What is UTM parameters?

Also called UTM codes, UTM tags, tracking parameters.

UTM parameters are short tags added to the end of a link, such as ?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social, that tell your website analytics where a visitor came from, so you can see which platform, campaign or post sent them.

Why it matters

Without tags, visits from social apps can be hard to tell apart in your website analytics, and some may show up as direct traffic. UTM parameters fix that, which is what lets you measure clicks, conversions and ROI from social media.

Example

A hypothetical bakery links its autumn menu from Instagram as example.com/menu?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=autumn_menu. In Google Analytics, visits from that link appear under source instagram, medium social and campaign autumn_menu.

The parameters

Google's Analytics help lists these parameters. It says you should always use utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, and that missing parameters show up as (not set) in reports.

  • utm_source: where the traffic comes from, such as instagram, facebook or newsletter.
  • utm_medium: the type of channel, such as social, email or cpc.
  • utm_campaign: the campaign, product or promotion, such as autumn_menu.
  • utm_content: tells apart different links or creatives in the same campaign, such as story_link and bio_link.
  • utm_term: the paid keyword, mainly for search ads.
  • utm_id: a campaign ID, which Google recommends setting.

How to use them

Set up a simple system once and reuse it:

Test each tagged link before you post it: open it, check that the page loads, then look for the visit in your analytics' real-time view. A typo in a parameter is easy to fix before publishing and impossible to fix in the data afterwards.

  1. Decide your naming rules: lower case, underscores instead of spaces, and one fixed spelling for each platform.
  2. Build each link by adding ? after the page address, then the parameters joined by &. Free URL builders, including Google's own, do this for you.
  3. Use the tagged link in your post, story, bio or ad. Shorten it if it looks messy.
  4. Keep a spreadsheet of every tagged link you create.
  5. In Google Analytics, open Acquisition > Traffic acquisition to see visits by session source, medium and campaign.

Common mistakes

Most UTM problems come from inconsistency:

  • Mixing spellings such as Instagram, instagram and IG, which can split one source into several rows.
  • Adding UTM parameters to links between pages of your own website, which overwrites where the visitor originally came from.
  • Leaving out utm_campaign, so visits show as (not set).
  • Putting personal information, such as a customer's email address, into a UTM tag.

A naming scheme you can copy

Consistency matters more than the exact names. One simple scheme for a small business:

  • utm_source: the platform in lower case, such as instagram, facebook, linkedin, tiktok, youtube or x.
  • utm_medium: social for unpaid posts, paid_social for ads and boosted posts.
  • utm_campaign: the offer or theme and the month, such as spring_sale_2026.
  • utm_content: where the link sits, such as bio_link, story or post_carousel.

Common questions

Do UTM parameters affect SEO or how my page looks?

They don't change the page people see. They only add information to the link that your analytics reads. Keep using your normal, untagged address in places such as your sitemap.

Do I need UTM parameters if the platform shows link clicks?

Yes, if you want to know what happened after the click. The platform tells you someone clicked; UTM parameters let your website analytics show whether they then booked, bought or left.

Can I use UTM parameters in my link in bio?

Yes. Tag the bio link with its own utm_content value, such as bio_link, so you can tell bio visits apart from links in stories or posts. Update the campaign value when the link points to a new offer.

Source: URL builders: collect campaign data with custom URLs (Google Analytics Help), checked 14 October 2026

Go further