Lowercase, without exception
This is the single highest-value rule. Analytics tools do not fold case, so one capital letter creates a duplicate row that will quietly split your numbers for months before anyone notices.
UTM Naming Convention Template
A taxonomy that keeps one channel on one row. Most broken UTM reporting is not missing tags, it is the same channel spelled three ways.
| utm_source | utm_medium | When |
|---|---|---|
| meta | paid_social | Facebook and Instagram placements. |
| tiktok | paid_social | TikTok Ads. |
| paid_social | LinkedIn Ads. | |
| cpc | Search and Shopping. | |
| display | Display and Demand Gen. | |
| youtube | video | YouTube placements bought separately. |
| newsletter | Your own list. | |
| partner | referral | Affiliates and co-marketing. |
The five parameters, filled in
Pick a channel and a campaign to see the whole set, and the URL it produces.
- utm_source
- metaThe platform. One spelling per platform, forever.
- utm_medium
- paid_socialHow it was paid for. Groups channels in reporting.
- utm_campaign
- nike_meta_pur_nl_brdMatches the campaign name in the ad account.
- utm_term
- brdAudience on social, keyword on search.
- utm_content
- ugc_painpoint_hook03_sarah_v2The creative. The column that tells you what worked.
Resulting URL
https://example.com/product?utm_source=meta&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=nike_meta_pur_nl_brd&utm_content=ugc_painpoint_hook03_sarah_v2&utm_term=brd
The rules that actually matter
One separator
Underscores inside values, nothing else. Spaces get encoded inconsistently, hyphens are fine but must not be mixed in, and a value containing both is impossible to split back apart.
Source is the platform, medium is how you paid
Getting these the wrong way round is common and breaks the default channel grouping. meta / paid_social, not paid_social / meta.
Campaign mirrors the ad account
The utm_campaign value should match the campaign name where the money is spent. Anything else means joining spend to sessions by hand.
Never tag internal links
A UTM on a link between your own pages restarts the session and reassigns the conversion away from whatever paid for the visit. Inbound only.
Leave a parameter out rather than empty
utm_term= is a value as far as most tools are concerned. If a channel has no keyword, omit the parameter entirely.
Save your UTM convention.
Set the mapping once and every tracking URL your team builds follows it, including the ones generated in bulk.