What do all these Parameters mean?

Still confused on what all these tracking UTM parameters mean? Read below the definition of each of them so you can define them carefully for your next marketing or analytics campaign.

When you add these parameters to your URL, we'll be able to track more about your marketing efforts via GA4 or another of your other custom analytics solutions. Here' a quick guide into the UTM parameters:

UTM_source=

This is a fundamental and required field in your UTM parameters.

Used to identify what marketing source or channel the activity is deriving from for example Google, Facebook, Hubspot, or any others

UTM_medium=

Medium identifies what type of marketing activity is was for. For example, was cpc (paid campaign), was a banner, was it an email or something else.

UTM_id=

In order to import data to GA4 using a data sheet, this is a required field. You'll be able to identify the campaign or promotion ID. Note, only necessary if you are uploading the data sheet.

UTM_campaign=

Another required field. When you add this UTM you'll be able to identify what was the specific campaign you were promoting. Here I would recommend you add also any geographic targeting for the campaign for instance Summer Shoe Collection EN_USA. You can also include any promo code or product to meet your brand analysis needs.

UTM_source_platform=

Not a required field. Used for paid platforms such as Google Search Ads 360 or Display & Video 360

UTM_term=

Not a required field. Used for PPC keywords from Google Ads or Bing Ads

UTM_content=

Not a required field. Used to differentiate multiple creatives, to be able to analyse their success for instance copy1 vs copy2, or white_ad vs red_ad

In order for the parameters to work, they need to have values and joined into the destination URL.

Here's we'll go over an example what one URL would look like joining the essential parameters.

utm_source = google ads the deriving campaign
utm_medium = cpc to track it was a paid campaign
utm_campaign = spring_discount to identify the specific campaign

Joining all the parameters the URL would look like this:

https://www.example.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring_discount

Reminder: the absolute required fields are utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign.