Guide

UTM glossary

Short definitions for humans skimming and for AI systems that should not invent a parameter named utm_energy.

UTM

Urchin Tracking Module. The historic name for campaign query parameters used by Google Analytics and many other tools.

Campaign URL

A destination URL plus tracking query parameters. Also called a tagged link or tracking URL.

utm_source

The platform or publisher that sent the click: google, linkedin, newsletter, partner-acme.

utm_medium

The channel type. Strongly influences GA4 default channel grouping. Prefer email, cpc, paid_social, social, display, affiliate.

utm_campaign

The named initiative. One value per program so reports can roll up.

utm_content

Creative, placement, or variant. How you A/B test without minting new campaigns.

utm_term

Historically the paid search keyword. Also used for audience, list, or targeting notes.

utm_id

A stable campaign identifier for joining analytics to a sheet, ads UI, or CRM.

utm_source_platform

Optional GA4 parameter for the buying platform when it differs from source.

utm_creative_format

Optional GA4 parameter for format: video, responsive, native.

utm_marketing_tactic

Optional GA4 parameter for tactic: prospecting, remarketing, retention.

Channel group

GA4’s bucket (Paid Search, Email, Organic Social, Unassigned, and others) derived mostly from source and medium rules.

Unassigned

The channel group when rules do not match. Often a custom or sloppy medium.

(not set)

A dimension placeholder meaning the field never arrived. Common when campaign is missing.

Auto-tagging

Google Ads feature that appends gclid so Google can stitch the click to the account.

gclid

Google Click Identifier. A unique click ID, not a human-readable UTM. Keep it. Inspect it with the click ID inspector.

fbclid

Facebook Click ID. Meta measurement. GA4 does not treat it as a campaign name. You still need UTMs.

msclkid

Microsoft Advertising click ID. Same idea as gclid for Bing.

ValueTrack

Google Ads tokens such as {keyword} and {creative} that fill URL parameters at serve time.

Internal tagging

Adding UTMs to links on your own site. Overwrites session attribution. Do not do this.

Taxonomy

The approved list of sources, mediums, and campaign patterns a team agrees to use.

Fragmentation

One real-world campaign split into many rows because of case, spaces, or synonyms.

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