Guide · 3 min read ·
How to use UTM tags to find out which launch channels really work
You post your startup on a launch platform, send a newsletter, share a link on social media and list it in a directory. Then traffic arrives, and your analytics shows a pile of visits with no clue which effort caused them. UTM tags fix that. They are short labels added to the end of a link that tell your analytics where each visitor came from. This guide explains how they work and how to use them without making a mess of your reports.
What UTM tags are
UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module, a name left over from the analytics product that Google later turned into Google Analytics. In practice a UTM tag is a piece of text added to a web address after a question mark, such as utm_source=newsletter. When someone clicks the link, your analytics reads the tags and files that visit under the labels you chose.
The tags change nothing about the page the visitor sees. They exist only so that you can tell your traffic apart. A visit from a launch post and a visit from an email reach the same page, yet they appear in your reports as two different sources.
The five parameters
Three of the five are needed to make a link useful, and the other two are optional extras for more detail.
- Source (utm_source): where the visit comes from, such as producthunt, newsletter or twitter.
- Medium (utm_medium): the kind of channel, such as email, social, cpc or directory.
- Campaign (utm_campaign): the name of the push, such as october_launch.
- Term (utm_term): the keyword, used mostly in paid search.
- Content (utm_content): tells two links in the same place apart, such as hero_button and footer_link.
Naming rules that save you later
Analytics tools are case sensitive, so Email, email and EMAIL appear as three separate rows. The easiest habit is to use lowercase everywhere and underscores in place of spaces. This tool does that for you and tells you when it has changed something.
Decide on your words before you start and write them down. If one person uses social and another uses social_media, your reports split the same traffic in two. A short shared list of sources and mediums is worth more than any clever naming scheme.
What to tag first
Start with the links you place yourself and cannot otherwise measure. Your launch post, the link in your newsletter, the link in your social profile and the link you give each directory. A tagged link in a directory listing, for example, shows you whether it sends real visitors or only sits there looking good.
Use the quick start buttons to fill in the usual source and medium for common places, then give each push a campaign name you will recognise in six months.
Where to see the results
In Google Analytics 4 the labels appear in the traffic acquisition reports, where you can group visits by source, medium or campaign. Most other tools show the same three labels in their sources or campaigns view. Give it a day after the first clicks, and test your own link first so you know the setup works.
Mistakes to avoid
A few habits quietly ruin the data.
- Tagging links between pages on your own site. This overwrites the real source of the visit and ruins your reports.
- Changing the wording from link to link, so one channel splits across several rows.
- Tagging a link that passes through a redirect which drops the parameters.
- Putting private information, such as a customer's name or email, into a tag. The tags are visible in the address.
Using the builder
Paste your address, pick a quick start or type your own source and medium, and add a campaign name. The finished link updates as you type, and the notes tell you about anything that was changed or replaced. Copy it and use it anywhere you share your startup. When you want to see how a link will look when shared, the social preview checker shows the card, and the QR code generator turns a tagged link into a code you can print.