A pest control company mails postcards, hangs door tags, sends an email and posts on Facebook, all in the same week. Visits to the website go up. Which one worked? If every piece points to the plain home page, nobody can tell. The visits all look the same.
A tagged link fixes that. It is the same web address with a few labels added to the end, and your website reports can read those labels.
Short answer: Add three labels to every link you put in an ad, email, post or QR code: where it was shared (source), what kind of channel it was (medium) and which campaign it belongs to (campaign). These are called UTM labels. Google Analytics reads them and shows which piece sent each visit, as long as you name them the same way every time.
What a tagged link looks like
Here is a plain link:
https://example.com/estimate/
Here is the same link with labels added:
https://example.com/estimate/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring-service
The page is the same. The visitor sees the same thing. But your reports can now say this visit came from the spring-service email newsletter.
Google's own guidance is to use all three core labels together: "When you add parameters to a URL, you should always use utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign" (Google Analytics Help).
The three labels, in plain words
| Label | Plain meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| utm_source | Where the link was shared | newsletter, facebook, postcard, doorhanger |
| utm_medium | What kind of channel it was | email, social, print, referral |
| utm_campaign | Which campaign or offer it belongs to | spring-service, fall-tuneup |
Google lists two more optional labels: utm_content, to tell apart two links in the same piece, and utm_term, mainly for paid keywords (Google Analytics Help).
The tool's own worked example
Our free Campaign Link & QR Builder adds the labels and makes a QR code that opens the same link. Here is the example from the tool page.
| What you enter | Value |
|---|---|
| Web page | https://example.com/estimate/ |
| Source | newsletter |
| Medium | |
| Campaign | spring-service |
| What you get | Value |
|---|---|
| Labels added to the link | utm_source=newsletter, utm_medium=email and utm_campaign=spring-service |
| QR code | Opens the new link directly. No outside service is used. |
The tool page also says what it takes for this to work:
"When someone opens this link, your website reports can show the visit came from the spring-service email newsletter. That only works if your reports are set up to read the labels and keep them."
A fictional example: one campaign, four pieces
Shoreline Pest Control is a made-up company running a spring termite inspection offer. Here is a simple naming plan for the four pieces, all pointing to the same offer page.
| Piece | utm_source | utm_medium | utm_campaign | utm_content (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postcard to past customers | postcard | spring-termite | past-customers | |
| Door hanger in new neighborhoods | doorhanger | spring-termite | new-areas | |
| Email newsletter | newsletter | spring-termite | top-button | |
| Facebook post | social | spring-termite |
The postcard and door hanger each get their own QR code made from their own tagged link. At the end of the month, the owner can see visits from each piece separately, instead of one lump labeled "direct."
Four naming rules that keep reports clean
Most tagging problems come from inconsistent names, not from the labels themselves.
- Use lowercase every time. Google says the values are case sensitive, so "Facebook" and "facebook" show up as two different sources (Google Analytics Help).
- Pick one name per channel and keep it. Do not use "email" one month and "e-mail" the next.
- Use hyphens, not spaces. "spring-termite," not "spring termite."
- Write your names down. A short list in a shared document saves a lot of guessing later.
Never put private details in a link
This one is easy to miss. Anything in a web link can be seen in places you do not control. The tool page warns:
"Anything you put in a web link can show up in browser history, server records and reports, so never put names, email addresses, passwords or private labels in it."
Use campaign names like "spring-termite," not "johnsmith-renewal."
Do not switch off your ad sites' own tagging
Google Ads and some other ad sites add their own tracking codes to links automatically. The tool keeps those codes, and it warns against turning them off just to use UTM labels:
"Do not turn off an ad site's own automatic labels just to use this tool. Check how they work together first."
For paid ads, check how your ad account and analytics are set up before you add manual labels.
Where to see the results
In Google Analytics 4, Google points to the Traffic acquisition report, where you can view session source, medium and campaign (Google Analytics Help). Give a campaign a week or two before you read too much into the numbers.
Visits are only the first step. To see whether a campaign brought in customers, pair your tagged links with your own count of calls and jobs. The Marketing Results Calculator helps with that.
How to use the Campaign Link & QR Builder
- Paste the page you want people to land on. Use the offer page, not just the home page.
- Enter source, medium and campaign using your naming list.
- Choose whether to keep or replace any labels the link already has.
- Add optional labels like content if you have two links in the same piece.
- Copy the link for emails and posts, or download the QR code for print.
- Test the link and the QR code on your phone before anything is printed.
Questions owners ask
Is the QR code made by an outside service?
No. From the tool page: "It is made in your browser and opens your new link directly."
Is there a size limit?
Yes. "A QR code can hold up to 2,000 bytes. A longer link can still be copied, but it gets no QR code." Short campaign names help.
Will the tool remove other parts of my link?
No. "Other parts of the link and ad-site click codes are kept. The UTM labels follow your keep-or-replace choice."
Do I need tagged links for my Google Business Profile?
You can, and it can make those visits easier to spot. Use the same naming rules and keep them consistent. Check how the visits appear in your reports after a week or two, because the medium you choose affects how Google Analytics groups them into channels.
Tag your next campaign before it goes out
Before your next email, flyer or post, make the links in the free Campaign Link & QR Builder. If you plan to compare two versions of an offer, write the plan first with the Campaign Test Planner, and read our guide on testing one change at a time.
If you want help setting up tracking across your ads, posts and print, talk with ThinkDMG. We can help you build a naming system your whole team can follow. Learn more about our social media marketing services.
