UTM Cheatsheet & Validator
Check the UTM tags on any URL for missing parameters, typos, uppercase letters and spaces, with a quick reference for what each tag means.
URL
Cheatsheet
Validation
Cleaned URL
Three UTMs are required, the rest are optional
utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign are the three tags you need for clean campaign reports. utm_term (the paid search keyword), utm_content (the creative or link that was clicked) and utm_id (a campaign ID for data imports) are optional.
Paste a tagged link and the validator checks that the required tags are there, spots misspelled or duplicated parameters, and flags uppercase letters and spaces in the values. It also gives you a cleaned, lowercase version of the link to copy.
The most common UTM mistakes
- Inconsistent capitals. "Email" and "email" register as two different sources in most analytics platforms.
- Spaces in values. They turn into %20 or + and make reports messy. Use hyphens.
- Tags after the #. Anything after the hash is not sent to analytics.
- UTMs on internal links. Tagging links between your own pages starts a new session and overwrites the real source.
Frequently asked questions
Should UTMs be lowercase?
Yes. Pick a lowercase, hyphenated convention, such as utm_campaign=fall-sale-2026, and use it everywhere.
What should go in utm_medium?
The channel type, using names your analytics tool recognises, such as email, cpc, social, paid-social, referral or affiliate. Matching GA4's default channel rules keeps your traffic in the right channel group.
Do UTMs affect SEO?
Not if you use them only on links from outside your site, such as emails, ads and social posts. Keep them off internal links and make sure your pages have a canonical tag.