Free UTM Builder

What does the term UTM mean?

UTM is short for Urchin Tracking Module in URL tracking. It refers to a set of parameters that are added to a URL. They help you track the performance of a specific marketing campaign or traffic source. The UTM tracking code, also known as UTM parameters, includes five different pieces of information:

• utm_source: It identifies traffic sources, such as a search engine, social media platform, or website. This parameter is generally considered the most important.
• utm_medium: It identifies the medium used to deliver the traffic, such as email, social media, or display advertising.
• utm_campaign: It identifies the specific campaign being tracked, such as a holiday sale or product launch.
• utm_term: It identifies the specific keyword or phrase used in a paid search campaign.
• utm_content: It identifies the particular content variation used in an ad, such as different ad images or copy.

Which parameters are required in UTM?

Tracking will work with at least one UTM added to the tracked URL, but it also depends on the tool you use for statistics (e.g. Google Analytics, PIWIK). It's up to marketers to determine which parameters are most relevant to their tracking needs.

Why should I use UTM in my URLs?

Using UTM parameters in your URLs can provide several benefits:

• You can track which marketing channels, such as email campaigns or social media ads generate the most traffic and conversions.
• You can analyze specific campaigns' performance and see which generates the best ROI.
• You can measure the impact of specific content variations, such as images or headlines.
• You can make data-driven decisions about where to allocate your marketing budget and resources.

Parameters in UTM

Parameters are typically added to the end of a URL and can contain information such as the campaign name, source, medium, term, and content. Let's check the purpose of using the specific parameters in UTM.

What is the use of utm_source?

The utm_source parameter is a crucial parameter in UTM tracking used to identify the traffic source to your website. It helps to make your marketing campaigns better for maximum ROI.

Example: If you run a Facebook ad campaign and a Google Ads campaign simultaneously, you can use utm_source to differentiate between the traffic generated by each campaign. You could use "facebook" as the utm_source for the Facebook campaign and "google" as the utm_source for the Google Ads campaign.

How to use the utm_medium parameter

The utm_medium parameter is used to identify the medium that sends the traffic to your website. It helps you understand which marketing channels are most effective.

Example: If you run a CPC ad campaign, you might add "?⁠utm_medium=cpc" to the end of your ad's landing page URL. In the case of email marketing campaigns, use "email".

How to use the utm_content parameter

The utm_content parameter is an optional parameter you can use to identify specific content variations within a marketing campaign.

Example: If you run a marketing ad campaign with two different ad images, you might add "?⁠utm_content=image1" to the end of the landing page URL for the first image, and "?⁠utm_content=image2" for the second image.

You can use any value for the utm_content parameter that makes sense for your tracking needs. For instance, "header" for different versions of a website header or "cta" for different versions of a call-to-action button.

How to use the utm_term parameter

Utm_term is only relevant for tracking traffic from paid search campaigns, such as Google Ads or Bing Ads. You can use it to identify keywords that trigger a paid search ad.

Example: If you run a marketing campaign with the keyword "running shoes" you might add "?⁠utm_term=running+shoes" to the end of the landing page URL for the ad.

How to use the utm_campaign parameter

The utm_campaign parameter identifies a specific campaign, such as a product launch or seasonal sale. It allows you to track the campaign's performance as a whole and compare it to other campaigns you are running.

Example: If you are running a summer sale campaign, you might add "?⁠utm_campaign=summer_sale" to the end of the landing page URL for the campaign.

What is the maximum length of the UTM parameter?

There is no strict maximum length for UTM parameters. It's generally recommended to keep them short and simple to ensure they are easy to read and don't get cut off in tracking reports. As a general rule, it's recommended to keep UTM parameters to 5-20 characters in length, depending on the information you want to include. Also, to avoid any problems with some web browsers, like Internet Explorer, keep all URLs under 2048 characters long.

UTM in Google Analytics

If you want to understand how visitors interact with your website, check your Google Analytics. Thanks to its ability to track UTM parameters, you can gain a lot of much-needed data.

Which UTM tags can be tracked in Google Analytics?

You can track all of the 5 parameters in Google Analytics: source, medium, campaign, term, and content. Remember that in the case of Universal Analytics, you need at least two parameters: utm_source and utm_medium are required. For GA4, you need one parameter, and it's up to you which one you choose.

Let's see how to set up UTM tracking in Google Analytics.

How to track links with UTM in Google Analytics

1. Build your UTM-tagged link using a UTM builder tool or manually add UTM parameters to your links.
2. Use the UTM-tagged link in your marketing campaigns, such as email newsletters, social media posts, or paid search ads.
3. Log in to your Google Analytics account to analyze the results of the campaigns.

Where to find UTM parameters in Google Analytics

Universal Analytics:

1. Log in to your Google Analytics account and navigate to the "Acquisition" section in the left-hand menu.
2. Click on "Campaigns" to view a report of all campaigns tagged with UTM parameters.
3. Click on the specific campaign you want to analyze to view more detailed information, such as traffic sources, pageviews, bounce rate, and conversions.

GA4:

In GA4, you can track UTMs in all 3 Acquisition reports: Overview, User acquisition, and Traffic acquisition. UTM parameters can also be found in DebugView for page_view events in real time.

UTM in Google Ads

Using UTM parameters in Google Ads campaigns can help you gain valuable insights into the performance of your ads and optimize your strategy accordingly.

How to use UTM in Google Ads campaigns

To use UTM tags in your Google Ads campaigns, follow these steps:

• Identify the source, medium, and campaign name for your Google Ads campaign. It will help you to create the appropriate UTM tags.
• Use a UTM builder to generate UTM-tagged URLs for your campaign.
• Add the UTM-tagged URL to your ad's final URL or the URL of the landing page you want users to visit.
• Once your campaign is live, you can track the performance of your Google Ads campaigns in Google Analytics. Go to the "Acquisition" section in Google Analytics and select "Campaigns" to view a report of your campaigns.

Which UTM parameters are required in Google Ads campaigns?

No UTM parameters are specifically required in Google Ads campaigns. It's recommended to include at least three of the UTM parameters to track your campaign effectively: utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign.

UTM in Facebook Ads campaigns

To use UTM parameters in your Facebook ads campaigns, follow these steps:

1. Create a UTM link using a UTM builder tool.
2. Add the UTM link to your Facebook ad. In the ad creation process, add the UTM link to the destination URL field in the ad setup. Facebook will automatically append its tracking parameters to your UTM link.
3. Once your ads are running, monitor your UTM links in Google Analytics to track the performance of your campaigns.

It's important to note that Facebook automatically tracks its parameters for each ad, so using UTM parameters in addition to Facebook's tracking parameters can help to get a complete picture of your ad performance.

Which UTM parameters are required in Facebook Ads campaigns?

When running paid campaigns, Facebook doesn't require any specific UTMs to be used. However, it is recommended to use the following UTM parameters to track the effectiveness of campaigns: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign.

UTM in SEO

UTM parameters are also a powerful tool to monitor your SEO performance. You can use the utm_source parameter to identify the source of your traffic, such as Google or Bing, the utm_medium to identify the medium such as organic search, utm_campaign to identify the specific keyword or landing page, and utm_content to identify a blog post or product page the traffic is coming from.

Which UTM tags should I use to track backlinks?

UTM parameters can also help you track the traffic coming from backlinks. You can use utm_source to identify the website where the backlink is located, utm_medium to identify a referral, utm_campaign to identify the specific guest post, and utm_content to pinpoint the link or location on the referring website where the backlink is located.

By utilizing UTM parameters to track backlinks, you can gain valuable insights into which backlinks drive the most traffic to your website and the quality of traffic from each source. This can help you refine your backlinking strategy and focus on building relationships with high-quality websites, ultimately leading to better results and increased traffic to your site.

What are the best free online tools for generating UTMs?

There are many online tools, which can help you build UTMs:

1. LiveChat's UTM Builder is one of the best free tools that allow you to create UTM tags for your ads campaigns. It includes a simple interface for creating UTM tags, allowing you to swap spaces to dash to make the link look neater, and quickly convert to lowercase. The tool also allows you to customize the source, medium, campaign, and content parameters to track your campaigns better.
2. Google's Campaign URL Builder is another free tool for creating UTM tags. It allows you to easily add campaign parameters to URLs so you can measure Custom Campaigns in Google Analytics. You just need to enter the relevant information into the fields provided, and the tool will generate a UTM link.
3. HubSpot's UTM Tracking URL Builder includes various options to help you customize your UTM tags. It can be used in systems like AdWords and Google Analytics to track the keywords in a pay-per-click ad. It also allows you to download the links as a CSV file for easy tracking.
4. Hootsuite lets you add generic tracking parameters to the destination URLs in each campaign. You use link setting presets to apply a combination of tracking parameters and shorteners to a link with one click. You may also have a default preset that automatically applies consistent link tracking and shortening to every post.
5. AdEspresso is a Facebook Ads tool that allows you to generate UTM parameters for your Facebook Ads campaigns. It helps you create multiple groups of ads, which you can turn on and off depending on the day's pricing. It also gives you the option to create split-test variations for multiple headlines, descriptions, and visual components for each campaign.

These free UTM builders save you time and ensure that your URLs are formatted correctly and consistently, helping you accurately track and analyze the performance of your ads. You can also use UTM spreadsheet templates to keep your URLs in one place.

What are UTM spreadsheet templates?

UTM spreadsheet templates are simply spreadsheets that contain UTM-tagged links. Templates help to keep all tagged URLs well organized and make data analysis easy. Businesses and marketers often use them to track the success of their online advertising and content marketing efforts. Many templates are free to download and can be used in Excel or Google Sheets.

What are the best practices for generating UTMs?

Let's summarize what you should focus on when generating UTM parameters:

1. Use a consistent naming convention for your UTM tags across all your campaigns. This will help you analyze the data and compare performance.
2. Keep the length of your UTM parameters short and concise. Stick to the required parameters, and use additional parameters only when necessary.
3. Don't use spaces or special characters, such as "#" or "?". UTMs should only contain letters, numbers, underscores, hyphens, and periods. Any special characters may cause problems with tracking.
4. Each UTM should be unique, even if used for the same campaign. Duplicate UTMs can cause confusion and tracking errors.
5. Use a UTM builder tool, to ensure your UTM parameters are formatted correctly and consistently.
6. Test different UTM parameters to see what works best for your campaigns. Refine your UTM tags over time to improve tracking accuracy and gain more insights.

By following these practices, you can generate UTM parameters that are accurate, consistent, and easy to analyze. They will help you make more informed decisions about your campaigns and as result, improve your marketing strategy and profits.