UTM Builder

What is the UTM Builder?

The UTM Builder is a free tool that adds UTM tracking parameters to a link, so Google Analytics 4 and other analytics tools can attribute each visit to the campaign that sent it. Enter the URL and the source, medium and campaign, add term, content or ID if you need them, and copy a clean, lowercase campaign URL.

How to use the UTM Builder

1. Paste the page URL the link should point to.
2. Fill in source, medium and campaign. These three are what GA4 needs.
3. Add campaign ID, term or content if you use them, and keep Force lowercase on.
4. Copy the campaign URL and use it in your ad, email or post.

What are the different UTM parameters?

There are five standard UTM parameters and one newer one. utm_source is where the traffic comes from (google, newsletter, linkedin). utm_medium is the type of channel (cpc, email, social). utm_campaign names the campaign. utm_term holds the paid keyword, and utm_content tells apart two links in the same campaign, such as two buttons in one email. utm_id is a campaign ID that GA4 uses to join imported cost data.

How do I see UTM links in Google Analytics?

In GA4, open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition, and change the primary dimension to Session source / medium or Session campaign. Visits from your tagged links appear under the values you set. GA4 also maps source and medium onto default channel groups, so utm_medium=email lands in Email and utm_medium=cpc in Paid Search. A medium GA4 does not recognise lands in Unassigned.

UTM best practices: what breaks campaign tracking?

Three things cause most broken UTM data. Inconsistent case, because UTM values are case sensitive, so LinkedIn and linkedin report as two sources. Spaces, which turn into %20 and get typed differently each time. And tagging internal links: a UTM on a link inside your own site starts a new session and overwrites where the visitor really came from.

The builder lowercases values and swaps spaces for hyphens by default. Agree a short list of sources and mediums with your team and stick to it. Visits from AI assistants are a separate case: ChatGPT and Perplexity add their own referrer, which the AI visibility tools help you grow.

How do I use Google's UTM builder with GA4?

Google's Campaign URL Builder and this one do the same job: you fill in the destination URL, source, medium and campaign, and copy the tagged link. A finished link looks like https://example.com/pricing?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=spring-launch. The order of the parameters does not matter, and if the URL already has a query string or a #section anchor, this builder keeps both and puts the UTMs in the right place.

GA4 reads all six parameters this tool builds. It also reads three newer ones, utm_source_platform, utm_creative_format and utm_marketing_tactic, which this builder does not add; append them by hand if your reporting uses them. For Google Ads, turn on auto-tagging instead of writing UTMs, because the gclid it adds passes campaign, ad group and keyword data to a linked GA4 property automatically.

Test each new link before the campaign goes out. Open it in a private window, then check GA4's Realtime report: the visit should appear within a few minutes with the source, medium and campaign you set. If it shows as direct or referral, a redirect on your site is probably dropping the query string. Fix the redirect, or point the link straight at the final URL.

How do I add UTM parameters to Meta ads?

In Meta Ads Manager, open the ad, scroll to Tracking and use the URL parameters field rather than pasting a tagged link into the website URL. Enter the part after the question mark, for example utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid-social&utm_campaign=spring-launch. Meta also accepts dynamic values such as {{campaign.name}}, {{adset.name}} and {{ad.name}}, which it fills in for each ad, so one template covers a whole account.

If you use dynamic names, keep campaign names in Meta lowercase and hyphenated too, or GA4 will show them exactly as typed. Meta also adds its own fbclid parameter to clicks. That does not replace UTMs: GA4 needs the UTM values to report the campaign.

The same approach works for email. Most email platforms, Mailchimp included, have a setting that adds UTMs to every link in a campaign. Turn it on once, check the values it uses, and you do not need to tag each link by hand.

How do I build UTM links in bulk or in Excel?

For a few links, use this builder. For dozens, a spreadsheet works: one column each for the URL, source, medium, campaign and content, and a formula that joins them, such as =A2&"?utm_source="&LOWER(B2)&"&utm_medium="&LOWER(C2)&"&utm_campaign="&LOWER(D2). Wrap values in SUBSTITUTE(...," ","-") to replace spaces, and in Excel use ENCODEURL() on any value that could contain an ampersand or other special character. That simple formula breaks on a URL that already has a ?, so check those by hand.

The spreadsheet also becomes your naming record. Keep a tab listing every approved source and medium, and have the team copy from it. HubSpot, Bitly and several social schedulers have their own UTM builders; whichever you use, the values only stay consistent if everyone follows the same list.

A simple convention covers most teams: source is the site or sender (linkedin, google, newsletter), medium is the channel type GA4 recognises (social, paid-social, cpc, email, referral), and campaign names the launch or promotion, with a date if it repeats (spring-launch-2026). Write a one-line definition next to each value, such as "newsletter: our own weekly email", so new people pick the right one, and review the list every few months to merge values that mean the same thing.

Can I shorten a UTM link with Bitly?

Yes. Build the full UTM link first, then shorten it. A shortener such as Bitly redirects to the full URL with every parameter intact, so GA4 still reads the campaign. Click the short link once before you publish it, and confirm the page opens with the UTMs in the address bar.

Expect the shortener's click count to be higher than GA4's sessions. A shortener counts every click, including bots and people who leave before the page loads, while GA4 counts only visits where its tag ran and, in many regions, where the visitor accepted analytics cookies.

Some shorteners and link-in-bio tools can add UTMs for you. If yours does, do not also put them in the long URL, or the link carries each parameter twice and you cannot be sure which value your analytics will keep.