Do I need to check every box?

For a paid URL that will spend money, yes. For a one-off Slack link, the first six boxes are the ones that split reports.

Does this checklist send data to a server?

No. Ticks stay in this page until you refresh. Use it as a gate before you paste a URL into Google Ads or Meta.

UTM Launch Checklist | QA Campaign URLs Before Ads Go Live

0 of 12 checks done

Destination is the live landing page Not staging, not a homepage you meant to replace, not a PDF that strips query strings. Source, medium, and campaign are all set Partial tags create (not set) in GA4. The required trio travels together. Every UTM value is lowercase Facebook and facebook are two sources. The builder lowercases by default. No spaces in any UTM value Use hyphens or underscores. Pick one separator for the company. Medium matches a GA4 channel group cpc, paid_social, social, email, display, affiliate, sms. Not ad, banner, or promo. Source is the platform, not a domain google, facebook, newsletter — not google.com or The Q3 Brand Account. Campaign name is the program, not the creative spring-sale-2026 across email and ads. The button or ad goes in utm_content. This link starts off your website Do not tag homepage banners, nav, or in-app CTAs. Internal UTMs overwrite the real source. Google Ads auto-tagging stays on A suffix is optional. Deleting gclid to “look clean” breaks import into a linked property. Paid social uses paid_social, not cpc cpc on Meta files as Paid Search. paid_social files as Paid Social. Redirects keep the query string Click the final URL on a phone. If tags vanish, the report will look like Direct. A test click shows in GA4 realtime or DebugView Confirm session source, medium, and campaign before the budget starts.

Score a URL Check the medium

Used as a pre-flight, not a brand manifesto. Last reviewed August 2026.

Why a checklist beats another slogan

Most broken campaign URLs fail the same twelve ways. A partner used Title Case. A medium said Paid Social with a space. Someone tagged the homepage hero. Auto-tagging got turned off to “simplify.” None of that is fixed by a longer blog post after the spend is gone.

Build the link in the campaign URL builder. Confirm the medium in the channel checker. If the URL already exists, clean it and validate it. The rules behind the boxes: best practices and when not to use UTMs.

QA a campaign URL before it spends

Why a checklist beats another slogan

UTM builder questions

Related

UTM validator

Common UTM mistakes

Audit campaign URLs