Free UTM Builder
Create clean, trackable campaign URLs for Google Analytics in seconds. One-click presets for Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn, email and more.
Quick presets
How UTM tracking actually works
UTM parameters are plain text appended to a URL. When someone clicks a tagged link, Google Analytics reads those parameters and files the visit under the source, medium and campaign you specified. Nothing is inferred — whatever you type is what appears in your reports, misspellings included.
That is the whole mechanism, and it is why UTM discipline matters more than UTM tooling. Analytics cannot tell you that 'facebook', 'Facebook' and 'fb' are the same channel. It will faithfully report three separate sources, splitting one campaign's performance across three rows and making it look weaker than it is.
What each input means
- utm_source (required)
- Where the traffic came from — the specific platform or publication. Use 'google', 'facebook', 'linkedin', 'newsletter'. Keep it to the platform, never the campaign.
- utm_medium (required)
- The marketing channel type. Standard values are 'cpc' for paid search, 'paid_social', 'email', 'organic_social', 'referral' and 'affiliate'. This is the field most often misused, and the one most reports group by.
- utm_campaign (required)
- The specific initiative, e.g. 'spring_sale_2026' or 'q1_webinar'. Adopt one naming convention and keep it — this is what lets you compare campaigns a year apart.
- utm_term (optional)
- Originally for the paid keyword. Largely redundant if you have auto-tagging enabled on Google Ads, which passes richer data automatically.
- utm_content (optional)
- Distinguishes variants within one campaign — which ad, which image, which link in the email. Essential for A/B testing, ignored otherwise.
Conventional utm_medium values
Sticking to these keeps your traffic flowing into the default channel groupings in GA4. Invented values land in "Unassigned", which is where campaign data goes to be forgotten.
| Paid search | cpc | Google Ads, Microsoft Ads. Use with auto-tagging off only. |
|---|---|---|
| Paid social | paid_social | Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok paid placements. |
| Organic social | organic_social | Bio links, unpaid posts, community replies. |
| Newsletters and lifecycle sends. | ||
| Display | display | Banner and programmatic buys. |
| Affiliate | affiliate | Partner and referral programmes. |
A worked example
- You are running a spring promotion, advertised in an email newsletter and on Facebook.
- The email link becomes: yoursite.ca/spring?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_sale_2026
- The Facebook ad becomes: yoursite.ca/spring?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=spring_sale_2026
- Both use the identical campaign name, so GA4 groups them under one campaign while still separating the two sources.
- Adding utm_content=carousel_a and utm_content=video_b to two Facebook ads lets you compare creative within that source.
Result: one campaign, two attributable channels, and creative-level detail — all from consistent naming rather than extra tooling.
Common mistakes
Tagging internal links
Never put UTMs on links between pages of your own site. Doing so restarts the session and overwrites the original source, so the visit gets credited to itself and the real acquisition channel disappears from your reports.
Inconsistent capitalisation
GA4 treats Email and email as different mediums. Lowercase everything, always. This single rule prevents most fragmented reporting.
Using UTMs on Google Ads with auto-tagging on
Manual UTMs override the GCLID and you lose keyword, device and cost data. Leave auto-tagging enabled and skip manual tagging for Google Ads entirely.
Spaces in parameter values
Spaces break URLs or become %20 in reports. Use underscores, and keep the convention identical across every campaign.
Write your convention down in a shared document before you build the first link. UTM data cannot be corrected retroactively — a mistyped medium in March is still a mistyped medium in December, and the only fix is knowing what the value should have been. A single page defining your source, medium and campaign vocabulary is worth more than any builder tool, including this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
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