UTM Naming Conventions: The Standard Your Whole Team Can Actually Follow
If your GA4 shows "Google", "google", "GOOGLE", and "google-ads" as separate sources, your UTM naming is broken. This guide fixes it — with a reusable framework, approved value lists, and a governance process to prevent the mess from coming back.
AttriModel Team
AttriModel Team
The Problem With Ad-Hoc UTM Naming
If you've ever opened Google Analytics and seen utm_source values like "Google", "google", "GOOGLE", "google-ads", and "google_ads" all referring to the same channel, you know the pain of inconsistent UTM naming.
The Three Rules of Good UTMs
1. Always lowercase. Analytics is case-sensitive. "Facebook" and "facebook" are different sources.
2. Use hyphens, not spaces or underscores. Spaces get encoded as %20, breaking readability. Stick to hyphens.
3. Be specific but scalable. "paid-social" works better than "social" (too broad) or "facebook-carousel-retargeting-april" (too specific for the medium field).
The Standard Framework
| Parameter | What It Tracks | Example Values |
|-----------|---------------|----------------|
| utm_source | Traffic origin | google, facebook, newsletter |
| utm_medium | Marketing channel | cpc, email, organic-social |
| utm_campaign | Campaign name | summer-sale-2024, brand-awareness-q2 |
| utm_content | Creative variant | hero-banner-v1, cta-button-red |
| utm_term | Paid keyword | running-shoes, buy-sneakers |
Campaign Naming Structure
Use this format: [campaign-type]-[target-audience]-[date]
Examples:
prospecting-females-25-44-jun2024retargeting-cart-abandoners-q2brand-broad-always-on
Source + Medium Combinations by Channel
- Google Ads: source=google, medium=cpc
- Meta Ads: source=facebook or source=instagram, medium=paid-social
- Email: source=newsletter or source=email, medium=email
- Organic Social: source=instagram, medium=organic-social
- Affiliate: source=[affiliate-name], medium=affiliate
Building a UTM Governance Doc
Share this in Notion or Google Sheets:
- Approved source values list
- Approved medium values list
- Campaign naming formula
- Who reviews new UTMs before they go live
Tools like our UTM Builder enforce these rules automatically — drop the URL, pick source/medium from dropdowns, and get a correctly formatted UTM every time.