UTM Guide
Urchin Tracking Module or UTM parameters are small pieces of code that can be added to website URLs to more easily track details
There are five different UTM parameters that typically appear in a URL:
| UTM Parameter | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| utm_source | Defines which specific source is sending traffic to the URL. | utm_source=Facebook |
| utm_medium | Details the type of channel sending the utm_source, such as a social media campaign or email. | utm_medium=blog_article |
| utm_campaign | Defines the name of the campaign associated with the url | utm_campaign=journeys_launch |
| utm_content (optional) | Tracks different ads related to a campaign. | utm_content=header_link |
| utm_term (optional) | Tracks specific paid keywords or phrases. | utm_term=la_restaurants |
| utm_source_platform (optional) | A variation of UTM source. | utm_source_platform=Facebook |
| utm_creative_format (optional) | Tracks the type of ad placement or creative material used in a campaign. | utm_creative_format=carousel |
| utm_marketing_tactic (optional) | Tracks the tactic used in your marketing efforts. | utm_marketing_tactic=remarketing |
| utm_id (optional) | Track the performance of specific campaigns in GA. | utm_id=123456789 |
UTM Tracking Within Analytics
Analytics automatically parses out the UTM values from page URLs that contain UTM parameters. You’ll be able to see the following properties if you are sending Analytics data with UTM parameters within the URL.
These parameters will then appear within User Properties or within Event Properties. For example, when using these parameters within User Properties, Analytics would display users with these specific UTM parameters. However, when using UTM parameters within Event Properties, Analytics would display events that were completed with the UTM parameters.
- When you want to see the users who completed an event or the total number of times an event was completed with a specific UTM parameter, it would be best to use the UTM parameters within Event Properties.
Let’s say you have a group of users who completed [pageload] of the url: www.indicative.com/ and you wanted to narrow down your results to users who performed [pageload] with utm_source=Facebook or in other words with a url of www.indicative.com/?utm_source=Facebook. In this case, you would filter utm_source=Facebook as an event property.
- However, if you wanted to see the total count of users with a specific UTM parameter who completed an event, it would be best to use UTM parameters within User Properties.
Let’s say you have a group of users who completed [pageload] of the url: www.indicative.com/ and you just wanted to see if these users have an utm_source=Facebook, not if they performed a [pageload] of the url www.indicative.com/?utm_source=Facebook. In this case, you would use a user property.
Note: Analytics uses the ”&” character to delineate separate UTM parameters in a URL. For instance, an event with a property named pageUrl URL with a value of https://www.website.com/?utm_source=SRC&utm_id=252325 would have the following UTM properties:
- “pageUrl.utm_source”: “SRC”
- “pageUrl.utm_id”: “252325”
If including an ”&” character in a UTM parameter is important, you need to use “amp” in the URL to escape it. For example, the URL below (assigned to a property pageUrl) would be parsed into the following UTM properties:
URL: https://www.website.com/?utm_source=SRC&&someOtherField=someValue&utm_id=ID
- “pageUrl.utm_source”: “SRC&“,
- “pageUrl.utm_id”: “ID”
User Properties
You can set up these UTM parameters to be the first or last observed value under Attribution Mode.
Event Properties
Was this page helpful?