How to use UTM parameters to track campaign traffic

Give incoming links useful labels

Imagine sharing a new guide in a newsletter, on LinkedIn and through a partner’s website. Total visits tell you that people arrived. To compare the promotions, you need a consistent way to identify the links they followed.

UTM parameters are pieces of text added to a web address. A compatible analytics setup can read them when someone visits the destination. They describe the promotion associated with the link; creating them does not install analytics or produce a separate click counter.

Start with four labels:

• Source: where the link is shared, such as newsletter, linkedin or a particular partner.
• Medium: the kind of channel, such as email, social or referral.
• Campaign: one name for the promotion across its placements, such as autumn_guide_2026.
• Content: a way to distinguish placements or creative variations, such as hero_button and footer_text.

These correspond to utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign and utm_content. Google’s campaign URL guidance explains these fields and others, including campaign ID and source platform. Use additional fields when they serve your reporting setup; an ordinary newsletter does not need a made-up paid-search keyword.

One campaign, four placements

Here is a fictional promotion for an autumn guide. Every link points to the same page, and every row uses the campaign name autumn_guide_2026. Source, medium and content describe where each link will appear.

The two newsletter links share their source, medium and campaign. Only content changes, so a suitable report can distinguish the button from the footer without turning them into separate campaigns.

Choose the spelling before building the links. UTM values are case-sensitive: Newsletter and newsletter can appear as different values. Lowercase words separated by underscores are a convenient convention, and the one used here. The important habit is reusing the agreed spelling.

Keep the channel in Medium and the placement in Content. For this newsletter, email describes the channel; hero_button describes the placement. GA4 uses rules to group traffic into channels. An unfamiliar medium may appear in source/medium reporting while its channel is “Unassigned.” A readable label and a recognized channel are different checks.

The destination already has edition=starter and the section link #preview. They remain in place alongside the campaign labels. The example uses a reserved demonstration domain; replace it with your actual published landing page before sharing any links.

Build one link, then prepare the full campaign

Open the free UTM Campaign Link Builder to create the first link:

1. Set the destination. For this exercise, enter https://example.com/autumn-guide?edition=starter#preview. In a real campaign, start with the exact page visitors should reach.
2. Choose “Newsletter.” This fills Source with newsletter and Medium with email. Enter autumn_guide_2026 under “Campaign name.”
3. Open “Optional campaign details.” Put hero_button in “Content.” Leave the other optional fields empty for this example.
4. Select “Build link.” Review the generated URL and parameter list, then use “Copy link” or “Download CSV” to keep it.

For all four placements, download the fictional campaign CSV. Choose “Batch from CSV,” load it through “Upload CSV,” then select “Build batch.” You should see four ready links and no rows to review. “Download 4 valid links” saves the inputs alongside the generated URLs.

The required CSV columns are url, utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign. The sample also uses utm_content. If a row needs correction, edit the CSV content and build again: the export includes only valid links, so check the ready count against the number you intended to create.

The builder processes links and CSV files in your browser. It preserves your capitalization and keeps existing page parameters and section links. It does not open the destination, verify that the page exists or configure measurement on the website.

Check the destination and tags before sharing

A well-formed URL still needs a real destination check. Use your own published page for these checks, rather than the article’s example domain.

• Open the final link. Confirm the correct page loads, existing filters or options still work, and any section link goes where intended.
• Read the labels. Compare source, medium, campaign and content with the naming plan. Watch for accidental capital letters, spaces and an old campaign name copied from a previous promotion.
• Check redirects. If an email platform, short link or website redirect changes the URL, check that the final landing URL retains the campaign parameters.
• Keep personal details out. Use placement labels, never a recipient’s name, email address or other identifying detail. Campaign parameters are visible in URLs; Google’s guidance on avoiding personally identifiable information includes URLs and campaign parameters.

If a destination already contains supported UTM tags, the builder asks you to review them before choosing “Replace existing UTM values.” That setting also removes supported optional values you leave blank. Use it deliberately when updating an old link.

Paid advertising needs a separate check of the platform’s tracking setup. If a URL contains an advertising click ID, review the builder’s warning and the platform’s automatic tagging before adding manual labels. Google documents how manual tagging and auto-tagging interact; the newsletter example is not a replacement for that setup.

Read the results in the right context

Once analytics is configured and campaign traffic has been collected, look for the labels in the reports. In Google Analytics 4, Traffic acquisition uses session-level dimensions such as Session source / medium and Session campaign. The Manual report provides manual campaign dimensions, including manual ad content for values supplied through utm_content. Report availability and navigation can differ between properties.

For the fictional launch, first compare the newsletter, LinkedIn and partner traffic under the same campaign. Then use the relevant manual ad-content dimension to inspect the two newsletter placements. Keep the date range and reporting scope consistent when comparing them.

A visit count is only part of the picture. If your site measures a useful action, such as a completed inquiry, consider that alongside traffic volume. A link’s labels describe its intended placement, but someone can forward the same link elsewhere with those labels still attached.

Do not expect every link click to become an identical entry in a report. Consent choices, blocked analytics, redirects, an incomplete measurement setup and reporting scope can affect what is recorded or displayed. If a campaign seems absent, investigate in this order:

1. Check the landing URL. Open the actual distributed link and inspect the address after redirects. If labels have disappeared, fix that path before comparing reports.
2. Check collection. Confirm that the intended analytics property measures the landing page under the site’s consent setup. A working page and a valid UTM link do not establish that a visit was collected.
3. Check the report. Use the right date range, campaign value and reporting scope. If source/medium values exist but the channel says “Unassigned,” review channel rules instead of assuming that all campaign data is missing.

Reserve UTM tags for incoming promotions and keep ordinary links between your own pages untagged. Use appropriate event measurement if you need to study internal navigation. GA4 handles session attribution and later event-level campaign information differently; Google’s traffic-source processing guidance explains those distinctions when you need to investigate a report.

Keep a campaign record you can reuse

Save the exported CSV with a short note about where each link was placed and when the promotion ran. Give each placement its own row. If another person prepares the next email or post, the existing record gives them the spelling to follow.

For the next promotion, decide whether it belongs to the same campaign or needs a new campaign name. Keep source and medium consistent where the channel is unchanged, and update content when you need to distinguish a new placement. Avoid silently relabeling links halfway through a promotion unless there is a clear correction to make.

The same approach can work for a printed promotion: a QR code can contain a campaign URL. Test the finished code and its destination before printing, and agree on meaningful source and medium values for that placement.

Start with the UTM Campaign Link Builder and a naming plan small enough that everyone preparing the links can follow it.