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What is a UTM tag?
A UTM tag is a powerful tool that allows marketers and website owners to track traffic sources and user behavior on a site. For example, with this tag, one can find out that a user came to the site from an email newsletter, viewed several pages, and then made a purchase. UTM tags are special parameters added to URLs after the question mark “?” to transmit information to analytics systems.
Example of a link with a UTM tag: https://www.postmypost.io/?utm_source=utmarticle&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=article. When a user clicks on such a link, all data about their actions is sent to the analytics system, allowing for the assessment of the effectiveness of various traffic acquisition channels.
Structure of a UTM tag
Each UTM tag consists of five parameters, three of which are mandatory to fill out, while two are optional:
- utm_source: This parameter indicates the source of traffic, such as social media, email newsletters, or organic search. Examples: social, email, referral.
- utm_medium: Specifies the type of traffic, such as a specific social network or type of email newsletter. Examples: cpc, digest, partners.
- utm_campaign: Here the name of the campaign or specific promotion from which the user came to the site is indicated. Examples: blackfriday, 11-06-2021.
- utm_content: This parameter helps differentiate links within the same page. For example, different tags can be used for the same link placed in different areas of the page. Examples: red, top, footer.
- utm_term: Used to track keywords in paid advertising campaigns, allowing one to understand which word led to a conversion. Examples: kupit-gitaru, okna-piter.
When a user clicks on a link with a UTM tag, analytics systems, such as Google Analytics, record information about the channel, source, and campaign, allowing detailed tracking of user interaction with the content.
When to use UTM tags
UTM tags are advisable to use whenever you share links to your site through external sources such as social media, other platforms, email newsletters, contextual advertising, and mobile apps. However, it is important to remember that within your site, UTM tags are better not to apply. This is because tags can be overwritten, and the analytics system will stop tracking the user by the original tag.
How to create a UTM tag?
There are two main ways to create UTM tags: manually and using special services.
Manual creation
The process of manually creating a UTM tag involves adding parameters to the link after the “?” sign. Parameter values are separated by the “&” symbol. However, this method can be labor-intensive and prone to errors, especially if a large number of tags need to be created.
Using special services
To simplify the process, there are many online services that help create UTM tags. You can enter the site name and the necessary parameters, and the service will automatically generate the tag. Often, such tools also offer additional features, such as link shortening, ready-made templates, and lists of dynamic variables for contextual advertising. For example, Unisender offers a convenient UTM tag generator that can be used to create tags effortlessly.