What is UTM Campaign and how do I use it?

UTM Campaign is a small bit of code appended to the end of marketing links, designed to track what promotion the user clicked on and share it with Google Analytics / Ads. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module, Urchin was acquired by Google in 2005. Query String Parameters (like utm_campaign) are added to the end of marketing URLs help track conversions and calculate marketing ROI (Return on Investment).

Who uses UTM Campaign?

Marketeers and advertisers who want to understand which marketing campaigns bring engaged, converting audiences to their website. By understanding what marketing converts and what doesn’t, they can adjust their marketing spend and strategy to get the best ROI. Although utm_campaign was designed to be used with Google platforms, it can also be read and used by other marketing platforms. You don’t have to use Google Analytics or run Google Ads to use UTMs.

How to use UTM Campaign?

The best way to understand UTM Campaign is to spot links with it on social media or in your email inbox. If you hover over a social media ad link on Facebook and click on it, you might see the utm_campaign describing the name of the cross-channel promotion: www.cutedogs.com?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=free_dog_food

If you hover over a different ad, at another time of year, it will often have a different campaign name:

www.cutedogs.com?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=black_friday

By creating separate links for different campaigns, analytics platforms know where use came from and can categorise engagement and conversions into those categories in analytics platforms.

After your landing page URL, add a question mark to indicate you are appending query string parameters. Then the parameter name and parameter value, separated by an equal sign. You can add multiple query string parameters by adding ampersands in between.

We recommend using a UTM builder like Uplifter to create uniform, error-free links quickly.

Once your links are applied to your ads, you can login to Google Analytics and segment your marketing activity by the campaign dimension.

Examples of UTM Campaign naming

Campaign names often identify a specific product, promotion or strategic objective or marketing message. It should be clear to your organisation and/or agency what set of marketing ads and activity you are referring too. Always-on campaign activity should also be named, a campaign doesn't necessarily mean the marketing is running for a set period of time.

Common examples: dog_food_treats, black_friday, buy-1-get-1-free, mans_best_friend

We recommend agreeing on a campaign name with your internal staff / agencies and avoid acronyms where possible.

For campaigns which happen every year, you could concatenate a year to the end. Example: black_friday_2023

Different types of UTMs

Most campaign links have more than one query string parameter. utm_campaign is one of five common Google query string parameters, along with utm_source, utm_medium, utm_term and utm_content. Each parameter is a different way to categorise, filter and report on your marketing activity. We recommend using at least three parameters: Source, Medium and Campaign.

UTM parameterDefinitionExampleutm_sourceWhere the user came from. This is often a publisher, social network, partner or email.google, facebook, newsletter, tradeshowutm_mediumHow the user got to your website. What type of marketing did they click on to get to your website?paid search, display, email, cpc, posterutm_campaignIdentifies a specific product promotion or strategic campaign.spring_sale, blackfriday, dog_foodutm_term (optional)Used for paid search. Use utm_term to note the keywords, phrases or type of PPC for this ad.dog+leads, brandtermsutm_content (optional)Used for A/B testing and content-targeted ads. Use utm_content to differentiate ads or links that point to the same URL.logolink, textlink, imagelink

UTM Campaign best practice

Follow best practice to make sure your UTM tracking works and future colleagues can understand reports:

1. Name campaigns clearly. Your names should be simple and use recognisable terms, avoiding acronyms. This enables users to understand what data they are looking at without having to use a lookup table to decipher meaning.

2. Always use lower case letters. This will make your reports easier to read, UTMs are case sensitive.

3. Spaces in a code should be replaced by underscores _ or pipe symbols |. Otherwise, spaces could either break the code or represented as a messy %20.

4. No long parameter names. Keep any names under 40 characters, some MarTech Platforms have character limits.

5. Don't use inappropriate or discriminatory language. End users can see utm_campaign in their browser.

6. Be careful if your landing page has redirects. If your landing page has a redirect, you need to implement campaign links on both the original landing page and the redirect page. Otherwise, the original landing page could be picked up as the referrer of traffic.

7. Don't use utm_campaign on links between internal website pages. If you do, your campaign data will be overwritten, and you will lose the original tracking source. You can use internal promotion code parameters for tracking internal links.