What is a UTM Parameter?

UTM Essentials

Define a Standardized UTM Naming Convention

Create a Centralized UTM Governance Plan and Document

Develop a shared governance document or platform, such as SharePoint, Excel, or a dedicated UTM tool, to track approved parameters and campaign URLs. Use it to:

• Define UTM parameters
• List approved values
  • Use data-validated dropdown fields in a spreadsheet to enforce naming conventions and avoid ‘free-range’ entries.
• Track past and active campaigns
• Assign UTM dates and owners to URLs

Automate UTM Creation with a URL Builder

Use Google’s Campaign URL Builder, Bitly’s builder, a custom Excel generator, or a SharePoint-based form to automate UTM URL creation. You can also integrate Zapier or a marketing automation platform, such as HubSpot or Marketo, to append approved parameters automatically.

• Build a ‘self-serve’ form (via Excel or SharePoint) for teams to generate UTMs correctly.

Enforce UTM Policy via Governance Rules

To maintain UTM hygiene:

• Require UTM tracking for all external campaigns (ads, email, social, affiliates)
• Restrict freeform UTM entry—enforce dropdowns and pre-approved values
• Regularly review UTMs for inconsistencies
  • Create a UTM QA checklist before launching campaigns.
  • Assign a POC to check UTMs pre-launch, and/or include UTMs in the campaign QA.

Monitor & Analyze UTM Data

Build reports in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to track UTM performance, then extend that foundation with Looker Studio or Power BI reporting.

• Validate UTM consistency in GA4 > Traffic Acquisition Report
• Set up custom dashboards in Looker Studio or Power BI
• Monitor campaign effectiveness and correct errors promptly
  • Build automated GA4 reports that flag misused UTMs > auto alert user

Educate Teams & Document Processes

Conduct ongoing training sessions for teams:

• Create a UTM playbook with examples, common mistakes, and FAQs
• Offer ‘office hours’ for general help and troubleshooting
  • Be available to help, especially in the beginning. Then, slowly encourage team mates to help each other while always serving as the “last line of defense”.
  • If available/applicable, establish a Slack or Teams channel for UTM-related questions.

UTM Parameters in Detail

Parameter	Example	Purpose
utm_source	google	Identifies the traffic source or referrer.
utm_medium	cpc	Identifies the marketing medium or channel.
utm_campaign	spring_sale	Identifies the campaign name.
utm_id	abc.123	Identifies the campaign ID and can be used alongside utm_campaign.
utm_term	running_shoes	Captures a paid keyword or term when relevant.
utm_content	hero_cta	Differentiates creatives or links pointing to the same destination.

Use utm_campaign and utm_id together when both are relevant. Google recommends setting all relevant UTM parameters—especially source, medium, campaign name, campaign ID, and source platform—rather than treating campaign name and campaign ID as mutually exclusive.

To help remember the difference between source and medium, think of medium as a vehicle that got them to your site, like a car. The Source is what got them on the road and in the car in the first place.

Finding UTM parameter data in GA4

Default Channel Dimensions

Channels are rule-based definitions of your website’s traffic sources that let you monitor the performance of all channels sending traffic to your website.

The channel dimensions in GA4 use different scopes and attribution rules. Default channel group is event-scoped and follows the reporting attribution model selected for the property; Google’s default reporting attribution model is data-driven. Session default channel group and First user default channel group are session- and user-scoped dimensions that use paid-and-organic channels last click.

Dimension	Definition	Attribution model	Scope
Default channel group	The channels by which users arrived at your site/app and triggered a key event.	Attribution model set for the property. Default is data-driven attribution model.	Event
Session default channel group	The channels by which users arrived at your site/app when they initiated new sessions	Paid and organic channels last click	Session
First user default channel group	The channels by which users first arrived at your site/app	Paid and organic channels last click	User

You can see these dimensions in GA4’s Acquisition reports, the Advertising section, and in custom reports or explorations where you add the dimensions explicitly.

Default channel descriptions

For reference when working with Google Analytics.

Channel	Description
Affiliates	Affiliates is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via links on affiliate sites.
Audio	Audio is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via ads on audio platforms (e.g., podcast platforms).
Cross-network	Cross-network is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via ads that appear on a variety of networks (e.g., Search and Display).
Direct	Direct is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via a saved link or by entering your URL.
Display	Display is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via display ads, including ads on the Google Display Network.
Email	Email is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via links in email.
Mobile Push Notifications	Mobile Push Notifications is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via links in mobile-device messages when they’re not actively using the app.
Organic Search	Organic Search is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via non-ad links in organic-search results.
Organic Shopping	Organic Shopping is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via non-ad links on shopping sites like Amazon or ebay.
Organic Social	Organic Social is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via non-ad links on social sites like Facebook or Twitter.
Organic Video	Organic Video is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via non-ad links on video sites like YouTube, TikTok, or Vimeo.
Paid Other	Paid Other is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via ads, but not through an ad identified as Search, Social, Shopping, or Video.
Paid Search	Paid Search is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via ads on search-engine sites like Bing, Baidu, or Google.
Paid Shopping	Paid Shopping is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via paid ads on shopping sites like Amazon or ebay or on individual retailer sites.
Paid Social	Paid Social is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via ads on social sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Paid Video	Paid Video is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via ads on video sites like TikTok, Vimeo, and YouTube.
Referral	Referral is the channel by which users arrive at your site via non-ad links on other sites/apps (e.g., blogs, news sites).
SMS	SMS is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via links from text messages.

Default channel definitions

These definitions reflect Analytics’ current view of what constitutes each channel. The following definitions are provided for your reference and may evolve as the market changes. Channel definitions aren’t case sensitive and can’t be edited.

Channel	Analytics definition
Channels for Google Ads traffic
Paid Shopping	Source platform is “Google Ads” AND Google Ads campaign type is “Shopping”
Paid Search	Source platform is “Google Ads” AND Google Ads ad network type is one of (“Google Search”, “Google Partners”)
Paid Video	Source platform is “Google Ads” AND Google Ads ad network type is one of (“YouTube”)
Display	Source platform is “Google Ads” AND Google Ads ad network type is one of (“Google Display Network”, “Google TV”)
Cross-network	Source platform is “Google Ads” AND Google Ads ad network type is one of (“Cross-network”, “Google owned channels”) Cross-network includes Demand Gen, Performance Max and Smart Shopping.
Paid Social	Source platform is “Google Ads” AND Google Ads ad network type is one of (“Social”)
Channels for Display & Video 360 traffic
Display	Source platform is “DV360″ AND DV360 creative format is one of (“Standard”, “Expandable”, “Native site square”, “Backdrop”, “Templated app install interstitial”, “Deprecated”,”Native app install”, “Native app install square”, “Native site”, “Templated app install”, “Lightbox”)
Paid Video	Source platform is “DV360” AND DV360 creative format is one of (“Native video”, “Video”, “Templated app install video”, “Flipbook”)
Audio	Source platform is “DV360” AND DV360 creative format is one of (“Audio”)
Paid Other	Source platform is “DV360” AND DV360 creative format is one of (“Publisher hosted”, “Tracking”, “Unknown”)
Channels for Campaign Manager 360 traffic via Floodlight integration
Display	Source platform is “CM360” AND CM360 creative format is one of (“Display redirect”, “Custom display”, “Custom display interstitial”, “Rich Media display banner”, “Display”, “Internal Redirect”, “Interstitial internal redirect”, “Flash in-page”, “HTML5 Banner”, “Rich Media display banner with floating”, “Rich Media IM expand”, “Rich Media display expanding”, “Rich Media mobile in-app”, “Rich Media display interstitial”, “Rich Media display multi-floating interstitial”, “Rich Media peel-down”, “Display image gallery”, “Image”)
Paid Video	Source platform is “CM360” AND CM360 creative format is one of (“In-Stream Video”, “Streaming Real”, “Streaming Windows”, “Streaming Flash”, “In-Stream Tracking”, “Streaming Silverlight”, “Video Redirect”, “VPAID linear video”, “VPAID non-linear video”)
Audio	Source platform is “CM360” AND CM360 creative format is one of (“In-Stream Audio”, “Audio Redirect”)
Paid Other	Source platform is “CM360” AND CM360 creative format is one of (“Tracking”, “Tracking Image”, “Tracking HTML”)
Channels for Search Ads 360 traffic The following are channels for non-Google Ads traffic; the channels for Google Ads traffic are the same as those listed at the beginning of this table under “Channels for Google Ads traffic”
Paid Search	Source platform is “SA360” AND SA360 engine account type is one of (“bing”, “yahoo gemini”, “yahoo.jp”, “baidu”, “admarketplace”, “naver”, “360.cn”, “yandex”)
Paid Social	Source platform is “SA360” AND SA360 engine account type Is one of (“facebook”, “twitter”)
Channels for Merchant Center traffic
Organic Shopping	Source platform is “Shopping Free Listings”
Channels for manual traffic (See Analytics’ list of sources and categories)
Direct	Source exactly matches “(direct)” AND Medium is one of (“(not set)”, “(none)”)
Cross-network	Campaign Name contains “cross-network” Cross-network includes Demand Gen, Performance Max and Smart Shopping.
Paid Shopping	Source matches a list of shopping sites OR Campaign Name matches regex ^(.*(([^a-df-z]|^)shop|shopping).*)$ AND Medium matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$
Paid Search	Source matches a list of search sites AND Medium matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$
Paid Social	Source matches a regex list of social sites AND Medium matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$
Paid Video	Source matches a list of video sites AND Medium matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$
Display	Medium is one of (“display”, “banner”, “expandable”, “interstitial”, “cpm”)
Paid Other	Medium matches regex ^(.*cp.*|ppc|retargeting|paid.*)$
Organic Shopping	Source matches a list of shopping sites OR Campaign name matches regex ^(.*(([^a-df-z]|^)shop|shopping).*)$
Organic Social	Source matches a regex list of social sites OR Medium is one of (“social”, “social-network”, “social-media”, “sm”, “social network”, “social media”)
Organic Video	Source matches a list of video sites OR Medium matches regex ^(.*video.*)$
Organic Search	Source matches a list of search sites listed under “SOURCE_CATEGORY_SEARCH” OR Medium exactly matches organic
Referral	Medium is one of (“referral”, “app”, or “link”)
Email	Source = email|e-mail|e_mail|e mail OR Medium = email|e-mail|e_mail|e mail
Affiliates	Medium = affiliate
Audio	Medium exactly matches audio
SMS	Source exactly matches sms OR Medium exactly matches sms
Mobile Push Notifications	Medium ends with “push” OR Medium contains “mobile” or “notification” OR Source exactly matches “firebase”

Unassigned is the value Analytics uses when there are no other channel rules that match the event data.

• Create an “Unassigned” report to identify which sources are not measured correctly.

(other) is the value Analytics uses for an aggregated row due to cardinality limits.

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Custom GA4 Reports and Regex

Google Analytics supports regular expressions (regex) for flexible pattern matching. In many Analytics interfaces, regex matching is full-match by default, so use metacharacters such as .* when you need a partial match. Google also references RE2 syntax for Analytics regex guidance.

In regex, a period (.) matches a single character and an asterisk (*) repeats the preceding token zero or more times. Together, .* matches zero or more characters. For example, .*video.* can match values containing “video” anywhere in the string.

The pipe (|) is the regex alternation operator, meaning “or.” For example, email|e-mail|e mail matches any of those three variants.

You’ll notice that the default or recommended channels often combine classic parameters with a regex. For example:

Organic Shopping

Source matches a list of shopping sites OR Campaign name matches regex ^(.*(([^a-df-z]|^)shop|shopping).*)$

Regex can make channel rules more resilient to naming variations, but broad patterns can also classify traffic incorrectly. Test expressions against representative values and validate the resulting channel assignments before relying on them in production reporting.