UTM naming conventions for agency reporting

UTM values should describe the platform, channel, campaign, keyword, and creative context in a way the reporting team can understand months later.

Avoid one-off abbreviations unless the whole agency uses the same glossary.

Keep the field meanings stable so each report row answers a different question.

• utm_source: the platform or referrer, such as google, linkedin, newsletter, or partner
• utm_medium: the traffic type, such as cpc, paid-social, email, organic-social, or referral
• utm_campaign: the initiative, such as q2-webinar or spring-launch
• utm_term: the keyword, audience, or targeting detail when useful
• utm_content: the creative, placement, button, or variant

Choose lowercase values and one separator style. Hyphens are usually easier to read than mixed underscores, spaces, and capitalization.

Do not put internal comments, owner names, temporary notes, or client feedback into UTM fields. Those details should live in the campaign record, not analytics data.

Linkly gives agencies a repeatable place to build and store campaign links after the convention is defined.

Use the free UTM builder to create links and the link naming generator to create consistent internal names before the link is shared with the execution team.