What are UTM tags and why are they needed?
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 7:17 am
UTM tags are an indispensable auxiliary tool for assessing the effectiveness of any marketing activity. Without them, you won’t know which post was more useful, which offer worked better, and where to direct the bulk of your advertising budget.
In this article, we answer the most frequently asked questions about tags that will help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing activities.
Content
What are UTM tags?
UTM tag ( Urchin Tracking Module) is a tag that is inserted into the address bar of a website or page to obtain information about the traffic source.
Typically, a UTM tag consists of two parts: the parameter name and its value.
what is utm
Why do we need UTM tags?
Tags are most often used by marketers and targeters to evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns.
For example, using UTM tags, you can understand which advertisement was the most effective.
Also , with the help of UTM tags, you can easily track traffic sources. Thus, you can easily understand which communication channel works better. Whether it is a QR code on a citylight, a PR article or advertising on social networks.
Types of UTM tags
There are two types of labels:
mandatory , which are always present in the link
optional , which are added as needed.
Let's look at the structure of each type.
Mandatory UTM tags
utm_source — traffic source. Use to better understand where your site visitors come from.
Example: utm_source=google
Traffic sources can be search results, advertisements, social media accounts, newsletters, links in articles on other sites, and so on.
utm_medium — traffic type. This type of tags allows you to find out how traffic is received.
Example: utm_medium=cpc
Methods of getting traffic: price per click, banner, mailing, QR kazakhstan phone number library code and others.
utm_campaign — advertising campaign. Thanks to this tag, you can find out which advertising campaign or ad attracted the most traffic.
Example: utm_campaign=man20
In this parameter you can specify which product was advertised, with which promo code or which slogan was used.
Optional UTM tags
utm_term or utm_keyword — keyword. Use this parameter to understand which keyword brings the most traffic.
Example: utm_term=shoes
The selection of keywords depends on your field of activity.
utm_content — content. Helps to find out from what type of content visitors came.
Example: utm_content=text
Visitors can come to the site through videos, banners or articles.
UTM tag alternatives
Naturally, there are many alternatives to UTM tags. Although they are much less effective, let's look at a few examples.
Gclid
This is automatic link marking in Google Ads ads. But there are a few nuances:
This markup is used only in Google ads, and the system generates these tags itself.
Tags are only compatible with Google Analytics.
Accordingly, if you run ads on other platforms and also use another service to track analytics, you will hardly find them convenient to use.
Yclid
Similar URL markup, but used in Yandex.Direct ads. Has the same drawbacks: tags are compatible only with Yandex.Direct and Yandex.Metrica.
In fact, many services have their own tags. Among them is Facebook with the fbclid tag.
From
This tag can be used to track the source of the click through to an advertising link. But it is only recognized by Yandex.Metrica.
The main difference is that all these tags transmit only one parameter (referral source), while UTM tagging allows you to get five parameters. This makes UTM tags the most effective way to track your marketing activities.
In this article, we answer the most frequently asked questions about tags that will help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing activities.
Content
What are UTM tags?
UTM tag ( Urchin Tracking Module) is a tag that is inserted into the address bar of a website or page to obtain information about the traffic source.
Typically, a UTM tag consists of two parts: the parameter name and its value.
what is utm
Why do we need UTM tags?
Tags are most often used by marketers and targeters to evaluate the effectiveness of their campaigns.
For example, using UTM tags, you can understand which advertisement was the most effective.
Also , with the help of UTM tags, you can easily track traffic sources. Thus, you can easily understand which communication channel works better. Whether it is a QR code on a citylight, a PR article or advertising on social networks.
Types of UTM tags
There are two types of labels:
mandatory , which are always present in the link
optional , which are added as needed.
Let's look at the structure of each type.
Mandatory UTM tags
utm_source — traffic source. Use to better understand where your site visitors come from.
Example: utm_source=google
Traffic sources can be search results, advertisements, social media accounts, newsletters, links in articles on other sites, and so on.
utm_medium — traffic type. This type of tags allows you to find out how traffic is received.
Example: utm_medium=cpc
Methods of getting traffic: price per click, banner, mailing, QR kazakhstan phone number library code and others.
utm_campaign — advertising campaign. Thanks to this tag, you can find out which advertising campaign or ad attracted the most traffic.
Example: utm_campaign=man20
In this parameter you can specify which product was advertised, with which promo code or which slogan was used.
Optional UTM tags
utm_term or utm_keyword — keyword. Use this parameter to understand which keyword brings the most traffic.
Example: utm_term=shoes
The selection of keywords depends on your field of activity.
utm_content — content. Helps to find out from what type of content visitors came.
Example: utm_content=text
Visitors can come to the site through videos, banners or articles.
UTM tag alternatives
Naturally, there are many alternatives to UTM tags. Although they are much less effective, let's look at a few examples.
Gclid
This is automatic link marking in Google Ads ads. But there are a few nuances:
This markup is used only in Google ads, and the system generates these tags itself.
Tags are only compatible with Google Analytics.
Accordingly, if you run ads on other platforms and also use another service to track analytics, you will hardly find them convenient to use.
Yclid
Similar URL markup, but used in Yandex.Direct ads. Has the same drawbacks: tags are compatible only with Yandex.Direct and Yandex.Metrica.
In fact, many services have their own tags. Among them is Facebook with the fbclid tag.
From
This tag can be used to track the source of the click through to an advertising link. But it is only recognized by Yandex.Metrica.
The main difference is that all these tags transmit only one parameter (referral source), while UTM tagging allows you to get five parameters. This makes UTM tags the most effective way to track your marketing activities.