What UTM parameters are
UTM parameters are small labels added to the end of a link — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign and two optional ones. They don't change the page people land on. They tell your analytics where the visit came from, so “Instagram bio” and “newsletter” show up as separate lines instead of all counting as “direct” or “social”.
Google Analytics 4 reads them automatically, and so do most analytics tools, shops and link-in-bio pages. You don't install anything: the tag travels in the link.
Source, medium and campaign
Source is where the link sits: instagram, tiktok, newsletter. Medium is the kind of channel: social, email, cpc for paid ads, print for a QR code on paper. Campaign is why you're sharing it: summer-sale, webinar-june. Content tells two links in the same place apart — bio and story, or two buttons in one email. Term is for paid search keywords.
Analytics tools group visits by these values exactly as written, so be consistent. The builder tidies them for you — lowercase, no accents, hyphens instead of spaces — because “Instagram” and “instagram” would otherwise count as two sources.
Why a link per place
The point of tagging is to compare. If your bio, your stories and your newsletter all use the same link, you'll know you got visits but not which effort earned them. One link per place answers the question that matters: where should I spend my time next week?
Instagram and TikTok open links inside their own app, and many of those visits reach your analytics without a referrer. A UTM tag is the only reliable way to know they came from your bio.
Common mistakes
Tagging links inside your own site. UTM parameters start a new visit in Google Analytics; use them only on links from outside.
Changing names halfway. “summer_sale” on Monday and “summer-sale” on Friday split one campaign into two lines. Keep the CSV and copy from it.
Sharing the long link where people can see it. Put it behind a button or your link in bio — or use a short link — so it doesn't look suspicious.
Private by design
Your links are built in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us or stored.