UTM tracking is one of those digital terms that sounds technical at first, but once you understand it, it becomes extremely practical. If you share links through email, social media, WhatsApp, or campaigns and want to know what actually worked, UTM gives you that clarity.

In simple terms, UTM helps you track where your traffic is coming from and why.

What Is UTM?

UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. It is a small set of tags added to a link that helps analytics tools understand how someone reached your website.

A UTM-enabled link looks like a normal link, with a few extra details added at the end.

https://example.org/page?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=awareness_drive

For users, this behaves like any regular link. For analytics, it clearly explains the source of the visit.

How Does UTM Work?

When someone clicks a UTM-tagged link, the information attached to that link is captured by analytics tools such as Google Analytics. These tools then group visits based on the details you provided.

“This visit came from LinkedIn, via a social post, from the awareness drive campaign.”

Without UTM, a lot of traffic gets grouped in a way that’s harder to learn from (for example, it may show up as “Direct” or “Referral” without context).

How to Use UTM (Step by Step)

Step 1: Decide where you are sharing the link

Before creating a UTM link, be clear about where the link will be shared and what the purpose is.

“This link will be shared on WhatsApp to promote event registrations.”

Step 2: Use the 3 most important UTM fields

You don’t need to use every UTM field. These three are enough for most cases:

• utm_source (Where the traffic comes from) — example: whatsapp, email, linkedin
• utm_medium (How it was shared) — example: message, newsletter, social
• utm_campaign (Why it was shared) — example: event_registration, donation_drive, monthly_update

Example: source = whatsapp, medium = message, campaign = event_registration

Step 3: Generate the link using Google’s UTM Generator

The easiest way to create UTM links is the Google Campaign URL Builder. It generates the final link for you.

• Paste your original website URL
• Fill in Campaign Source, Campaign Medium, and Campaign Name
• Copy the generated URL
• Use that link wherever you’re sharing it

“Instead of guessing later, you’ll know exactly which platform and campaign brought the visit.”

Step 4: Use one UTM link per channel (so comparisons are clean)

If you’re sharing the same page across different platforms, create separate UTM links for each platform so you can compare performance easily.

• One UTM link for Instagram
• One UTM link for LinkedIn
• One UTM link for WhatsApp
• One UTM link for Email

“Same page. Different links. Clear comparison.”

How to See UTM Results

Once people start clicking your UTM links, you can view the results inside your analytics platform (like Google Analytics). You’ll typically be able to see:

• Which source brought the most visits
• Which campaign performed best
• How users behaved after clicking (time spent, pages viewed, conversions)

“Did email perform better than social media?”
“Which post actually drove sign-ups?”

Common Use Cases

• Social media: Compare platforms
  

  “LinkedIn brought more engaged visitors than Instagram.”

• Email & newsletters: Track which email drove clicks
  

  “The monthly newsletter outperformed the announcement email.”

• WhatsApp outreach: Measure direct sharing impact
  

  “This traffic came from WhatsApp messages.”

• Campaign comparisons: Compare performance month to month
  

  “The October campaign performed better than September.”

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Not using UTM at all — you lose the chance to learn what’s working.
• Inconsistent naming — small differences create messy reports.

utm_source=LinkedIn and utm_source=linkedin will be tracked as two different sources.

Final Thought

UTM is not about advanced analytics. It’s about visibility. If you are already sharing links, adding UTM simply helps you understand what’s working — so you can do more of it.

“UTM doesn’t change your content. It changes how clearly you understand its impact.”