UTM Naming Conventions

Inconsistent UTM naming is invisible when it happens and expensive when it compounds. A naming convention costs one hour to write and saves hundreds of hours of data cleanup over the lifetime of a GA4 property.

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The Problem: Fragmented UTM Data

GA4 treats each unique UTM parameter value as a separate, distinct entry in its reports. There is no automatic normalisation — email, Email, EMAIL and e-mail appear as four different traffic sources in GA4 reports, making it impossible to see total email performance without manually identifying and summing all variants.

The fragmentation compounds over time. A team of five people creating links without agreed conventions for two years will produce GA4 data with dozens of variations of the same sources and mediums — making historical comparison unreliable and long-term trend analysis impossible.

The Four Formatting Rules

All UTM values should follow four universal formatting rules:

1. Always lowercase. email not Email or EMAIL. GA4 is case-sensitive — every capitalisation variant is a separate entry.
2. Hyphens not spaces. spring-sale not spring sale or spring_sale. Spaces are URL-encoded as %20 or +, creating inconsistencies across tools. Underscores are acceptable alternatives but choose one and stick to it.
3. No special characters. Avoid &, =, ?, # — these are URL-reserved characters that can break query string parsing.
4. Consistent structure. If campaign names include a year, always include the year. If they use product codes, always include product codes. Apply the same structure to every campaign, every time.

Recommended utm_medium Values

The medium taxonomy should map to GA4's default channel groupings for compatibility with GA4's built-in channel reports:

Recommended utm_source Patterns

Sources should be specific enough to identify the sending platform or publisher, but consistent enough to aggregate across campaigns:

utm_campaign Naming Structure

Campaign names should be unique, descriptive and include a time reference for recurring campaigns. Recommended components:

Always include the year. Without it, summer-sale accumulates data from every summer indefinitely — making year-over-year comparison impossible in GA4.

utm_content: Identifying the Specific CTA

Use utm_content to distinguish between multiple links in the same communication pointing to the same destination — identifying the specific CTA, creative or placement:

• utm_content=cta-header-button — the hero CTA button at the top
• utm_content=cta-body-text-link — an inline text link in the body
• utm_content=cta-footer-button — the CTA at the bottom
• utm_content=banner-728x90 — a specific ad creative size

Building and Distributing the Taxonomy Document

A UTM naming convention is only effective if every team member who creates links uses it consistently. Implementation steps:

1. Write the taxonomy document. A shared Google Sheet or Notion page listing all approved values for each UTM parameter with examples. Include the rules above and a column showing examples of what NOT to do.
2. Include a UTM builder in the document. A simple Google Sheets formula or a linked UTM builder tool that assembles correctly formatted UTM-tagged URLs from dropdown selections — eliminating manual typing and the errors it introduces.
3. Add it to onboarding. Every new team member who will create links should review the convention as part of onboarding.
4. Enforce via review. Campaign launch checklists should include a UTM convention compliance check — verify that all links in the campaign use approved values before distribution.
5. Audit quarterly. Run a GA4 source/medium report and check for non-convention entries — identify which team member or channel introduced the variation and correct it prospectively.

Related Terms

• UTM Parameters
• UTM Builder
• Campaign Tagging
• Campaign Grouping
• GA4 and Link Analytics