What are UTM parameters and what are they used for?

UTM parameters are used to analyse the success of online campaigns. They also help to assign visitors to the correct channels (social, email, organic search, etc.) in Google Analytics. The UTM parameters (= bold) are appended to the actual URL, as in the following example:

https://zweipunkt.com/guide-erstellung-utm-parameter/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campagin=utm-guide

So if you want to analyse the effectiveness of your own campaigns (paid or organic), you should use the UTM parameters.

Up to five UTM parameters (Source, Medium, Campaign, Term, Content) can be used for detailed campaign analyses in Google Analytics.

The Source, Medium and Campaign parameters must be specified; the Term and Content fields are optional.

The Google URL Builder is a free tool from Google for the systematic recording of UTM parameters. All the required information can be entered and a URL with UTM parameters is then automatically created, which can then be used as a link.

• Campaign Source - Contains the source or advertising medium of the traffic, e.g. facebook, newsletter, or the website name on which a banner advert is placed.
• Campaign Medium - Describes the type or marketing discipline of the traffic, e.g. cpc(cost per click), social (or paid_social and organic_social), email or diplay.
• Campaign Name - Name of the campaign, e.g. utm-guide, promotion2021Q1, or 20prozent-kw152021.

• Campaign Term - is used by default for the keywords of the paid search. However, the parameter can also be used for more detailed campaign tracking in order to specify additional information such as the advertising medium, placement or language.
• Campaign content - this parameter can also be used for a more precise differentiation of a campaign or its properties.

A URL with all UTM parameters could then look like this: https: //www.zweipunkt.com/?utm_source=20min&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=utm-anleitung&utm_term=preroll-ros&utm_content=de

• at the beginning, think about a standardised and comprehensible UTM concept that can be applied to the various areas in your company.
• Ensure that the UTM parameters are applied consistently (e.g. specify whether dashes (-) or underscores (_) are used to separate individual words).
• Use small letters. For Google Analytics, UTM guidance and utm guidance are two different campaigns.
• Never use UTM parameters for onsite links on your website.
• Avoid redundancies such as: https://zweipunkt.com/?utm_source=email- newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campagin=utm-guide.
• The UTM parameters lengthen the URL considerably and are also visible to users. As a result, they scratch the surface of the user experience. URLs can be shortened again using tools such as bit.ly. This method is highly recommended, especially for stand-alone links.

In our opinion, a spreadsheet for tracking and organising your own UTM parameters and campaigns is absolutely essential. We will be happy to provide you with our UTM Link Builder free of charge on request.

We wish you every success with the implementation.