What the tags do
A tagged link is your normal link with a few words on the end, like ?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=bio.
Visitors land on exactly the same page.
Your stats tool reads the tags and files the visit under Instagram, bio - instead of a vague "social".
The three tags
- utm_source is the place: youtube, instagram, newsletter. The builder needs this one.
- utm_medium is the spot inside it: description, bio, pinned-comment.
- utm_campaign groups one push: spring-sale, book-launch.
A naming habit that saves you later
Google Analytics treats YouTube, youtube and yt as three different sources.
A month later you are adding them up by hand.
The builder turns every tag into small letters and swaps spaces for hyphens, so the same word always arrives the same way.
One thing never to tag: links between pages of your own website.
A tag starts a new visit in Analytics, so your own page would overwrite where the visitor really came from.
Once your links are out, our article on UTM links shows where to read the results, and three ways the numbers can fool you.