How to use the UTM Builder
- Paste the landing page URL (existing query strings and #anchors are kept).
- Click a preset such as Google Ads or Email newsletter, or fill in source, medium and campaign yourself.
- Keep Force lowercase on so “Facebook” and “facebook” don’t become two sources in GA4. Check the predicted GA4 channel badge.
- Copy the tagged URL, open it to test, or create a QR code. Switch to Bulk to tag many URLs with the same parameters.
What are UTM parameters?
UTM parameters are query-string tags added to a link — ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=launch — that tell analytics tools where a visit came from. Google Analytics 4, Matomo, Plausible, HubSpot and most CRMs read them automatically, so you can compare a newsletter, a LinkedIn post and a paid ad that all point to the same page. The name comes from Urchin, the analytics company Google acquired in 2005.
The parameters
| Parameter | Answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
utm_source | Which site, platform or list sent the visit? | google, facebook, newsletter |
utm_medium | Which type of channel? | cpc, paid_social, email, affiliate |
utm_campaign | Which campaign or promotion? | black_friday_2026 |
utm_term | Which paid keyword? | running+shoes |
utm_content | Which ad, link or creative? | cta_button_blue |
utm_id | Campaign ID for cost-data import | fb_2026_10 |
Get the GA4 channel right
GA4 assigns each session to a default channel group using source and medium. Medium values matter most: cpc or anything starting with paid from a search engine becomes Paid Search; paid_social from Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn becomes Paid Social; email becomes Email; affiliate becomes Affiliates. Made-up mediums such as banner-ad-q4 or qr end up as Unassigned. The badge above predicts the channel using a simplified version of Google’s rules — always confirm in GA4’s real-time report.
Naming conventions that save your reports
- Lowercase everything. UTM values are case-sensitive:
Emailandemailappear as separate rows. - Pick one separator. Use underscores or hyphens consistently instead of spaces, which become
%20or+. - Never tag internal links. UTMs on links within your own site start a new session and overwrite the original source.
- Let ad platforms auto-tag where possible. Google Ads’ auto-tagging (
gclid) provides richer data than manual UTMs; Meta and LinkedIn support dynamic values such as{{campaign.name}}in their URL parameter fields. - Document your values in a shared sheet so the whole team uses the same sources and mediums.
Long tagged links can be turned into a scannable code with the QR Code Generator, or inspected with the URL Encoder/Decoder.
Tools that pair well with the UTM Builder
- Redirect Generator — Paste your old and new URLs (from a spreadsheet, CSV or two columns) and get redirect rules for your server or platform — plus checks for chains, loops, duplicates and trailing-slash traps before you go live.
- Slug Generator — Convert any title into a clean, lowercase URL slug — with proper transliteration of accents, umlauts and Cyrillic, optional stop-word removal and a bulk mode for whole lists.
- Meta Tag Generator — Fill in one form and get a complete, valid <head> — title, description, canonical, robots, Open Graph, X/Twitter cards, theme colour and icons — with live previews and Webflow-specific output.
- SEO Checker & Site Audit — Paste a URL to run up to 70 on-page SEO checks in seconds.
Frequently asked questions
Which UTM parameters are required?
utm_source to attribute the visit, and you should always set source, medium and campaign together for clean reports.Do UTM parameters affect SEO?
Should I use UTMs with Google Ads?
Why does my campaign show as “Unassigned” in GA4?
cpc, paid_social, email, social or affiliate.