Open Google Analytics for a small U.S. store and the biggest traffic source is usually "direct," which is analytics shorthand for "no idea." Most of it comes from the newsletter, Instagram bio, flyer, and text message, none of which told GA4 where the visitor came from. UTM parameters fix that. They are five small additions to a web address that tell analytics exactly which campaign, channel, and placement produced the visit.
The five parameters
| Parameter | Question it answers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| utm_source | Where did the visitor come from? | newsletter, instagram, flyer |
| utm_medium | What kind of channel was it? | email, social, cpc, sms, qr |
| utm_campaign | Which campaign? | black-friday-2026 |
| utm_content | Which version or placement? | bio, story, hero-button |
| utm_term | Which keyword? (paid search only) | winter-coats |
Source, medium, and campaign are the three that matter; content and term are optional. A tagged address looks like this: example.com/black-friday?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=black-friday-2026. The UTM link generator builds it from a form so nothing is misspelled.
Rules that keep GA4 reports organized
- Lowercase only. GA4 treats Email and email as two different mediums, splitting your report in half.
- Use one separator. Use hyphens or underscores, never spaces. Pick one and stick with it. If a value must contain a space, run it through the URL encoder, but removing the space is a better option.
- Use mediums GA4 already understands. email, social, cpc, affiliate, referral, display, and sms are automatically sorted into the correct default channel. Invented mediums such as insta or flyer end up in "Unassigned."
- Never tag links inside your own site. A tagged internal link restarts the session with a false source and erases the real one.
- Write down the convention. Keep one shared document listing the allowed sources and mediums, with one person responsible for it.
A worked example, Black Friday for a U.S. store
The destination is example.com/black-friday. The campaign name is black-friday-2026 everywhere, and each placement has its own source, medium, and content.
| Placement | utm_source | utm_medium | utm_content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newsletter, main button | newsletter | hero-button | |
| Newsletter, footer link | newsletter | footer | |
| Instagram bio page button | social | bio | |
| Instagram story link | social | story | |
| Text message to customers | sms | sms | launch |
| Flyer QR code | flyer | qr | front |
| Google Ads | Leave auto-tagging on and do not add UTMs manually | ||
The qr medium will appear under Unassigned unless you create a custom channel group in GA4, but the source and medium are still available for filtering, which is what you need the following Monday.
Keep the tagged address out of sight
A tagged address is long and unattractive, and nobody types one from a flyer. Put each tagged destination behind its own short link. Use digily.bio/bf-flyer on the flyer and digily.bio/bf-sms in the text, and the tags travel invisibly with the redirect. Digily Link can also add the UTM parameters for you in the link settings, on every plan, so the destination you paste stays clean and the tags are applied when the redirect happens. Either way, the visitor sees a short branded address, GA4 sees the full tags, and the link's own analytics record the UTM source, medium, and campaign along with the clicks.
The QR code for the flyer is generated from the short link, not the tagged address. That keeps the code easy to scan and lets you change the destination after printing. The guide to branded short links covers choosing the domain and slug.
Reading the results in GA4
- Open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition.
- Change the primary dimension to Session source / medium. Each row represents one placement from the table above.
- Add Session campaign as a secondary dimension, or filter for black-friday-2026, to view the campaign on its own.
- Compare conversions, not just sessions. A placement that sends fewer visitors who buy more is the one to repeat.
Give the campaign a week before drawing conclusions, and keep the short links active afterward. A flyer may be scanned for months.
Mistakes that quietly ruin the data
- Using inconsistent capitalization across the team, causing the same source to appear three times.
- Sharing a tagged page address by copying and pasting it, so a WhatsApp forward reports itself as the newsletter.
- Adding UTMs to Google Ads links while auto-tagging is enabled, which causes the two to disagree.
- Using utm_source for the campaign name and utm_campaign for the source. Source is where, medium is how, and campaign is what.
- Tagging links that point to someone else's site. Their analytics receives the tags; yours sees nothing.
When a tagged link does not behave as expected, paste it into the URL parser to see each parameter on its own line, then use the URL redirect checker to confirm that the tags survive the redirect.
Tagging buttons on a bio link page
A bio link page contains a set of placements too. Give each button leading to your site its own utm_content, such as bio-shop, bio-booking, and bio-newsletter, with utm_source set to the platform where the profile appears and utm_medium=social. Because the same page is linked from Instagram and TikTok, the tags alone cannot distinguish between the two. The page's own referrer report can, and using a separate short link in each platform's profile provides even more precise data. Keep the campaign name fixed for the page's evergreen buttons and change it only for the top button when it points to a current promotion.
Frequently asked questions
Do UTM parameters affect search rankings?
No. Google ignores them for ranking purposes and treats the tagged address as the same page, as long as the page has a canonical tag, which nearly every ecommerce platform adds by default.
Can I use UTM parameters on a bio link page?
Yes. Tag the destination of each button that leads to your own site. Each button on a Digily Link page also tracks its own clicks, giving you both views.
Do UTM parameters work without a consent banner?
UTM parameters are part of the address, not a cookie. GA4 itself may require consent under applicable U.S. privacy rules; Digily Link statistics do not, because they are collected without a tracking cookie.
What is utm_id?
It is an optional campaign ID that lets GA4 match the visit to a campaign you have defined in its settings or for which you have imported cost data. Most small businesses never need it.
Should the campaign name include the year?
Yes, if the campaign repeats. You can compare black-friday-2026 with black-friday-2027; you cannot do that with black-friday alone.
Final checks
- Every placement has its own source, medium, and content, all in lowercase.
- The mediums are ones GA4 recognizes.
- Tagged addresses sit behind short links, and the QR code points to the short link.
- No internal link on your site carries UTM tags.
- The convention is written down where the entire team can see it.
