Marketing UTM Tagging Guidelines

Introduction: Why Consistency with UTM Tags Matters

UTM tags are the unsung heroes of digital marketing data. They give you the power to track where your traffic comes from, identify which campaigns are driving results, and optimize ad performance. But there’s a catch — without consistency, UTM tags can quickly create chaos instead of clarity. Imagine seeing “cpc,” “paid,” and “promoted” used interchangeably for the same traffic. It becomes nearly impossible to aggregate data, spot trends, or make informed decisions.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through best practices for UTM tagging, naming conventions, and setting parameters so your tracking stays clean, consistent, and actionable. Whether you’re working with a client or managing your campaigns, these tips will keep your analytics streamlined and your insights crystal clear.

Be consistent when setting UTM tags

Ask your client if they have a preference for tagging traffic. They might have their analytics or BI tools set up in a certain way that you need to know about.

Overall, It does not really matter if you use “cpc”(suggested), “paid”, “cpm” or some other tag to signify paid traffic from a given ad platform. What is important is that you always use the same tag to mean the same thing. However, if different people in different parts of the client’s organization interchangeably use “cpc”, “paid” and “promoted” for the same type of traffic you will have a hard time getting a good overview and properly aggregating your data.

Tag all traffic that you have control over

Google Ads will automatically tag traffic for you if you have Auto Tagging enabled, which you should by default. ALL TRAFFIC from campaigns outside of Google Ads needs to be tagged.

You can look through all your traffic in Google Analytics and identify the traffic that is not tagged and try to figure out a way to tag it. There will be traffic that you cannot tag, such as true referral URLs and traffic that really is direct traffic, and that’s fine.

Create a naming convention for campaigns

Ask your client if they have a preference for naming conventions. If not, you can fallback on some of these guidelines:

• Keep the names as short as possible while still unique and descriptive of the nature of the campaign. Abbreviations are good if they are easy to understand. Also, avoid identical long phrases in many campaign names. A lot of that can usually be cut out.
• Start the name with the things that are unique to the campaign as the name will often be truncated when looking at it in Google Analytics. If you advertise in different countries, use an abbreviation for the country in the campaign name. For example, US, DE, SE.
• Consider whether you want to add an identifier for the type of ad in the campaign name.
  • For example, if it is a Google Ads display campaign you may want to start it with the abbreviation GDN for Google Display Network so you can distinguish if from search campaigns. Google’s auto-tagging sets the medium to cpc for all search and display traffic so it is helpful to find another way to distinguish between search and display traffic than the medium.
• Be consistent in how you use case in campaigns. UTM tags are case sensitive, so you need to make sure you always get this right.

Set the source tag to the name of the channel you are using (utm_source)

Always use the name of the ad platform for the source tag (utm_source). For example facebook for Facebook, linkedin for LinkedIn, bing for the Bing, capterra for Capterra, etc.

Consider always setting the medium tag for paid traffic to cpc (utm_medium)

This is what Google’s auto-tagging does, so all paid traffic from Google Ads will appear this way in Google Analytics unless you add your own tags. This way it is easy to filter out paid traffic.

Alternatively, you can use the medium tag to signify the exact bid type for the ad such as cpc, cpm etc. But first consider whether you really need that. It may be better to just keep it simple.

Set the campaign parameter to the campaign name (utm_campaign)

The campaign parameter should be identical to the campaign name in the ads platform. Including capitalizations if applicable.

Spaces are not allowed in URLs and thus not in UTM parameters. If you use spaces in your campaign names you need to replace each space by %20. Then Google Analytics will read it as a space.

Set the term parameter to something that signifies the targeting of the ad (utm_term)

Google Ads automatically sets this to the keyword (for paid search), provided that you have auto-tagging enabled. Term is thus used to signify how the ad is targeted. We recommend to use it in the same way for all other traffic sources where you have targeting information.

• For LinkedIn & Twitter ads, create a string based on LinkedIn or Twitter targeting parameters used for ad.
• For Facebook, for instance, this corresponds to the ad set name as targeting is set at the ad set level in Facebook.

Set the content parameter to something that allows you to identify the individual ad (utm_content)

This is usually something that is tied to the creative of the ad. Don’t worry if you use the same creative for two ads with different targeting. Then the content parameter can be the same for the two ads as the term parameter can be used to distinguish the traffic from the two different ads. Examples of the content parameter include “variant A” or “variant B”.

Simplify, Streamline, and Succeed with UTM Tags

UTM tags are only as effective as the process behind them. By staying consistent, adopting clear naming conventions, and tagging all the traffic within your control, you create a reliable foundation for accurate data and smarter marketing decisions.

• Always align with client preferences to ensure your tagging matches their analytics setup.
• Keep it simple with consistent source, medium, and naming structures.
• Focus on clarity — use logical, descriptive parameters that help you easily identify targeting, content, and campaign performance.

UTM tags shouldn’t be a headache. With a consistent, intentional approach, they become a powerful tool to eliminate confusion, uncover actionable insights, and help you drive more results from every campaign.

Ready to take control of your data? Start tagging smarter today!