The word UTM Stands for Urchin Tracking Module. Urchin was originally a web analytics software, developed by Urchin Software Corporation and designed to track the behavior of unique website visitors. Google bought it in 2005 and the acquisition led to the creation of Google Analytics, which became the most popular web data analytics tool across the internet.
What Are UTM parameters?
UTM parameters are simple tags that you add to any website URL. When someone clicks on the link that consists of UTM parameters it sends information to Google Analytics for Tracking.
How Does Urchin Module Tagging Work?
Through this data analytics tool you can track five things by using 5 distinct parameters:
utm_source
What is the source of your traffic? (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
utm_medium
What is the medium through which your audience ended up on your website? (e.g., social, mail, etc.)
utm_campaign
Which campaign attracted your audience? (e.g., Bigdiscount2021)
utm_content
Which content works best for your post, ad copy, Meta data etc.? (e.g., differentiate between two CTA texts)
utm_term
Which paid term brought you the most traffic? (e.g., if you have paid campaigns, you can specify the keyword you used)
The above 5 parameters are the variables you are using when you are creating a UTM tagged link. You must add source, medium and campaign, while content and term are optional.
More information and examples for each parameter
The following table gives a detailed explanation and example of each of the campaign parameters:
Parameter | Required | Example | Description |
Campaign ID | No | abc.123 | Used to identify which ads campaign this referral references. Use utm_id to identify a specific ads campaign. |
utm_id | |||
Campaign Source | Yes | Use utm_source to identify a search engine, newsletter name, or other source. | |
utm_source | |||
Campaign Medium | Yes | cpc | Use utm_medium to identify a medium such as email or cost-per-click. |
utm_medium | |||
Campaign Name | No | spring_sale | Used for keyword analysis. Use utm_campaign to identify a specific product promotion or strategic campaign. |
utm_campaign | |||
Campaign Term | No | running+shoes | Used for paid search. Use utm_term to note the keywords for this ad. |
utm_term | |||
Campaign Content | No | logolink | Used for A/B testing and content-targeted ads. Use utm_content to differentiate ads or links that point to the same URL. |
utm_content |
So how do you create a UTM tag actually? There are actually several ways:
But in general, there are 2 ways that are most commonly used
1. Using Campaign URL Builder by Google
- Manual writing.
Using Campaign URL Builder by Google:
This tool allows you to easily add campaign parameters to URLs so you can measure Custom Campaigns in Google Analytics. By using this tool, you can create URLs for tracking web data, Google Play and IOS apps data.
On Google, search for Campaign URL Builder or click the link below:
Enter the Variables you want to track as shown in the image below your URL will be automatically generated below the fields, you can directly copy it and use it across your campaigns.
You can also generate a shortened version of the URL by just clicking on SHORTEN LINK Button as shown in the image below.
Manual Method:
Let’s take an example here assuming “https://manamsoft.com/” as our campaign URL with the following Variables.
To create a link, we just need to type “?” mark symbol immediately after completion of URL then followed by UTM Variable with desired tag and “&” symbol between every variable.
Advantages of UTM Parameters in Digital Marketing:
With the help of UTM tags, you will be able to track and understand the user flows, when you have better tracking the best, you can do with your marketing Campaigns like the number of new and returning visitors, the bounce rate, conversion and the detailed social media performance of your traffic.
Conclusion
UTM parameters provide extremely valuable insights into your traffic. You can uncover the behavioral data of your audience to help boost your sales and refine your overall marketing strategy.
