Which UTM parameters are required?

Most analytics tools expect at least utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign. utm_term and utm_content are optional and usually used for paid search keywords and A/B testing creative variants.

Does it keep parameters already on my URL?

Yes. Existing query parameters and any

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The link is assembled entirely in your browser and nothing about your URLs or campaigns is uploaded.

What does each UTM parameter mean?

utm_source is where the traffic comes from (newsletter, google), utm_medium is the channel type (email, cpc, social), utm_campaign names the campaign, utm_term records a paid-search keyword, and utm_content distinguishes creative variants such as two buttons in the same email.

Why force UTM values to lowercase?

UTM values are case-sensitive in most analytics tools, so Email and email become two separate rows in your reports. Forcing lowercase keeps everything consistent and your campaign data clean.

What is the difference between utm_source and utm_medium?

utm_source identifies the specific origin (for example facebook or your newsletter name), while utm_medium describes the broad channel category (social, email, cpc). Together they let you group sources by channel.

Will the UTM tags break an existing query string on my link?

No. The builder reads any existing query parameters and #fragment, merges the UTM tags alongside them with URLSearchParams, and reattaches the fragment at the end, so your original link stays intact.

Do UTM parameters affect SEO?

They do not directly help or harm rankings, but to avoid duplicate-content signals it is good practice to set a canonical URL without the UTM parameters and rely on them only for analytics attribution.

What is the UTM Link Builder?

Free UTM link builder that adds utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content to any URL for campaign tracking. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

UTM Link Builder — Gera Tools

Name: UTM Link Builder
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

UTM link builder

UTM parameters are tags appended to a URL that let analytics tools — Google Analytics, Plausible, and others — attribute a visit to the exact campaign, source and medium that produced it. This builder takes your destination URL and a few campaign details and assembles a clean, ready-to-share tracking link, entirely in your browser.

How it works

You enter a destination URL and the campaign fields. The builder separates any existing #fragment, parses the existing query string with URLSearchParams, then merges in the five standard parameters for any field you filled in:

Parameter	Purpose	Example
utm_source	Where traffic comes from	newsletter
utm_medium	Channel type	email
utm_campaign	Campaign name	spring_sale
utm_term	Paid keyword (optional)	running_shoes
utm_content	Creative / variant (optional)	header_cta

Empty optional fields are skipped, existing parameters and the fragment are preserved, and values can be forced to lowercase so reports do not split across Email and email.

Worked example

Starting from https://shop.example.com/sale, filling in source newsletter, medium email and campaign spring_sale produces:

https://shop.example.com/sale?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_sale

If the URL already had ?ref=vip#offers, the result keeps ref=vip, adds the UTM tags, and reattaches #offers at the end.

Naming conventions that keep your analytics clean

UTM tracking creates as many problems as it solves when teams use inconsistent values. One person writing utm_medium=Email and another writing utm_medium=email produces two separate rows in every GA4 report, making channel aggregation unreliable. A few practices prevent this:

Force lowercase. This tool has a lowercase toggle for exactly this reason. Enable it for every link you build. Facebook, facebook, and FACEBOOK are three distinct values in reports; facebook alone is correct.

Use a shared naming document. Define and document your medium values once:

email — all email campaigns
cpc — paid search
social — organic social posts
paid-social — paid social ads
affiliate — affiliate links
display — display ads
referral — links from partner sites (though these are often auto-detected)

Use consistent campaign name formats. A common pattern is YYYY-MM-[campaign-name], for example 2025-03-spring-sale. This makes it easy to filter by date range in reports.

Do not use UTM on internal links. Adding UTMs to links between your own pages overwrites the original source in analytics. Internal links should never be tagged — UTM is for external traffic sources only.

When to use utm_term and utm_content

utm_term is designed for paid search: it records the specific keyword that triggered the ad. In Google Ads, {keyword} auto-fills this parameter. For non-paid campaigns it is rarely used, but it can track a specific topic or segment in an email (“subscribers who clicked the productivity article”).

utm_content is most useful for A/B testing creative. If you send an email with two different CTA buttons — one that says “Shop now” and one that says “See the sale” — tag them with utm_content=cta_shop_now and utm_content=cta_see_sale respectively to see which drives more clicks in your analytics.

SEO and canonical considerations

UTM parameters appear in the URL and can cause duplicate content issues if search engines index the tagged versions alongside the clean URL. To prevent this, make sure your pages have a canonical tag pointing to the unparameterized URL:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://shop.example.com/sale" />

Most modern CMSes and frameworks add canonical tags automatically. Google generally strips UTM parameters from its index, but a canonical tag is the belt-and-suspenders approach.

Notes

Everything runs in your browser — your URLs and campaign names never leave your device. If your destination URL already contains query parameters, the builder merges the UTMs alongside them rather than overwriting, and the original fragment is preserved at the end of the final URL.