Skip to content

What Does UTM Mean?

Brands will often want to view the results of their offline and online marketing campaigns so that they can monitor their individual success. However, as many businesses often launch multiple marketing campaigns at one time, it can be difficult for a brand to track a specific campaign’s success. Thankfully, a UTM code can make tracking…
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Brands will often want to view the results of their offline and online marketing campaigns so that they can monitor their individual success. However, as many businesses often launch multiple marketing campaigns at one time, it can be difficult for a brand to track a specific campaign’s success.

Thankfully, a UTM code can make tracking a campaign much easier. You can learn what is or isn’t working, before making the appropriate tweaks and changes. Read on to find out what does UTM mean and how it can help your business or personal brand’s marketing efforts.

[siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget]

What is UTM?

What does UTM stand for? It is an abbreviation for Urchin Tracking Module, which is a simple code that can be attached to a custom URL. Once you create a UTM, you can use it to track a medium, source, and a campaign name. Google Analytics can then detail the referral location of the searcher, as well as the exact campaign that directed them to a URL.

How to Create a UTM

It is often wise to create a vanity URL for every online and offline campaign you produce. Once you effectively mastered how to get a UTM, you can create a redirect to a specific URL, such as your main web domain. By doing so, you will be able to track how a coupon, social media promotion, newspaper ad, TV commercial, email newsletter, or radio ad is performing. This handy tool means that you will not need to publish custom landing pages for every online and offline campaign.

Why Create Separate UTM Codes for Every Campaign?

Creating a separate UTM code for every campaign will allow you to gain a greater insight into its performance. You can, therefore, review the data to identify which campaign is generating the most traffic, conversions, and revenue. Not only will a specific UTM code help you to track both the source and medium, but you can also successfully track individual campaign names with ease.

Use a Separate UTM Code to Track Two Different Ads for One Campaign

Any business or personal brand wanting to monitor every aspect of a campaign should utilise UTM tracking. You can add select values to your code to monitor various keywords or paid terms you’re targeting. You can also use it monitor two different ads with the same message, but each ad will feature different images and text. This split testing will, therefore, help to identify which ad is performing better on or offline.

As soon as you understand the values you plan to track, visit Google’s URL Builder to enter them into the parameters, before clicking on “generate URL.” It is also possible to change the code or alter the medium at your leisure so that you can tweak your campaign tracking every week or month.

By utilising specific UTM codes for each campaign, you can provide your employer or clients with accurate data regarding a newspaper, radio, or TV advertisement. They can then tweak a campaign to improve its effectiveness, or can learn from its successes for future marketing campaigns on different mediums.

Simon Brisk, Co-Founder and Commercial Director
View all Downloads

Downloads

The cover image of our e-book titled 'Content Marketing How-To Guide', portraying an individual typing on a laptop.

Content Marketing – How-to Guide

What is Content Marketing? Download Our How-To Guide Today!

Download →
An e-book cover image titled 'Core Web Vitals', shows a person's hands typing on a laptop with analytics displayed.

2022 Core Web Vitals Checklist

Google's Core Web Vitals reports how a page performs, and here's our checklist to improving page experience this 2022!

Download →
download

The Ultimate Guide To Selling Products Online

We’re going to take a look at how you can turn your eCommerce dream into a reality.

Download →
View the Blog

You may also be interested in...

How to Budget for Link Building in Your SEO Strategy

The amount you invest in your link building budget should be based on the realistic…

How to Prepare Your Site for AI Agents

Search engines aren't the only automated systems accessing, interpreting, and making sense of content found…

How to Approach SEO for Specialist Markets

There's plenty of scope when creating SEO campaigns. Each industry that turns to experts for…

3 Reasons to Use Press Release Distribution for SEO and AI Search Visibility

PR has long supported brands in building authority and spreading awareness, but PR distribution has…

Insight into the Google September 2026 Spam Update: What It Means for You

Towards the end of September, on the 24th, Google released the second spam update in…

How to Build a Multi-Layered Link Building Strategy That Works

Some backlinks can help a key service page gain authority, while others help to strengthen…

Managed SEO vs Buying Individual SEO Services: Which Is Right for You?

SEO can be complicated. It’s constantly changing and is not a one-and-done job. That’s something…

How Can Brands Compete in ChatGPT Without Paying for Ads?

AI has become part of how people research and look for products, as well as…

View all Guides

Online Guides

AI SEO: What It Actually Means and How to Do It
View guide →
LLM SEO: The Complete Guide to Large Language Model Optimisation
View guide →
How to Rank in AI Overviews: The Complete Guide to AI Overviews Optimisation
View guide →
GEO vs SEO: The Complete Guide to Generative Engine Optimization
View guide →
The Ultimate AI SEO Service Guide
View guide →
The Ultimate On-Page SEO Service Guide
View guide →
SaaS SEO & AI Search Strategy Guide
View guide →
Ultimate SEO & AI Search Strategy Guide for Franchise
View guide →
Back To Top