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UTM builder
Build one campaign link you can trust: the right encoding, your existing parameters and hash kept, and a warning before a stray capital letter splits a report in two.
Your tracked link
https://vantaige.io/
Existing utm_ values on the destination are replaced, and any other query values and the hash are kept.
What a UTM link actually does
A UTM link is an ordinary URL with five optional parameters added to the query string. Nothing on the page changes. When a visitor arrives, your analytics tool reads the values and files the visit under that source, medium and campaign. That is the whole mechanism, and it is why the values have to be consistent: a report groups by exact text.
Source is the specific place, such as a directory name or a newsletter. Medium is the category, such as directory, email or social. Campaign is the activity the link belongs to, often a launch name. Term and content are optional extras for a keyword or for telling two links in the same email apart.
Two habits prevent most reporting problems. Use lower case with hyphens, and never reuse a campaign name for a different activity. If you already tagged a URL, replace the values rather than appending a second set, which is what this builder does for you.
Frequently asked questions
What are the five UTM parameters for?
Source says where the click came from, medium says what kind of place it was, and campaign groups the activity. Term and content are optional and usually describe a paid keyword or which link inside the same campaign was clicked.
Why lower case and no spaces?
Most analytics tools match these values exactly. Newsletter and newsletter become two separate rows, and so do two spellings with and without a space. Lower case with hyphens keeps one report instead of five.
What happens to query values already on the URL?
Everything that is not a utm_ parameter is kept, including the order of the remaining values and the hash at the end. Old utm_ values are removed and replaced, so a link cannot carry two sources at once.
Do tracking parameters hurt search rankings?
A parameter does not change the page, but it does create a second address for the same content. Search engines generally handle that with canonical tags, so keep the tagged links for campaigns and share the clean URL everywhere else.
Should I tag every link?
No. Tag the links you will actually compare, such as a directory profile, a newsletter and a social post. Tagging everything makes the report noisy and turns a simple question into a spreadsheet exercise.
Measuring directory traffic?
A directory profile is one of the easier sources to tag, because the link is under your control. We run those submissions for you, and the directory list is free to browse.