UTM builder

What are UTM parameters?

UTM parameters are five standard query-string tags — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, and utm_content — that you append to links you share in ads, emails, and social posts. When a visitor clicks a tagged link, your analytics tool reads the tags and attributes the visit to the right campaign, so you can see which channels actually drive signups instead of guessing.

The three hygiene rules

Most broken campaign reports come down to three tagging mistakes, and this builder warns you about each one:

• Campaign without source & medium. A utm_campaign on its own tells you what ran but not where — the visit is nearly impossible to attribute.
• Source without medium. Knowing traffic came from "google" doesn't tell you whether it was a paid ad or an organic mention. Always pair source with a medium like cpc, email, or social.
• Medium without source. "Email" traffic with no source hides which newsletter or sponsor sent it.

Naming conventions that hold up

UTM values are case-sensitive in most analytics tools, so Newsletter and newsletter split into two rows. Pick lowercase everywhere, use dashes instead of spaces (spring-sale, not Spring Sale), and keep a shared spreadsheet or naming doc so the whole team tags the same way. Consistency matters more than the specific scheme you choose.

If you use Tracely, you don't have to police this by hand: the Campaigns dashboard applies these same hygiene checks to your real traffic automatically and flags inconsistently tagged pageviews as they arrive.