Ok. So... funny story.

Note: Not in the mood for a funny story? No worries. Jump straightto "What is a UTM parameter?"

Recently, I was talking with a friend who works as a content marketer.It's his full-time job, and he's 100% immersed in that world. And as forme, I created Metrics Watch which gives marketing agencies quick, cleananalytics reports for their clients.

Needless to say, my friend and I both pride ourselves on our SEOknowledge, content marketing, and data-driven strategies. Which is whatmakes this next part of the story super embarrassing.

At one point, the conversation turned to link-specific tracking with UTMParameters. We talked a bit about them, their importance to marketers,and just totally nerded out for a while.

Pretty standard Tuesday morning chatter. 😉

But then my friend asked me an off-handed question:

I hate to admit this, he said, but I don't think I could actually tell you what "UTM" stands for off the top of my head. **Do you know?

I'm ashamed to say I had a total mind blank. I work with UTM parametersall the time. I think they're a killer, totally underused marketingstrategy for getting more accurate metrics.

In fact, I tell every marketer I know that they need to master UTMs forthe best tracking results.

But at that moment, I couldn't for the life of me remember what "UTM"stands for. Now, I'll turn the tables to you:

Without cheating, can you tell me what UTM stands for? And, if so,can you tell me specifically how to use them to get better trackingresults?

If you can tell me both of those things, congrats. Go get yourself acoffee and move on.

But if you can't, keep reading. Because in this post, I'm going to tellyou exactly what UTMs are and 5 ways you can use them to superchargeyour analytics tracking system.

Now let's get to that million-dollar question:

What Is a UTM Parameter?

A "UTM parameter" stands for Urchin Tracking Module. In short, a UTMparameter is a small piece of code attached to the end of your URL totarget and track specific campaigns. When someone clicks on a page witha UTM parameter, that information is sent back and segmented in GoogleAnalytics for more detailed tracking.

Fun Fact: Why the name "Urchin Tracking Module"? Urchin was thetracking company that introduced UTMs before Google bought them out andcreated Google Analytics. Turns out, the name just stuck.

There are 5 types of UTM parameters you can use: source, medium,campaign, term, and content. Each of them serves a different function intracking specific metrics. Let's take a 30,000-foot global view ofeverything.

• Medium: This is the type of channel drivingtraffic to your site. This can be social media, organic, paid, email, or anyother channel you use. However, each of these channels has their own uniquesources, which brings us to our next parameter...

• Source: Within each channel described above,you have specific sources. For social media, for example, one source could be Facebook, while another could be LinkedIn. For Organic traffic, one source could be Google while the other source couldbe Bing (but let's get real... it's probably just Google).

• Campaign: This is for tracking specificcampaigns or promotions you may be running. So let's say you're launching aspecific holiday discount and want to track the effectiveness of thatcampaign. A UTM will help you distinguish this campaign from your othersources of traffic.

• Term:: As the name suggests, this is used whenyou want to track specific keywords or terms. That's super important fortightening up your SEO game.

• Content: This is mostly used for A/B testingbetween different ads. To be honest, though, this UTM parameter usuallygives more information than most marketers need.

Here's the cool thing, though: you aren't just limited to one or theother. You can combine all five sources in the same UTM code to get asdetailed with your analytics as you'd like. In fact, the three mostcommon UTM parameters are required.

These include:

• Source

• Medium

• Campaign

And it makes sense that Google requires these three parameters. Theyhelp funnel the UTM code down from general to specific and provide loadsof useful information to marketers.

How Do I Create UTM Parameters for My URLs?

As you'd probably suspect, Google already has the simplest way to createUTM parameters for your URLs. They do so with a site called CampaignURL Builder:

The cool thing is that it's totally free and incredibly easy to use.

As we mentioned earlier, you need to input a minimum of source, medium, and campaign to generate a specific URL. Those fieldsare absolutely required.

From there, you can add the additional terms and content fields if you want. Then Google's Campaign URL Builder will generate a new URLthat you can track in Google Analytics:

Make UTMs More Appealing with Link Shorteners

Another cool feature of Campaign URL Builder is that it createsshortened URLs via Bit.ly.

Or, you can simply copy the URL generated and go directly to Bit.ly tocreate a shortened URL yourself.

And it takes literally less than 30 seconds to do so. You simply put thecode into the URL field from Bit.ly and click Shorten:

That will generate a much shorter URL (which is mainly good for sharinglinks via social media posts):

And voila! You now have a much cleaner, more concise URL.

How to Build the Right UTMs with Campaign URL Builder

Using Campaign URL Builder is incredibly simple. All you need to do isinput a bit of information about what you'd like to track in theappropriate field using the information we've given you in thisarticle.

And if you're new to all this, no worries. We'll go through someexamples step-by-step for you.

So let's say you're trying to drive traffic from Facebook. That's yoursource. Every time you post a link to your site (or a specific pageon your site) from Facebook, you have the following UTM parameter:

This will let you know all the traffic coming specifically fromFacebook.

And while that's good and all, what happens if you're doing both paidads and regular, good ol' fashioned generic posts?

For that, you'd need to add the medium for each:

• Facebook paid ads:

• Facebook posts:

Note: Yes, you could set your medium to "social media" if youdon't care to differentiate between your paid ads and your organic posttraffic. However, we always recommend getting as detailed with youranalytics as possible.

The reason you're doing this is that even though you're driving trafficfrom the same source (Facebook), you're also driving traffic fromtwo different mediums (paid ads and generic posts).

Separating this data is crucial because it helps you strategize withyour time and budget. Imagine running paid ads for a month only to findthat your daily Facebook posts are driving more traffic.

You could either tweak the copy of your ads or shut it down altogether.The point is that you're making a decision based on the data. Not yourgut.

Ok, so we now have the source and the medium. As we're gettingmore specific, it's time to label the campaign. This is whateverspecific promotion you're running like a summer sale or a Black Fridaydiscount:

Now you are on your way to a successful marketing strategy. In theexample above, you'll know how much traffic came specifically fromFacebook posts for your Black Friday sale.

Some companies, especially young startups, may not run too manycampaigns in the form of sales and promotions. When that's the case,some marketers simply put the month and year to track just the progressof their source and medium:

Note: Personally, I'm not a big fan of labeling UTMs this way. It'stoo vague to be effective, thus defeating the purpose of a UTM in thefirst place.

With this information, you can start building quality KPIs instead ofrelying on flimsy metrics.

From here, you can add term and content if you choose to geteven more specific. So let's say I was running cost per click (CPC) adswith Google and targeting the term "Metrics Watch."

I would simply enter this information in my campaign URL builder:

• Source: Google

• Medium: CPC

• Campaign: July 2020

• Term: Metrics Watch

And get the following URL:

That would tell me how much traffic is reaching my site from a specificCPC campaign.

If I had a larger budget, I may choose to A/B test that CPC campaign. Imay want to have one advertisement with an image and one with just text.In that case, I would add the final content UTM parameter:

And this would give me information about how the CPC advertisement withan image is performing. I would then create a different URL with"text-only" in the content field for my other campaign.

Now I have 2 specific links for the same campaign, with the samekeyword, from the same medium, all coming from the same source.

Again, this is usually overkill for most marketers. In most cases,simply using the required source, medium, and campaign fieldswill give you all the information you really need.

Internal Linking & UTMs

We have one piece of advice for when it comes to using UTMs to link internally on your site - don’t.

Doing so will only mess up your analytics and create inaccurate data.

When a user arrives at your website, this counts as a new session and a new pageview in Googe Analytics. If that user then follows a link with a UTM parameter while on your site, it will trigger a new session. This is problematic because it;

• Creates an artificially high session count

• Won't attribute conversions correctly

• Inflates your bounce rate

• Reduces average session time

All of which distorts your data and renders it useless.

The best results can be achieved if Google Analytics is able to track users through regular internal page links within your website. If you have correctly set up your UTMs and implemented them into your campaigns, then users will be accurately tracked when they visit your site in Google Analytics.

Where Do I Find This Information in Google Analytics?

Now you've created your UTM parameters, and you're tracking specificURLs for specific campaigns. But where do you find that information inGoogle Analytics?

First, head over to the homepage on Google Analytics:

Then click Acquisition in the left-hand side menu:

And under that heading, click Campaigns and then All Campaigns:

Your dashboard will then show you a Primary Dimension view that canbe either Campaign, Source, Medium, Source/Medium, or other:

Keep the default selection on Campaign and click SecondaryDimension. This is where you can start finding specific UTMs you're looking for. The most common is to select Source/Medium:

But now, we're starting to get into areas that are specific to yourneeds. In other words, when it comes to where you'll find the UTMsyou're looking for, there is no "one-size-fits-all" because there are somany variables at play.

You should, however, now have a good idea about what UTMs are, how youcreate them, how you build them, and where to find them.

Here's the thing: now you need to report them to your team. And forthat, there's no better tool on the market than Metrics Watch:

With Metrics Watch, you can set up your daily, weekly, or monthlyanalytics reports and have them sent directly to your clients or yourteam via email.

There's no messy dashboards or sharing login information or annoyingPDFs. Just the data you need, when and where you need them.

And that's it for today! We hope you found this guide on UTMs useful. You should now be more confident knowing what they are and how to use them to produce more accurate data in Google Analytics for your marketing strategy.

If you enjoyed this post, then be sure to check out these other articles:

• Bots and Spam in Google Analytics: Problems & Solutions

• 7 Google Analytics Tips for Better (& More Profitable) Tracking

• Google Analytics Audit: The Most Comprehensive Guide Around

They'll provide you with even more actionable tips and info to ensure you're getting the most out of Google Analytics.

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