Pillar guide

UTM tracking that stays maintainable

UTMs are useful until they become a mess. The goal is not “track everything” — it’s to answer a few consistent questions, month after month, without breaking your brain.

What UTMs are for (in one sentence)

UTMs tell your analytics tool where a click came from: source, medium, campaign, and sometimes content.

The only parameters most people need

  • utm_source — where the click came from (instagram, newsletter, youtube)
  • utm_medium — the format (social, email, video, cpc)
  • utm_campaign — the initiative (spring_launch, leadmagnet, weekly_digest)
  • utm_content — optional: button/placement (bio_link, hero_btn, footer_cta)

Skip utm_term unless you’re tracking paid search keywords.

A convention you can copy

Use lowercase, hyphens, and no dates unless the campaign is truly time-bound.

utm_source=instagram
utm_medium=social
utm_campaign=leadmagnet
utm_content=bio

Example URLs

Direct link example:

https://example.com/guide?
  utm_source=instagram&
  utm_medium=social&
  utm_campaign=leadmagnet&
  utm_content=bio

Short link + UTMs example (recommended):

https://short.domain/go/leadmagnet
  → redirects to https://example.com/guide?utm_source=...&utm_medium=...
Putting UTMs on the destination page (via your short link) keeps your public URLs clean and still tracks correctly.

What to avoid

  • Inconsistent names (IG vs insta vs instagram). Pick one value and reuse it.
  • Stuffing everything into campaign. Campaign should be “why”, content should be “where on the page”.
  • Creating a new medium for every idea. Keep medium to a small set you can chart.

Pair UTMs with a link system

UTMs work best when you also have a clean link structure. If you haven’t already, read link management that doesn’t fall apart.

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