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UTM parameters (Urchin Tracking Module) are query string parameters you add to links so tools like SourceMedium and Google Analytics can attribute visits and purchases back to marketing campaigns.

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How UTMs work (in practice)

  • UTMs are appended to a URL (after a ?).
  • When a user clicks that URL, analytics tools record those parameters for the visit/session.
  • When the user purchases, SourceMedium uses the available attribution signals (including UTMs) to assign attribution (see Attribution Source Hierarchy).

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The UTM fields (and what they mean)

SourceMedium primarily uses these fields:
  • utm_source: Where the traffic came from (e.g., google, meta, klaviyo, podcast_partner)
  • utm_medium: How it got there (e.g., cpc, paid_social, email, affiliate)
  • utm_campaign: Which campaign (e.g., bfcm_2025, spring_launch)
  • utm_content: Optional creative/variation (e.g., video_15s, carousel_a)
  • utm_term: Optional keyword/targeting (often paid search)
  • utm_id: Optional internal campaign identifier
If you’re starting from scratch, make utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign mandatory. Use utm_content and utm_term only when you’ll actively use them.

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What each value should represent

Here’s a practical mental model that prevents messy reporting:
  • Put the platform/publisher in utm_source (where the traffic is coming from)
  • Put the marketing motion in utm_medium (how you’re buying/sending it)
  • Put the initiative in utm_campaign (what you’re running)
  • Put the creative/variation in utm_content (what version)
Avoid putting highly-granular values (like ad IDs) in utm_source or utm_medium. Those tend to explode your reporting into thousands of rows.
Consistency matters more than the “perfect” taxonomy. Pick rules your team will actually follow. Recommended defaults
  • Lowercase values (avoid Facebook vs facebook)
  • Use _ for separators (avoid spaces)
  • Keep sources stable over time (campaigns can change; sources shouldn’t)
Example 
https://example.com/products/widget?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=spring_launch&utm_content=video_15s
  1. Start from the clean destination URL (no UTMs).
  2. Use the official Google Campaign URL Builder to ensure correct formatting.
  3. Decide values for utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign (and optionally utm_content, utm_term).
  4. Append parameters to the URL:
    • If the URL has no query params, start with ?utm_source=...
    • If it already has query params, append with &utm_source=...
  5. Click your own tagged link and confirm the landing page retains UTMs.
  6. Reuse the same conventions everywhere (ads, emails, affiliates, QR codes).
If you use short links, ensure the short link resolves to a URL that still includes the UTMs (or preserves them via redirect).

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Setup checklist (by channel)

1

Paid social (Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, etc.)

Ensure every ad destination URL has UTMs. If the platform supports templates, use a single template so your whole account stays consistent.
2

Paid search (Google, Microsoft)

Tag final URLs with UTMs. If you use auto-tagging (click IDs), still set UTMs for human-readable reporting.
3

Email / SMS (Klaviyo, Attentive, etc.)

Tag every link, including buttons and image links. Email/SMS is a common source of (direct) / (none) if links aren’t consistently tagged.
4

Affiliates / influencers

Give each partner a tagged URL (or short link that redirects to a tagged URL). Decide whether you want partner-level detail in utm_source or utm_content.
5

Partnerships, PR, podcasts, offline

Use tagged vanity URLs/QR codes that redirect to your UTM-tagged landing page. Pair with a post-purchase survey to validate discovery.

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Examples (copy/paste)

Paid social ad 
https://example.com/collections/new?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=spring_launch&utm_content=carousel_a
Paid search 
https://example.com/products/widget?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=brand_search&utm_term=widget
Email 
https://example.com/pages/sale?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bfcm_2025&utm_content=hero_button
Influencer 
https://example.com/discount/CREATOR?utm_source=creator_name&utm_medium=influencer&utm_campaign=creator_program

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Standard Channel Groupings

Adopting a standard taxonomy helps ensure your data maps correctly to channels in SourceMedium and Google Analytics.
Channelutm_sourceutm_medium
Paid Socialfacebook, instagram, tiktokpaid_social, cpc
Paid Searchgoogle, bingcpc, paid_search
Emailklaviyo, mailchimpemail
SMSattentive, postscriptsms
Affiliateshareasale, impactaffiliate
Organic Socialinstagram, tiktok, youtubesocial, organic

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QA: how to verify UTMs are working

  1. Click a test link with UTMs and confirm the landing page URL includes the UTM parameters.
  2. Add a product and proceed to checkout; confirm UTMs aren’t dropped during the journey (cross-domain and checkout flows are common break points).
  3. In SourceMedium, spot-check recent orders to confirm expected utm_source / utm_medium values appear (and aren’t falling back to (direct) / (none)).
If checkout or privacy features drop UTMs, Shopify Plus teams often add a server-side backup by capturing UTMs into order attributes at checkout.

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Common mistakes (and how to avoid them)

  • Inconsistent casing (Meta vs meta) → standardize to lowercase
  • Overlapping meanings (utm_source=paid_social) → keep source for the platform, medium for the motion
  • Untagged email/SMS links → tag all links (buttons + images), not just one CTA
  • Changing conventions mid-stream → don’t rename sources/mediums without a migration plan (reporting will split)

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UTMs vs click IDs (gclid, fbclid, etc.)

Click IDs can help identify an ad click, but they don’t replace a consistent UTM taxonomy. In SourceMedium, click IDs can act as a fallback-only inference for the channel-level source when explicit UTMs are missing.

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External resources

What is last-click attribution?

How UTM-based last-click attribution works in SourceMedium.

Improve Last-Click Attribution

Practical best practices and common pitfalls.

Attribution Source Hierarchy

How SourceMedium selects the winning source when multiple signals exist.

Attribution Health

Diagnose common attribution gaps like (direct) / (none).

Backfilling UTM Attribution via Order Attributes

Developer guide for Shopify order-attribute capture and backfills.