UTM links that do not split your report
A tagged link is the only thing that tells your analytics where a visit came from when the platform and the report disagree. Paste the destination, pick where the link goes out, copy the result. Nothing here is shortened, nothing is checked against the network, and nothing leaves your browser.
The destination and the three tags that matter
If it already carries parameters or an anchor, both survive: the tags go into the query and whatever follows the hash stays last.
Where the click comes from: the network, the name of the newsletter, the partner linking to you.
What kind of traffic it is: social, email, cpc, bio. Decide your list once and keep it, or you will have a new medium every month.
The name you will search for six months from now. Spaces become hyphens.
The other two, only if you will read them
The keyword, when you are paying for keywords. Outside that it almost never earns its place.
Which of the two links in the same send took the click. It only means something when there are two.
Your tagged link
Paste the destination link and the result shows up here.
All five tags are lowercased and their spaces become hyphens. Analytics treats Facebook and facebook as two different sources, and that is the single most common way a report ends up as two halves nobody puts back together.
- The click, not the sale. A UTM records where the visit came from today; if that person comes back two weeks later searching for your name, the sale is credited to the search.
- The platform and your analytics will not agree. They measure different windows and different events, and tagging well narrows the gap without closing it.
- A tag nobody opens is dirtier than no tag at all. Term and content are for the person who will genuinely read that report.
- Whatever you write travels in plain sight: in the address bar of everyone who clicks, and in every link they forward. A campaign name is not the place for a client name or an internal number.
Frequently asked questions
Which parameters do you actually need?
Source, medium and campaign. Those three are enough to attribute a visit. Term and content are for whoever will open that report, and a convention nobody follows makes the data dirtier than no convention at all.
Why is everything lowercased and hyphenated?
Because analytics is case sensitive: Facebook and facebook come out as two sources and each report keeps half the data. And a space inside a URL gets encoded, so the campaign ends up with two names. Lowercase and hyphens avoid both.
What if my link already has parameters or an anchor?
Both survive. The tags are added to the query that was already there, a utm_ parameter that was already set is replaced by yours, and whatever follows the hash stays at the end, which is where the browser expects it.
Is the link saved or shortened anywhere?
No. Everything happens in your browser: no shortener, no check that the destination responds, nothing sent and nothing kept once the tab closes. The campaign you paste in here has often not launched yet.
Fourteen days to decide
Connect one account, schedule a week and see whether it fits. If it does not fit, cancel before day 15 and nothing is charged.