What Are UTM Parameters?

Have you ever wondered how you can determine where your website visitors are coming from? The secret lies in a mighty tool called UTM parameters. In this article we'll give a brief introduction into UTM parameters. We'll explore what they are, how you build UTM parameters and add them to a URL, and most importantly how they can help you make money.

URL: The O.G. Mapquest

Let's start from the ground up. URL stands for "Uniform Resource Locator." It's a technical term that basically means the web address of a specific resource on the internet, such as a webpage, an image, a video, or any other digital content. In simpler terms, a URL is the equivalent to your home address. Your address allows people to navigate to your home, a URL allows people to navigate to your website.

UTM Parameters: Your Personalized Tracking Tags 🏷

URLs are good, they allow people to find your website. But how do you know where these people came from? This is where UTM parameters come into play. UTM parameters are short tags you can add to your URLs. When someone clicks on a URL with UTM parameters, these parameters are captured and stored in the browser. Tools such as Google Analytics can then access this stored information to report back where each visitor came from and what they did.

URL and UTM Parameters: Match Made in Heaven

Let's dive into how UTM parameters are added to a URL. The first step is to get your URL. As an example, we'll use the URL for our blog:

https://www.namie.io/blog

Now that we have our URL, we can add the parameters. Immediately after the URL ends, we need to add a "?" - this lets the browser know where the URL ends and where UTMs start.

https://www.namie.io/blog?

Now, we're ready to start appending our UTM parameters. There are 5 primary UTM parameters you should use:

• utm_source: This identifies the name of the source/site of where the URL is to be placed. Some examples here would be facebook, linkedin, bing, etc.

• utm_medium: This would describe the type of source/site. Some examples would be paid_social, cpc, display, etc.

• utm_campaign: This specifies the particular marketing initiative the URL is associated with, useful for distinguishing between multiple campaigns.

• utm_term: This parameter highlights the keywords that trigger the (search) advertisement.

• utm_content: Lastly, the utm_content field can be used to associate a URL to the specific piece of content it's being used with.

Let's start with utm_source. To add this parameter to our URL, we'll add in the parameter label followed by an equal sign and the value we want to use:

https://www.namie.io/blog?utm_source=facebook

And just like that we've got a functioning UTM parameter on our URL! Now we can add in any more parameters we'd like. To add another UTM parameter, all we need to do is include a "&" after the value of the previous parameter:

https://www.namie.io/blog?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid_social

(Pro tip: see this process in action here. Also take a gander at the benefits of a URL management tool like Namie)

There are many things to keep in mind when it comes to using UTM parameters. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Consistency is key, make sure the values you are using for each parameter are consistent (also UTMs are case sensitive so capitalization matters).

• Be strategic with the values used. Don't just throw whatever comes to your mind in your UTM values. Be methodical so that when it's time to look at performance the information will not suck.

• Be careful with any special characters. For sure don't use "?" or "&" in your UTMs as these will mess everything up. The safest options are to never use spaces and only use simple characters such as "-" or "_" to make values readable.

• Test URLs with UTMs! The best way to be sure you're doing things correctly is to test. You can test by pasting the URL + UTMs in the navigation bar to ensure it's sending traffic where you expect it to. You can then check your analytics tool to confirm the UTMs are being tracked correctly.

Demystifying UTM Parameters: Your Map to Online Success

While UTM parameters might initially seem complex, they really aren't that bad. They'll provide you with invaluable insights into the effectiveness of your online strategies. By understanding where website traffic originates and what campaigns are driving results, you can make informed decisions, optimize efforts, and create more tailored user experiences.

Looking to Take Things to the Next Level?

If you're looking to level up your URL and UTM parameter game, you should consider a URL management tool like Namie. Name will help ensure your URLs are set up with correct and consistent UTM parameters. In addition, Namie offers cool features such as URL validation and URL shortening, so you have everything you need in one tool. Check out more here!