UTM Link Checker
Paste any link with UTM tags to see what each tag means, what to fix, and the Google Analytics 4 channel the visit lands in.
Google Analytics 4 files this visit under
Organic Social
"pinterest" is on Google's list of social sites, and the medium "social" is not a paid one.
2 things to fix
The tags, one by one
Open these tags in the UTM builder to change them.
What the tags mean: Google Analytics Help, “URL builders”. The channel: “Default channel group” and Google's list of sources. Checked 26 September 2026.
Quick answer: UTM parameters are the utm_ tags after the ? in a link. They tell Google Analytics where a visit came from (utm_source), what kind of link it was (utm_medium) and which campaign it belongs to (utm_campaign). Google says you "should always use" those three. Google Analytics 4 then files the visit under a channel, such as Organic Social or Paid Social, by rules set by Google. Paste a link above to read its tags, see its channel and get a tidied version.
How to use it
- Paste a link: from an ad, a newsletter, a pin, or a client's report. Nothing is fetched and nothing leaves your browser. The link is only read.
- Read the channel GA4 will file the visit under, and why, rule by rule, from Google's own channel definitions.
- Go through the tags. Each shows Google's own description and anything wrong with it: a misspelled name, capital letters, spaces, a tag used twice, one Google does not report yet.
- Copy the tidied link, or open its tags in the UTM builder to change them.
What each UTM tag means
| Tag | In plain words | Google's description |
|---|---|---|
utm_source | Where the visit comes from: the site, app or newsletter | “Referrer, for example: google, newsletter4, billboard” |
utm_medium | The kind of link: social, paid_social, email, cpc | “Marketing medium, for example: cpc, banner, email” |
utm_campaign | Which campaign, post, product or season this link belongs to | “Product, slogan, promo code, for example: spring_sale” |
utm_id | A campaign's ID, when you use IDs as well as names | “Campaign ID. Used to identify a specific campaign or promotion.” |
utm_term | The keyword, for a paid search or a keyword-targeted ad | “Paid keyword” |
utm_content | Which version of the link: one pin design or another | “Use to differentiate creatives. For example, if you have two call-to-action links” |
utm_source_platform | The platform that sent the traffic, such as an ad platform | “The platform responsible for directing traffic to a given Analytics property” |
utm_creative_format | The kind of ad creative | “Type of creative, for example: display, native, video, search” (not currently reported) |
utm_marketing_tactic | The targeting behind the campaign | “Targeting criteria applied to a campaign, for example: remarketing, prospecting” (not currently reported) |
Descriptions quoted from Google Analytics Help, "URL builders", checked 26 September 2026. Anything else that starts with utm_ is not a Google Analytics parameter, and GA4 ignores it.
Where GA4 files a tagged visit
GA4 checks its channel rules in a fixed order and uses the first one that matches. The source and the medium decide almost everything:
| utm_source | utm_medium | GA4 channel |
|---|---|---|
| social | Organic Social | |
| paid_social | Paid Social | |
| cpc | Paid Social | |
| pin.it | cpc | Paid Other |
| newsletter | ||
| cpc | Paid Search | |
| blog | partner | Unassigned |
Two rows surprise people. pin.it, Pinterest's own short-link domain, is not on Google's list of social sources, so a paid pin.it link is Paid Other, not Paid Social. And a medium that matches no rule, like "partner", leaves the visit Unassigned. The rules are Google's default channel group and its list of sources.
Capital letters: the channel ignores them, the reports do not
Google says two things that sound like they disagree. Its channel definitions "aren't case sensitive", so Pinterest and pinterest land in the same channel. But "parameter values are case sensitive", so the same two are two separate rows in every report by source or campaign. Keep every value lower case and your reports add up. The tidied link does that for you.
The mistakes it finds
- A second ? instead of & between tags. Everything after it is read as part of the tag before it.
- Tags after the #. That part of a link is not its query, and Google's URL builders put campaign tags in the query.
- A misspelled name (
utm_souce), with the one it probably meant. - A capitalised name (
UTM_Source). Google writes them in lower case. - A tag used twice, an empty tag, spaces (they become
+or%20) and capitals in values. - A missing source, medium or campaign, with Google's own words on why all three belong on every link.
FAQ
What are UTM parameters?
?, that tell Google Analytics where a visit came from and which campaign it belongs to: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign and, when you need them, utm_term, utm_content and utm_id.Which UTM parameters are required?
Are UTM parameters case sensitive?
utm_source=google is different from utm_source=Google, so they show as two rows in reports. GA4's channel rules ignore case, so both land in the same channel. Use lower case everywhere.