Use UTM tags without making your marketing report unreadable

UTM tags are labels added to a web address that allow a measurement service to recognise a visit's source. Use consistent names for source, medium and campaign, and add the labels to links coming from outside your website. This helps distinguish a newsletter, partner referral or advertisement later.

Things often go wrong before anyone clicks. One colleague writes Email, another email, and a third suddenly calls the same campaign najaar_actie. A report intended to tell one story breaks into separate rows. A short naming agreement is therefore more useful than a long list of parameters.

Start with the comparison you want to make

First establish why you need the labels. Do you want to compare two newsletters, identify which partner refers to a guide, or distinguish two placements within the same campaign? The question determines how much detail is useful.

Labelling a link simply because you can does not produce a useful decision. Agree which next step matters and where you observe it. A visit may be recorded without someone reading the page carefully. Define an enquiry separately, as explained in measuring marketing results without false certainty.

Record which measurement service processes the labels too. A website without configured reporting does not automatically create campaign reports because its addresses contain UTM tags. Check the capabilities and privacy settings of your own setup.

Give source, medium and campaign separate roles

The usual foundation consists of three parameters, answering different questions:

• utm_source: where is the link placed? Examples include flova_nieuwsbrief, a platform name or an agreed partner name.
• utm_medium: what kind of channel brings the visit? For example, email for a newsletter. Use a classification your measurement service understands.
• utm_campaign: which initiative does the link belong to? For example, onderhoudsgids_najaar.

Keep source and medium separate. If the newsletter name becomes both source and medium, comparing different email communications becomes harder. A consistent channel type helps comparison.

utm_content can distinguish variants within the same campaign, such as bovenste_tekstlink and onderste_knop. Add this detail when it answers a real question. utm_term is used, among other things, for search-term information; it need not become mandatory in every manually created link.

Meaning in your report also depends on the chosen dimension. Google Analytics, for example, has source data at different levels, including user and session. Check which one you are viewing before placing two reports side by side.

A fully worked fictional newsletter campaign

This example is practice material. Voorbeeldatelier is an invented business; no campaign was sent and no visitors or results are claimed.

Voorbeeldatelier has a maintenance guide. Its November newsletter includes a text link at the top and a button at the bottom, both pointing to the same page. The editors want to distinguish the placements without turning them into separate campaigns.

The naming agreement is:

• Source: voorbeeldatelier_nieuwsbrief.
• Medium: email.
• Campaign: onderhoudsgids_november.
• Content variant: bovenste_tekstlink or onderste_knop.

The first practice link becomes:

https://example.com/onderhoud?utm_source=voorbeeldatelier_nieuwsbrief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onderhoudsgids_november&utm_content=bovenste_tekstlink

example.com is used solely as an example domain here. For a real mailing, use your own verified destination page. The second variant receives the same source, medium and campaign; only utm_content changes.

That makes the placement recognisable. It does not prove the upper link works better: a reader clicking there may never reach the lower button. The structure of a valuable newsletter remains an editorial choice, rather than a contest between button positions.

Make one naming agreement someone else can follow

Choose consistent spelling, such as lowercase letters with underscores between words. Google documents that parameter values are case-sensitive. Email and email can therefore produce separate values. Agree more than a preference: provide a correct example too.

Use a simple campaign sheet recording destination, source, medium, campaign, any variant and owner. The owner checks links before distribution. Also record the campaign's purpose; an unexplained cryptic code helps nobody next month.

Create a new campaign name when the campaign genuinely changes. A small editorial wording change does not automatically create a new initiative. Conversely, using one permanent label for every offer may provide too little distinction.

Use a URL builder to reduce spelling and formatting errors. Then inspect the final address. If a page already has a question mark and parameters, you cannot simply add a second question mark. A tool handles formatting but cannot invent your naming agreement for you.

Label the entrance, rather than every internal step

Use campaign labels to identify a visit from outside. The link from your own homepage to your own service page does not need the same kind of acquisition labels.

Internal UTM links can disrupt interpretation of campaign or event data in your setup. They also obscure whether someone arrived through an external campaign or simply continued reading your website. Investigate internal reading behaviour with an appropriate, carefully configured method.

An ordinary descriptive link in your content plan therefore does not need a long campaign suffix. Keep context and link text understandable to readers. Labels support reporting; they should not take over meaningful navigation.

Never put personal data in a campaign label

A URL can appear in browser history, server logs, shared messages and various measurement services. Treat the campaign suffix as information that may become visible beyond the intended report.

Do not use an email address, customer name, telephone number, personal customer number, login token or other secret as a UTM tag. utm_content=onderste_knop describes a placement. A parameter identifying one recognisable recipient does something different and does not belong in this simple campaign agreement.

Campaign labels do not give you permission to track visitors either. Assess the actual measurement service, storage and any consent requirements separately. Include only information needed for the chosen comparison.

Test the complete journey before publishing

Open the final link on desktop and mobile and check the destination. See whether redirects, a URL shortener or the sending service preserve parameters. Also check that the untagged page shows the same offer and the next step works.

Where available, use an appropriate test or debug view in your measurement service. Find the agreed source, medium and campaign there. A working page does not prove reporting is configured correctly. Exclude unintended internal test data under your existing measurement rules; do not invent results to fill an empty report.

Then complete this short checklist:

1. Does tagging answer a concrete comparison question?
2. Are names written exactly according to the agreement?
3. Is the URL free of personal data and secrets?
4. Are tags preserved until the correct destination page?
5. Does the report's reader understand what the labels mean?

Read campaign reports with their limitations

Someone can forward a tagged link. A measurement service may miss visits because of settings, blockers or technical problems. A later enquiry may also follow several conversations and visits.

UTM tags tell you how an observed arrival was labelled. They do not reconstruct the complete path to purchase. Do not simply add results from different platforms together, and do not automatically describe an attributed enquiry as a proven effect.

Put your naming rules beside your marketing dashboard and identify the decisions they actually support. Find more measurement guides under Measure and improve.

Sources and further reading

• Google Analytics: collect traffic data with custom URLs.
• Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder.