What are UTM parameters?
UTM, short for Urchin Tracking Module, refers to specific tags added to a URL. These UTM parameters, often called UTM codes or tags, are crucial for identifying the origin of your website traffic.
By appending these tags to your URLs, you can determine the source of your website visitors. For instance, if a user clicks on a link from Facebook and lands on your site, you'll be able to trace that visit back to Facebook.
In addition to identifying the source, UTM parameters help answer questions such as: Which advertising platform brought the most visitors to our site? Or more precisely: Which call-to-action in our social media campaign generated the highest revenue?
In summary, UTM parameters offer valuable insights and enhance your ability to measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. The screenshot below illustrates how Ortto users can evaluate UTM links based on their campaign sources.
Why are UTM parameters important?
Businesses invest significant resources into creating campaigns and content aimed at driving growth. Within the mix of LinkedIn posts, blog articles, and PPC ads, some elements are likely contributing substantially to your bottom line, while others may fall short of expectations.
By utilizing UTM parameters, you can identify your top-performing content and campaigns, enabling you to allocate your marketing budget more efficiently. This allows you to focus on the formats, topics, and channels that generate the most traffic and, more importantly, lead to higher conversions or revenue.
How do UTM parameters work?
Identifying your best-performing channels involves more than just adding a UTM parameter to a URL. It requires a basic understanding of naming conventions and how to combine different parameters to ensure accurate data.
There are five types of UTM parameters you can add to your content to track traffic effectively. Each serves a specific purpose, and the more parameters you use, the more detailed insights your analytics platform can provide:
utm_source
This tag identifies the origin of your traffic (e.g., Facebook, search engine). For example, if a user arrives at your site via a Google search, the tag would appear as:utm_source=googleutm_medium
This UTM code specifies the medium, such as CPC or newsletter. For instance, if your source is Facebook, you might label the medium as “social” to indicate that the traffic came from social media. The tag would look like this:utm_medium=socialutm_campaign
This parameter designates the campaign associated with the URL. It might be an identifier like a tagline, such as “launch2023” or “website-redesign.” For example:utm_campaign=website-redesignutm_content
This parameter allows for more granular tracking. For example, if you have two different calls to action within a single piece of content, this tag can help your analytics tool determine which one is more effective. Consider this example from aGlassdoor email with multiple CTAs:
Clicking the first green button might take you to a URL like:
utm_content=salary-alert-1-viewcompany-nationalWhile clicking the second green button could direct you to:
utm_content=salary-alert-1-allsalariesAlthough both URLs are part of the same campaign, and share the same source and medium, the "utm_content" parameter highlights the difference in content.
5. utm_term
This UTM parameter is crucial for pinpointing the keywords that generate clicks in a paid search campaign. For instance, in the case of the scheduling tool Calendly: The “utm_term” tag indicates that the key phrase “calendar scheduling tool” was responsible for driving this particular click.
Where to use UTM parameters
In essence, UTM parameters should be applied to nearly all of your digital marketing efforts. The more data and visibility you have, the better you can analyze the performance of your channels and campaigns.
Email marketing
By adding UTM parameters to the links in your emails, you can track who’s clicking on your links, identify which emails are performing best, determine which links within your emails are most frequently clicked, and assess whether these clicks are leading to desired outcomes (such as purchases or sign-ups). For example, when sending out a newsletter, you might use UTM parameters like this:
URL:
https://www.example.com/demo-requestUTM Source:
emailUTM Medium:
newsletterUTM Campaign:
product-demo