UTM parameters — Urchin Tracking Module parameters
Qué es UTM parameters?
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UTM parameters (Urchin Tracking Module parameters) are five query-string tags appended to a URL — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, and utm_content — that tell an analytics platform which source, channel, and campaign brought a visitor to a page. Because the tags survive the click through to the destination site, a form fill or a phone call placed from that page can be traced back to the exact ad or email that drove the visit.
More detail
The five tags carry different levels of the attribution answer: utm_source names the referrer (a search engine, a newsletter, a partner site), utm_medium names the channel class (cpc, email, social), utm_campaign names the specific campaign, and utm_term plus utm_content distinguish the keyword or the variant within that campaign. An analytics platform parses the tags on the first pageview and stores them against the session — and against any conversion the session goes on to produce.
UTM tags complement communications-channel attribution rather than replace it. A message campaign that links out to a landing page passes the tags through the click, so the channel that delivered the message (SMS, email, RCS, WhatsApp) shows up as the source the analytics reports credit, while messages sent as reminders or OTPs carry no marketing tags at all. On the voice side, dynamic number insertion reads the same tagged session to pick which tracking number it displays, so an inbound call inherits the campaign attribution a form fill would get from the URL itself.
The only hard usage rules are consistency and case: tags are query strings, so they are case-sensitive and additive — a naming convention decided after launch leaves the same campaign split across utm_source=Newsletter and utm_source=newsletter forever, and no analytics backfill can merge the two.
Preguntas frecuentes
- What are the five UTM parameters and what does each one record?
- utm_source records the referrer (google, newsletter, a partner site), utm_medium the channel class (cpc, email, social), utm_campaign the named campaign, utm_term the paid keyword, and utm_content the specific variant of the ad or link. The first three are the ones most analytics reports group by; utm_term and utm_content exist for paid-search and A/B-tested creative.
- How do UTM parameters relate to call tracking and attribution?
- UTM tags attribute the web session; call tracking extends the same attribution to the phone channel. A dynamic number insertion script reads the tagged session and serves a tracking number reserved for that source, so when the visitor calls instead of filling a form, the call lands in the analytics view against the exact same source and campaign the URL declared.
See also
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