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title: A Guide to UTM Parameters in Google Analytics 4 - Analytics Mania
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> **Original source:** https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/utm-parameters-in-google-analytics-4/

**Updated: June 9th, 2026**

UTM parameters are short text codes you add to a URL to track the performance of marketing campaigns in Google Analytics 4. By tagging your links with parameters for source, medium, and campaign, you can accurately measure which emails, social media posts, or ads are most effective at driving traffic and conversions on your website.

Have you previously run email marketing campaigns and been unable to determine how much traffic lands on your site from these campaigns? Adding UTM parameters to the links in your emails will allow you to see the users coming from these campaigns and the actions they take on your site!

The use of UTM parameters is not limited to just email campaigns either. Keep reading to learn how to use them in any of your campaigns!

## Table of Contents

Here’s what you will learn in this article

-   [What are UTM parameters?](#what)
-   [The benefits](#benefits) 
-   [Organizing your UTM parameters](#organizing)
-   [How to add UTM parameters to a URL](#add)
-   [Finding UTM parameter data in GA4](#find)
-   [UTM parameters and their dimensions](#parameters-dimensions)
-   [Viewing UTM parameters in Explorations](#viewing)
-   [Common mistakes](#mistakes)
-   [Your UTM Creation Checklist](#checklist)
-   [Final Words](#final-words)

## Video Tutorial

Check out this video on the Analytics Mania [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@AnalyticsMania) if you prefer video content!

## What are UTM parameters?

So, what exactly are UTM parameters? Simply, they are a set of customizable parameters added to a URL to provide more information on where a user came from before landing on your site.

For example, if you run a paid ad on Instagram for a Black Friday sale, you might have the following link in your ad:

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image1-1.png)

The classic UTM parameters are _utm\_source_, _utm\_medium_, _utm\_campaign_, _utm\_term_, and _utm\_content_. When adding UTM parameters to links, you should always include the utm\_source, utm\_medium and utm\_campaign.

The table below outlines the purpose of each of the parameters.

-   **utm\_source** – Tracks the referrer. E.g., _youtube.com_ or a specific newsletter
-   **utm\_medium** – Tracks the type of marketing medium. E.g., _email_ or _cpc_
-   **utm\_campaign** – The specific campaign you are running. E.g., _black-friday_ or _boxing-day-sale_
-   **utm\_term** – If you manually tag paid keyword campaigns, use this parameter to identify paid search keywords.
-   **utm\_content** – This parameter is helpful when the same campaign is run across multiple locations, leading to the same link to compare which does best. For example, if you have the same email campaign but use different photos in the email, you can use the utm\_content parameter to distinguish between the two emails.

While _utm\_source_, _utm\_medium_, and _utm\_campaign_ are required, the optional _utm\_term_ and _utm\_content_ parameters allow you to answer more granular questions. For example, if you are A/B testing two different images in the same email campaign, you could use utm\_content=blue-image and utm\_content=red-image. This lets you see not just that the email worked, but which specific creative inside the email was more effective at driving clicks and conversions.

Check out [this article](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10917952?hl=en#zippy=%2Cin-this-article) to learn more about building URLs with UTM parameters.

It’s important to distinguish this manual tagging process from the auto-tagging features available in platforms like Google Ads. When you enable auto-tagging in Google Ads, a unique identifier (called a GCLID) is automatically added to your URLs, and Google Analytics 4 uses this to populate your reports with rich campaign data. You should not manually add UTM parameters to your Google Ads URLs if you have auto-tagging enabled, as this can sometimes cause data discrepancies. This guide focuses on the manual tagging required for all other platforms, like email, social media, and other ad networks.

## What are the Benefits of Using UTM Parameters?

UTM parameters are customizable, so you can choose the naming convention that best suits your needs. You can add these parameters to any links across all campaigns, including email, affiliate, and social media.

Ideally, UTM parameter names should follow the documentation of [Default channel group](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891?hl=en). If you come up with completely custom values, a lot of traffic will be displayed as [Unassigned](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/unassigned-in-google-analytics-4/).

Don’t panic when you see traffic in the “Unassigned” channel group. This is simply GA4’s way of telling you that it received visitors from a campaign it could not automatically categorize based on its built-in rules. By using a secondary dimension like “Session source / medium,” you can investigate exactly what these campaigns are. Often, a quick correction to your naming convention is all it takes to make sure future traffic gets sorted into the right channel, like “Email” or “Paid Social”. 

Or, alternatively, you can use [custom channel groups](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/custom-channel-groups-in-google-analytics-4/).

Using UTM parameters, you can view metrics and conversions associated with marketing campaigns, like total revenue or session [conversions](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/track-key-events-with-google-analytics-4/). Reports in GA4 make it possible to partition users and compare their actions on your site based on the campaign that leads them there (see the final words for more on this).

This will show you what types of campaigns perform the best so you can learn where to focus your time and money. Running marketing campaigns costs time and money, so it is vital to see the impact these campaigns have on your business.

### Key Principles for Effective UTM Tagging

To keep your data cleaner and more reliable, follow these rules:

-   **Be Consistent:** Always use a consistent naming convention, such as all lowercase letters, to avoid splitting one campaign into multiple rows in your reports (e.g., facebook vs. Facebook).
-   **Keep a Master Record:** Use a shared spreadsheet or a dedicated tool to manage and document all your campaign URLs. This prevents typos and ensures your entire team uses the same conventions.
-   **Don’t Tag Internal Links:** UTMs are only for external campaigns driving traffic to your site. Tagging internal links (like in your main navigation) can mess up the original attribution data and corrupt your reports. The only exception (that I can think of) where internal links could be tagged with UTMs [is this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXAzNA-Zmc0).
-   **Use Required Parameters:** Every tagged URL should always include _utm\_source, utm\_medium,_ and _utm\_campaign_ to make sure GA4 properly captures that information.

## How Should You Organize Your UTM Parameters?

If you’re running many campaigns or have multiple people in your business creating campaigns (or both), it may get overwhelming quickly!

You should manage the UTM parameters you use in a single place or a specialized tool like utm.io to access all campaign information quickly and ensure consistent naming conventions.

Google Analytics 4 is case sensitive, so if the utm\_campaign is _black-friday_ that will not be the same as _Black-Friday,_ displaying in two separate rows in a report. So, having some pre-defined naming conventions (E.g., always use lower-case) that everyone can view will be helpful.

A shared spreadsheet is often the easiest place to start for managing your UTMs. You can create columns for your link, source, medium, and campaign, and then a final column that automatically combines them into the final URL. This not only keeps a historical record of all your campaign links but also allows team members to copy and paste pre-approved links directly. This process can significantly reduce the typos and inconsistencies that lead to messy analytics data down the road.

## How to add UTM parameters to a URL

Now that you understand what UTM parameters are and what their benefits are, let’s look at how to add them to your campaign links.

First, you will want to determine which page on your site the campaign will link to. Let’s say the page we want to link to is _www.yourwebsite.com/new-product_.

You will add a question mark (?) to the end of the link, which designates parameters in the URL. Following this, you will begin with your first UTM parameter. Each proceeding parameter will start with an ampersand (&).

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image2-1.png)

Suppose the URL already has some parameters in it. In this case, place an ampersand (&) at the end of the existing parameters and then add the UTM parameters separated by ampersands.

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image3-1.png)

Check out the Google campaign URL builder if you need help building URLs with UTM parameters.

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image4-1.png)

After inputting your UTM parameters, the tool will output your completed page URL!

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image5-1.png)

## Where Can You Find UTM Data in GA4?

Now that you have added UTM parameters to the links in your campaigns, you will want to access data for them in Google Analytics 4.

Go to _Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition_ (or User Acquisition) in the interface. If you’re unsure which report best suits your needs, check out the blog post about [User Acquisition vs Traffic Acquisition](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/user-acquisition-vs-traffic-acquisition-in-ga4/).

Since the sidebar of GA4 is customizable, your version may not look the same as the screenshot provided, so the report may be in a different location.

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image6-1.png)

Here, you can choose the parameters that you are interested in. Add a primary dimension from the dropdown and a secondary dimension by clicking the plus sign (+).

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image7-1.png)

The _Session source/medium_ and _Session campaign_ are a simple place to start since you must include these three parameters in the URL. You can see various metrics associated with these parameters, like users, sessions and total revenue.

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image8-1.png)

Check out the [guide to Acquisition reports in GA4](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/acquisition-reports-in-google-analytics-4/) to learn more about how to use these reports!

Also, I share some additional tips in the video below:

## UTM parameters and their dimensions

Depending on if you are using the _Traffic Acquisition_ report or the _User Acquisition_ report, there are different dimension names used in the report. See the list below for an overview.

-   **utm\_medium**: _Session medium_ in _Traffic Acquisition_ reports or _First user medium_ in _User acquisition_ reports.
-   **utm\_source**: _Session source_ in _Traffic Acquisition_ reports or _First user source_ in _User acquisition_ reports.
-   **utm\_campaign**: _Session campaign_ in _Traffic Acquisition_ reports or _First user campaign_ in _User acquisition_ reports.
-   **utm\_term**: _Session manual term_ in _Traffic Acquisition_ reports or _First user manual term_ in _User acquisition_ reports.
-   **utm\_content**: _Session manual ad content_ in _Traffic Acquisition_ reports or _First user manual ad content_ in _User acquisition_ reports.
-   **utm\_id**: _Session campaign ID_ in _Traffic Acquisition_ reports or _First user campaign ID_ in _User acquisition_ reports.

In general, “Session” dimensions are found in the _Traffic Acquisition_ report & ”First user” dimensions in the _User Acquisition_ report.

You can learn more about the traffic-source dimensions that Google Analytics 4 supports [here](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11242870). Note that _utm\_source\_platform_ and _utm\_creative\_format_ are not reported in GA4.

## Viewing UTM parameters in Explorations

If the pre-defined _Acquisition_ reports do not provide you with _precisely_ what you want, then you can view your UTM parameters in an Exploration.

Go to Explore in the left-hand navigation and then click “Blank Report”.

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image9-1.png)

You will find the relevant dimensions in the _Traffic source_ section. Refer to the table in the previous section to determine which dimensions you need to get the information you want.

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image10-1.png)

Select the appropriate metrics depending on what questions you want to answer about your campaigns. To get an overview of which campaigns are resulting in the most sessions with conversions, you can add in the _Session conversion rate_ metric.

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image11-1.png)

Drag the dimensions into the _Row_ section and add the metrics into the _Values_ section.

![](https://www.analyticsmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/image12-1.png)

You can do plenty more with Exploration, which you can read about [here](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/custom-reports-in-google-analytics-4/)!

## Common mistakes

Even though UTMs are helpful for tracking marketing campaigns, tiny mistakes during the setup can lead to big headaches and messy data in your Google Analytics 4 reports.

In this chapter, I wanted to take a look into the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them:

**#1. Inconsistent naming convention.** Using inconsistent capitalization (e.g., _Facebook_ vs. _facebook_ vs. _FaceBook_), typos, or different terms for the same thing (e.g., _email_ vs. _e-mail_ vs. _newsletter_) are treated as separate entities in GA4. This means that aggregation in your reports will not work as well as you would expect. Because of this, a single campaign might be split into several rows in your reports. A solution? Use a consistent naming convention (e.g., all values are lowercase) and stick to it. Ideally, you should use a shared spreadsheet or a UTM management tool in your team.

#**2\. Tagging internal links.** UTMs are meant for marketing campaigns (that drive traffic to your site) only. Internal links (e.g., on your menu links) should never be tagged with UTMs. Why? Because it can mess up your attribution. Here’s an example: a visitor lands on your site from _google organic_ and then clicks a menu link with UTMs. The current session remains unaffected. However, if the next session is direct, the UTM value from the previous session will be inherited. This distorts accuracy in your reports.

**#3. Forgetting to tag campaigns.** This is an honest mistake but crucial to avoid. Untagged marketing traffic often gets lumped into inaccurate categories in GA4, commonly appearing as [direct / none](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/how-to-reduce-direct-traffic-in-google-analytics/) or potentially misattributed to Organic Social or Referral depending on the platform. A fairly simple way to avoid this is to create a campaign launch checklist (where one of the list items is tagging links with UTMs).

## Your UTM Creation Checklist

Before you share your next campaign link, run through this quick checklist:

1.  **Is it an external link?** Remember, don’t use UTMs on internal links.
2.  **Are the three required parameters included?** Your URL must contain utm\_source, utm\_medium, and utm\_campaign.
3.  **Is the naming convention consistent?** Check your master spreadsheet to make sure you’re using lowercase and pre-defined terms to avoid fragmenting your data.
4.  **Is the URL structured correctly?** The parameters should start with a ? (or an & if a ? already exists) and be separated by & symbols.
5.  **Have you tested the link?** Click the final link to make sure it directs to the correct page without errors before you launch your campaign.

## UTM Parameters in Google Analytics 4: Final Words

If you are running any marketing campaigns, using UTM parameters is a no-brainer to help you assess the impact of the campaigns on your business.

Using many custom UTM parameters means that Google Analytics 4 will put a considerable portion of your traffic into the unassigned [default channel group](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/default-channel-group-in-google-analytics-4/). You can adapt the UTM naming conventions to follow the [default channel group rules](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891?hl=en) or create a [custom channel group](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/custom-channel-groups-in-google-analytics-4/).

Perhaps if you are running multiple Boxing Day campaigns, you would want to look at the impact of these campaigns so you could make a [custom channel group](https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/custom-channel-groups-in-google-analytics-4/) for these campaigns.

Whether or not you choose to create a custom channel group, you can use the pre-defined reports or Explorations in GA4 to continue seeing the impact of your campaigns!