Question 1

What is a UTM parameter?

Accepted Answer

A UTM parameter is a tracking code appended to a URL that tells analytics tools (like Google Analytics) where your traffic came from. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. The five parameters are: utm_source (e.g. google), utm_medium (e.g. cpc), utm_campaign (e.g. summer_sale), utm_term (keyword), and utm_content (ad variant).

Question 2

What should I use as utm_source for Google Ads?

Accepted Answer

Use 'google' as the utm_source for Google Ads. For utm_medium, use 'cpc' for paid search or 'display' for Display Network ads. Example: ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=your_campaign.

Question 3

What should I use as utm_source for Meta Ads?

Accepted Answer

Use 'facebook' or 'instagram' as utm_source for Meta Ads, depending on the placement. For utm_medium, use 'paid_social' or 'cpm'. You can also use Meta's dynamic UTM values like {{site_source_name}} to auto-populate the source.

Question 4

Do UTM parameters affect SEO?

Accepted Answer

UTM parameters do not directly affect SEO. However, you should make sure your canonical tags point to the URL without UTM parameters to avoid duplicate content issues. UTMs are stripped by Google's crawler and are only used for analytics tracking.

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