UTM Builder for GA4 and Google Ads

The UTM builder also shows which GA4 channel the link will be attributed to, so you can catch a bad tag before the clicks come in.

If you put the wrong tag on a link, the link still works and gets clicks, but GA4 files them in the wrong report.

What is a UTM tag?

A UTM tag is a label on a link that tells GA4 where the click came from. For example, a tag can say which website sent the click, what kind of ad it was, and which campaign it belongs to.

Each tag has a name and a value. In utm_source=linkedin, the name is utm_source and the value is linkedin. Your visitor never sees or touches the tags. GA4 reads them when the page opens and puts the visit in the right report.

What a UTM link looks like

A UTM link is a normal page address with UTM tags added after a question mark. An ampersand (&) separates one tag from the next (Google Analytics Help on UTM link format).

https://example.com/fans/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring-fan-sale

Part of the link	What it tells GA4
https://example.com/fans/	The page the visitor opens
utm_source=linkedin	LinkedIn sent the visit
utm_medium=cpc	It was a paid click
utm_campaign=spring-fan-sale	It came from the spring fan sale

GA4 reads those 3 tags and files the visit under Paid Social. Nothing changes for the visitor. They see the same page with or without the tags.

Tag order and the # anchor

Put the tags in any order you like. GA4 reads utm_campaign no matter where it is in the link.

Placement matters more. Tags go after the question mark (?) and before any # anchor, for example /fans/?utm_source=linkedin#specs. If you put them after the #, GA4 reads them as part of the anchor and ignores them. The UTM builder puts the anchor last for you.

The 6 UTM tags GA4 reads

GA4 reads 6 UTM tags, and 3 of them belong on every link: source, medium, and campaign. Leave one out and GA4 shows (not set) where the value should be (Google Analytics Help on required UTM tags).

Tag	Required	What it records	Example
utm_source	Yes	Who sent the visit	google, linkedin, newsletter
utm_medium	Yes	The type of traffic	cpc, email, social
utm_campaign	Yes	The campaign or promotion	spring-fan-sale
utm_term	No	The paid keyword	{keyword}
utm_content	No	Which ad or link got the click	header-button
utm_id	No	The campaign ID, for importing cost data	{campaignid}

Google lists 3 more tags. We left them out of the UTM builder:

• utm_source_platform: add it by hand if you buy ads through Search Ads 360 or Display & Video 360.
• utm_creative_format: GA4 doesn’t report it yet.
• utm_marketing_tactic: GA4 doesn’t report it yet.

Fill in the first 3 every time. Add the rest when you want keyword or ad-level detail.

Which GA4 channel your link is attributed to

GA4 files every tagged visit under a channel, for example Paid Search or Email. GA4 picks the channel by matching the source and medium against Google’s default channel rules. When a visit matches no rule, GA4 attributes it to Unassigned (Google Analytics Help on default channel rules).

utm_medium	utm_source	GA4 channel
cpc, ppc, retargeting, or anything starting with “paid”	google, bing	Paid Search
cpc, ppc, or paid	facebook, linkedin	Paid Social
cpc, ppc, or paid	youtube	Paid Video
cpc, ppc, or paid	a site not on Google’s lists	Paid Other
display or banner	any	Display
email	your list or email tool	Email
referral	a partner site	Referral
newsletter, qr, or print	a site not on Google’s lists	Unassigned

The medium matters most. For example, a common misattribution is calling the medium newsletter:

Tags on the link	GA4 channel
utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=newsletter	Unassigned
utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email	Email

No GA4 rule matches the word newsletter, so GA4 attributes every click from that email to Unassigned. Change one word and the same clicks show up under Email.

When a link would be attributed to Unassigned, the UTM builder shows the word Unassigned in red, so you can fix the medium before you send the link.

UTM tags on Google Ads campaigns

Google Ads campaigns don’t need UTM tags for GA4 when auto-tagging is on. Auto-tagging is a Google Ads setting that adds a click ID to every ad link. GA4 reads that ID to get the source, medium, and campaign, and uses it over any UTM tags on the same link (Google Analytics Help on auto-tagging). Leave auto-tagging on.

Whether you need UTM tags on top depends on where you want the data:

Where you want the data	What to add
GA4’s standard reports, with Google Ads linked to GA4	Nothing. Auto-tagging covers it
GA4’s Manual term dimension	utm_term={keyword}
Every quote request in your inbox or customer relationship management (CRM) system	The full set of tags, through the Final URL suffix

To set up the Final URL suffix:

1. Click the Google Ads preset in the UTM builder above.
2. Type the campaign name exactly as it reads in Google Ads.
3. Copy the box labeled Google Ads final URL suffix.
4. In Google Ads, paste it into the Final URL suffix field for that campaign (Google Ads Help on the Final URL suffix).

Set the suffix campaign by campaign. A suffix at the account level gives every campaign the same campaign name.

The {keyword}, {creative}, and {campaignid} tags are ValueTrack parameters. Google swaps in the real keyword, ad ID, and campaign ID on each click (Google Ads Help on ValueTrack parameters). The UTM builder keeps the curly braces intact, so the suffix works as pasted.

Don’t want to deal with any of this? Take a look at our Google Ads management service, and we’ll set up the tracking and run the ads for you.

Save UTM values with every quote request

Saving UTM tags with each quote request shows which campaign produced each lead. GA4 counts visits, while your sales team works quote requests. With the tags saved, the campaign shows up in the same email or CRM record your team already reads.

We do this on writegoodcode.com. On someone’s first visit, the site saves their UTM tags, the site that sent them, and the first page they opened. When they send our contact form, those details print at the bottom of the message. A lead from a LinkedIn ad would end like this (example values):

How they found us: LinkedIn
Referrer: https://www.linkedin.com/
UTM: linkedin / cpc / spring-fan-sale
First page: /pricing/ on 2026-10-23

We keep the tags from the first visit, because that’s the campaign that found them.

The setup has 3 parts:

1. A short script on every page reads the UTM tags from the landing page URL and saves them in the browser.
2. Hidden fields in your quote form, or a line added to the message, carry the saved values.
3. The form sends them with the lead, so each quote request arrives with its campaign attached.

Save the tags as soon as someone arrives. If a buyer clicks to a second page before asking for a quote, the tags are already gone from the URL.

A quote request with its campaign attached tells you which ads to keep paying for.

Naming rules that keep your reports clean

UTM tag values are case sensitive in GA4, so google and Google become 2 separate rows (Google Analytics Help on case sensitivity). The channel rules ignore capitals. Your reports don’t.

Rule	Use	Avoid
Lowercase everything	google	Google
Dashes instead of spaces	spring-fan-sale	spring fan sale, which turns into %20
One name per platform	facebook, every time	facebook, fb, and Facebook
Match your ad platform	The campaign name in Google Ads	A nickname only your team knows

Keep the approved names in a shared spreadsheet so everyone who tags links uses the same ones. The UTM builder points out capitals and spaces, and fixes both with one click.

Pick one spelling for each value and stick to it.

What the UTM builder does with your link

The UTM builder cleans up your link before it adds the tags.

What you enter	What the UTM builder does
A URL without https://	Adds https://
A URL that already has ?color=blue	Keeps it and adds the tags after
A URL with old UTM tags	Replaces them, so the link never carries 2 sources
A URL with a #specs anchor	Keeps the anchor at the end
Spaces or symbols in a tag	Encodes them so the link works
{keyword} or another ValueTrack tag	Leaves the curly braces alone

The channel check uses Google’s rules for manually tagged traffic and the most common search, social, video, and shopping sites. Google keeps a longer list of sites than we check, so the UTM builder tells you when your source isn’t on ours.

Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type leaves your computer.

Where to find UTM data in GA4

UTM data shows up in GA4’s Traffic acquisition report.

1. Open Reports.
2. Go to Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition.
3. Change the table’s main dimension to Session source / medium or Session campaign.

Each source and medium pair gets its own row (Google Analytics Help on the Traffic acquisition report). To see the full landing URL with its tags, use the Page location dimension. GA4 strips UTM tags out of Landing page + query string.