UTM parameters
UTM parameters are the standard URL query parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content) that attribute a visit to its campaign.
You append them to links you control, and any analytics tool that captures
them can read your labels: where the traffic came from, through what
channel, for which campaign. GA4 adds utm_id as a sixth.
| Parameter | What it labels | GA4 dimension |
|---|---|---|
utm_source | Where the traffic came from (google, newsletter) | Session source |
utm_medium | The channel type (cpc, email, social) | Session medium |
utm_campaign | The campaign name | Session campaign |
utm_term | The keyword (paid search) | Session manual term |
utm_content | The variant (ad or link) | Session manual ad content |
#UTMs vs click IDs
A UTM is a label you write, readable in any tool. A click ID (gclid,
fbclid) is a platform-written key only the issuing platform can decode.
They ride the same URLs and do different jobs; healthy stacks carry both.
Because UTMs are hand-written, they fail like handwriting: case differences
split one campaign into several rows, redirects strip them mid-flight, and
free-text conventions drift until channel reporting turns to mush.
In practice: UTMs are the strings Buron's cross-channel datasets group by, which makes their consistency a data contract rather than a formatting preference.
The parameter-by-parameter reference with the full failure-case registry: UTM parameters: the reference. The platform-written counterpart: Click ID (gclid / fbclid / wbraid).
Related terms
Click ID (gclid / fbclid / wbraid)
A click ID is a unique URL parameter an ad platform adds at click time (gclid, fbclid, msclkid, ttclid) so a conversion can be matched back to the exact ad click.
Signal quality
Signal quality is the fitness of your conversion data as an input to automated bidding: complete, deduplicated, on time, and carrying real values.