A UTM code is a piece of text added to the end of a link URL that points to your website. It helps you track and measure the performance of your digital google analytics marketing campaigns.

When a link with a UTM code is clicked, it sends data about the marketing campaign to Google Analytics (GA) and associates it with the visit. UTMs are therefore a way to automatically collect campaign data for further analysis.

Check the section of the URL that starts with a question mark (?). This is the UTM code.

“UTM code” section highlighted google analytics in a URL

What does it mean? UTM is an initialism that stands for Urchin Tracking Module. The name “UTM” is a legacy of Google Analytics’ predecessor, which was called Urchin Analytics.

What are UTM parameters?
You may also hear UTM codes called “UTM parameters”. However, this is not technically correct.

The UTM code is the entire piece of text that follows gambling number data the question mark. UTM parameters are the individual bits of text within the code. Each parameter is separated by an ampersand (&).

Each UTM parameter identifies a different aspect of the marketing campaign associated with the UTM code link.

In the example below you can see three UTM parameters, starting with utm_source

“UTM code” section highlighted in a URL
UTM Parameters in GA4
The main parameters of GA UTM are five:

utm_source: The specific source or platform sending the traffic, such as Google, Facebook, or monthly_newsletter.
utm_medium: The type of traffic, such as organic, paid, or email.
utm_campaign: The name of the specific marketing campaign, such as Fall Sale (fall_sale) or Product Launch (product_launch).
utm_content: The name of any A/B test variation, such as creative_test_a or creative_test_b in a paid ad, or the name of a specific element of an email (if applicable).
utm_term: The specific paid search keyword (if applicable)
Professional advice

If you’re still in the process of switching from Universal Analytics, here’s how to set up GA4

How to use UTM codes
Let’s say your email marketing program contains three distinct parts: a monthly newsletter, a weekly sales email, and an automatic welcome series.

Parts of the email marketing program

You can use four of the five UTM parameters from these emails to analyze the resulting campaign data in GA.

Note

UTM parameters are especially important for email grabs the audience’s attention marketing. Email is one of the few traffic sources that GA cannot classify on its own.

According to Google, UTM parameters have a fundamental function : “identifying the campaigns that drive traffic” to your site.

So let’s look at how to use metrics google analytics to track your weekly sales email campaign

utm_source: You will use this parameter to differentiate the three components of your email program. You will then use utm_source=weekly_sale crawler data to track your weekly sales email.

Parameter “utm_source=weekly_sale” highlighted
utm_medium: You will always use utm_medium=email for email campaigns. Using this parameter consistently for all email campaigns will allow you to consolidate the performance of your entire email channel into GA4 for higher-level analysis.