UTM naming conventions for Google Analytics 4

UTM tags only help if they're consistent. When one person writes Facebook, another writes fb, and the agency writes facebook.com, your reports fill up with duplicates and nobody trusts the numbers. A short naming convention, agreed once, fixes it for good.

Why naming matters more in GA4

Google Analytics 4 sorts traffic into channels (Organic Social, Paid Social, Email, Paid Search and so on) using rules that read your utm_source and utm_medium values. If your values don't match what GA4 expects, visits land in Unassigned, where they're almost useless.

So the most important part of your convention is the medium.

The medium values GA4 understands

Channel in GA4	Use this medium	Notes
Organic Social	social	With a social source like linkedin or instagram
Paid Social	paid_social	For promoted posts and social ads
Email	email	Newsletters and email campaigns
Paid Search	cpc	Google Ads, Bing Ads
Display	display	Banner ads
Referral	referral	Partner sites, guest posts
Affiliates	affiliate	Affiliate links
Offline	offline or print	QR codes on print, flyers

Stick to these and GA4 slots your traffic into the right channel automatically.

A naming convention you can copy

1. Always lowercase. UTM values are case sensitive in GA4.

2. Use underscores between words, never spaces. spring_launch, not Spring Launch. Spaces turn into %20 and look messy in reports.

3. Source is the platform, in one word. linkedin, instagram, facebook, x, tiktok, youtube, newsletter, google.

4. Medium is the channel type, from the table above.

5. Campaign follows a pattern: [topic]_[month or quarter]_[year]. For example spring_menu_apr_2026 or webinar_q3_2026. Anyone can understand it a year later.

6. Content describes the link or creative: hero_button, footer_link, video_a, video_b. Use it for A/B tests and for emails with several links.

7. Write it down. Keep the rules and approved values in a shared doc or sheet, and make it the only source of truth.

Example: one campaign across channels

For a spring menu launch:

Channel	Source	Medium	Campaign
LinkedIn post	linkedin	social	spring_menu_apr_2026
Instagram ad	instagram	paid_social	spring_menu_apr_2026
Newsletter	newsletter	email	spring_menu_apr_2026
Google Ads	google	cpc	spring_menu_apr_2026
Printed flyer	qr	offline	spring_menu_apr_2026

Same campaign name everywhere, so you can compare channels side by side in one report.

Build consistent links automatically

The UTM builder applies these conventions for you:

• Channel presets fill in source and medium with the values GA4 expects.
• Tidy tags lowercases everything and turns spaces into underscores.
• One per channel creates a matching link for every channel in a campaign at once, so the campaign name is identical everywhere.
• Saved links keep a record of every link you made, exportable as a CSV for your team.

If you're new to UTMs, start with what UTM parameters are.

Frequently asked questions

What medium should I use for social media in GA4?

Use social for organic posts and paid_social for promoted posts and ads, with the platform name as the source.

Why is my UTM traffic showing as Unassigned in GA4?

Usually the medium doesn't match GA4's channel rules, for example Social Media or newsletter as a medium. Use the standard values like social, email and cpc.

Should UTM parameters be uppercase or lowercase?

Always lowercase. GA4 treats different capitalisation as different values, which splits your data.

Can I fix UTM mistakes after the fact?

Not for past data in standard reports. You can only correct new links going forward, which is why agreeing on a convention early matters.