What Does UTM Stand For?

What Does UTM Mean and Why Are They Important?

UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. Google acquired the Urchin Software Corporation back in 2005, and it was this software that has led to the development of Google Analytics, which is used by between 30 to 50 million websites.

If you’re wondering “what is UTM?” it is a code you can add to a URL, which provides Google Analytics with details about the link. It can also be used on other analytics tools.

UTMs can ultimately track the individual performance of every vanity link. As a result, you can identify exactly where traffic is coming from on or offline. UTM variables will also help to track general data, such as how much traffic you are generating from:

• a social media account
• print advertisement
• email newsletter
• TV advertisement
• Radio advertisement
• Press release

By doing so, you can discover your top performing campaigns, and identify how much revenue they are producing for your business.

The Questions a UTM Can Answer for Your Brand

Once you create a UTM, you potentially answer basic questions regarding your website’s traffic, which can add clarity to your campaigns. For example, it can provide answers to the following questions:

• Where is the traffic source?
• How are users finding a URL?
• Why are they visiting the site?

There are also four UTM parameters:

• Source
• Medium
• Campaign
• Content (optional element)

How to Create a UTM

UTMs often have a long string of characters, which can appear more than a little bit complicated. Fortunately, you can use a handy URL generator to simplify the process and start tracking campaigns. For example, if you want to know how to get a UTM, you can visit Google’s URL builder, which can help you to enter the values for each parameter. Each parameter will therefore inform Google Analytics how to separate your URL’s incoming traffic.

Why Create Separate UTM Codes for Each Campaign?

The reason you will create a UTM code is to gain an insight into a specific campaign, which could be on or offline. It is essential to create a separate UTM code for every campaign you produce. You can, therefore, adjust texts and images for different advertisements on the same channels to identify what is or isn’t working.

The UTM can help you to discover which strategy is generating the most web traffic, conversions, and revenue. The data can help you to make an informed decision on which advertisements to abandon, improve, or reuse.