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UTM

What are UTMs? UTM codes or parameters

UTM is basically a series of codes that are included at the end of URLs for tracking the origin of the traffic that websites receive.

These are small fragments that are vital for web analytics, since they allow Google Analytics to offer complete traceability of the campaigns that the traffic comes from.

1. Origins of UTMs

UTM is the acronym of the term Urchin Traffic Monitor (Urchin Tracking Module). A company called Urchin developed measurement software with the same name.

In 2005 it was bought by Google and this technology was used for creating what we know as Google Analytics.

2. Types of UTM codes

Depending on the information you want to collect using Google Analytics, you must use a different type of UTM code or parameter, each of which is used to identify each type of information. The most common ones are:

UTM campaign: utm_campaign

It is used to find out which campaign customers arrive through; the usual approach is to enter the name of the marketing campaign so it is easy to identify.

For example: utm_campaign=navidad_2023 (arrived from the Christmas campaign)

UTM medium: utm_medium

This UTM is used to find out the medium or channel through which people have reached your website. Such as banners, pay per click (PPC), cost per click (CPC), emails, social media (social), etc.

For example: utm_medium=social (The user came from a social media platform).

UTM content: utm_content

It is used to find out which content brings the most visits to a website. Thus, it is a vital parameter for A/B testing. It is optional, but its use is common.

For example: utm_content=asunto_con_CTA & utm_content=asunto_sin_CTA_largo. This allows you to find out which of the two brings more traffic, so you can keep using the one that performs best.

UTM term: utm_term

This optional parameter, which doesn’t always need to be used, collects the keyword people used to find you. It is very useful for finding out which keywords you rank best for, and for SEM campaigns.

For example: utm_term=glosario_marketing.

UTM source: utm_source

In this case it is used to know the source through which the user has arrived. This source could be a search engine, a social network, an email or a referral from another website.

For example: utm_source=twitter (lets you know the user came from Twitter).

3. How do you create a UTM?

We already know different types of UTM codes, now let’s see an example of a URL where you use all the ones shown above.

This URL consists of our site’s URL, the campaign medium, name, source, terms and content.

https://email.mailrelay.com/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_campain=vacaciones_2023&utm_content=8000_gratius&utm_term=email_marketing&utm_source=adwords

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