urchin Software Corporation was the original inventor of what is now known as Google Analytics. The company was acquired by Google in 2005, and although the current version of GA bears almost no resemblance to the original software, traces of the “Urchin” name still appear in the code!

Common UTM parameters

There are various UTM parameters. The most common ones are Source, Medium, Campaign, Term, and Content.

Source tells us the location of an ad, for example, Google or Facebook.

Medium indicates the channel that led users to the website, for example, via an email, blog, or paid search.

Campaign refers to a specific campaign or promotion, for example, a monthly newsletter or a particular sale.

Term is used in paid search to identify keywords for the ad.

Content is used to identify different creatives. What did the user specifically click to come to the site? Perhaps a banner ad or a video.

UTM codes play a crucial role in campaign tracking and analytics. You can learn more about their advantages here. Uplifter’s Link Management Platform offers a comprehensive way to track campaigns using through building UTMs, and generating short links and QR codes.