What are UTM tags? Why and how to implement UTM tagging

Published Jan 17 2022 Last updated May 24 2023 1 minute read
Understanding UTM tags - the easy way
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What are UTMs, and why are they important for digital marketing? What information do you need to give Google Analytics? We will give you the lowdown on UTMs and explain how clean UTMs can help your business. 


What are UTM tags?

UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Model and is commonly referred to as UTM code or UTM parameters. They are used to help marketers figure out where their traffic is coming from - they tell Google Analytics how to organize your traffic to create more meaningful analysis.

What does Google Analytics need to know?

The main three things Google Analytics wants to know is:

Source, medium, and campaign

  • Source is descriptive at the highest level, like the name of the place it came from - Google or Facebook.

  • Medium is the traffic type, identifying what kind of traffic is coming from each source, e.g.) organic or paid on Google.

  • Campaign is the goal of the traffic. So, maybe it's book a demo if you’re a B2B company like Funnel or shop the sale if you’re e-commerce.

How can clean UTMs help your business?

If you get your UTMs right, Google Analytics will know what type of traffic it is so that you can segment it in different ways for accurate analysis.

So, if you want to build the right UTMs, don’t worry, the world is kind, and there are tons of UTM builders out there to help you get started! Like this one, we built just for you.

If you want to read more about UTMs, download our how-to guide that explains what you need to know to correctly set up your UTMs.

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