Where to Track UTM Codes in Google Analytics?

UTM codes are the backbone of great marketing analytics, turning your campaign URLs into rich data sources that tell you exactly what's working and what's not. But creating them is only half the battle, the real value comes from finding and analyzing that data. This guide will show you exactly where to track your UTM codes in Google Analytics 4 so you can measure campaign ROI and make smarter decisions.

A Quick Refresher: What are UTM Codes?

Before jumping into Google Analytics, let's quickly review the five standard UTM parameters. These are simply text snippets added to the end of a URL that tell analytics platforms more about where a visitor came from. When someone clicks a UTM-tagged link, these parameters are sent directly to GA4 for you to analyze later.

There are five main parameters you can use:

• utm_source: This tells you where the traffic came from. It's the specific platform or referral source, like 'google', 'facebook', or 'mailchimp'. This parameter is required.
• utm_medium: This explains how the traffic got to you. Think of it as the general marketing channel, such as 'cpc' (cost-per-click), 'social', 'email', or 'affiliate'. This parameter is required.
• utm_campaign: This identifies the specific marketing campaign or promotion you're running, like 'summer-sale-2024' or 'q4-product-launch'. This parameter is required.
• utm_content: This optional parameter helps you differentiate between links that point to the same URL within the same campaign. It’s useful for A/B testing, like labeling links as 'blue-banner-ad' vs. 'red-text-link'.
• utm_term: Also optional, this is typically used for paid search campaigns to track the specific keywords you're bidding on, for example, 'data-analytics-software'.

Putting it all together, a fully tagged URL might look something like this:

https://www.yourwebsite.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=summer-sale-2024&utm_content=video-ad-1

When a user clicks this link, GA4 will now know they came from Facebook, as part of your "summer-sale-2024" campaign, specifically by clicking on "video-ad-1". Now, let's find this data inside GA4.

Finding Your UTM Data in Google Analytics 4

Thankfully, Google Analytics 4 is built to automatically recognize and categorize UTM parameters. You don't need any special configuration to start tracking them, you just need to know which report to open.

The Go-To Spot: The Traffic Acquisition Report

The primary location for viewing your campaign data is the Traffic Acquisition Report. This report focuses on session-level data, showing you how users first arrived at your site for a given session.

Here’s how to get there and customize it to show your UTM data:

1. Navigate to your Google Analytics 4 property.
2. On the left-hand menu, click on Reports.
3. Under the "Life cycle" collection, click on Acquisition and then select Traffic acquisition.

By default, this report groups your traffic by "Session default channel group" - broad categories like Organic Search, Direct, and Paid Social. To see your specific UTM parameters, you need to change the primary dimension.

Click the dropdown arrow next to "Session default channel group" at the top of the table. A list of alternative dimensions will appear. The most useful ones for UTM tracking are:

• Session source: Shows the data from your utm_source parameter.
• Session medium: Shows the data from your utm_medium parameter.
• Session campaign: Shows the data from your utm_campaign parameter.
• Session source / medium: A popular combined view that lets you see both source and medium at once (e.g., "facebook / cpc").
• Session manual ad content: Shows the data from your utm_content parameter.
• Session manual term: Shows the data from your utm_term parameter.

Select "Session campaign," for example, and the report will instantly reload to show you the performance of each of your campaigns - all based on data pulled from your utm_campaign tags.

Drilling Down with a Secondary Dimension

Often, you’ll want to analyze more than one parameter at a time. Let's say you see your 'summer-sale-2024' campaign is performing well, but you want to know which channels are driving the best results for that specific campaign. This is where secondary dimensions come in handy.

To add a secondary dimension:

1. Make sure your primary dimension is set to "Session campaign".
2. Click the blue "+" icon next to the primary dimension dropdown.
3. Search for and select another dimension, like "Session source / medium".

The report will now show you a second column, breaking down each campaign's performance by its various sources and mediums. This allows you to answer powerful questions like, "For my holiday promo, did more engaged users come from my email newsletter or my paid search ads?"

Creating Custom Reports for Faster UTM Analysis

While the standard Traffic Acquisition report is great, constantly having to change the primary and secondary dimensions can be tedious. A better long-term solution is to create a saved, custom report solely for tracking your campaigns. A dedicated report puts your most important UTM data just a click away.

Here’s how to build one:

1. In the left menu, click on Library (it's at the very bottom).
2. Click the + Create new report button, and then choose Create detail report.
3. You can start from scratch or use a template. Let’s choose the Traffic Acquisition template to make it easier.
4. On the next screen, click on Dimensions on the right-hand panel.
5. This is where you customize the report. You can remove dimensions you don't need and add your UTM-related ones. Make sure "Session campaign", "Session source / medium", "Session manual ad content", and "Session manual term" are included. Set "Session campaign" as the default dimension.
6. Next, click on Metrics. Here you can select all the key performance indicators you want to see, such as Sessions, Engaged users, Engagement rate, Conversions, and Total revenue.
7. Click Save in the top right. Give your report a descriptive name like "UTM Campaign Performance" and a brief description.
8. Finally, you'll need to add this new report to your navigation menu. Go back to the Library, find the "Life cycle" collection, click Edit collection, and then drag your newly created report into the Acquisition topic. Save your changes.

Now, your custom campaign report will appear directly under the "Acquisition" tab for easy, repeatable access.

Best Practices for Consistent UTM Tracking

Finding the data is one thing, but ensuring that data is clean and reliable is another. Messy tracking leads to bad analysis. Here are a few essential best practices to follow:

1. Stick to a Naming Convention

Consistency is everything. Google Analytics is case-sensitive, which means Facebook, facebook, and FB will all show up as separate sources in your report. Choose one format and stick with it. A common and effective convention is to use all lowercase and replace spaces with dashes.

• Good: utm_campaign=summer-sale-2024
• Bad: utm_campaign=Summer Sale 2024

2. Use a URL Builder

To avoid typos and enforce your naming convention, always use a dedicated tool to create your UTM-tagged URLs. Don't build them by hand. Google's Campaign URL Builder is a free and reliable option, but many other spreadsheet templates and marketing tools offer this functionality as well.

3. Never Use UTMs for Internal Links

You should only use UTM codes for traffic coming from outside your website. Using them on internal links (e.g., tagging a banner on your homepage that links to your pricing page) can cause serious data issues. It will overwrite the user's original source data and incorrectly start a new session, completely breaking your user journey tracking.

4. Test Your Links Before Launching

Before you push a major campaign live, click on your UTM-tagged link in an incognito browser window. Then, go to your GA4 property and open the Realtime report. In the "Users by Source, Medium, or Campaign" card, you should see your test visit appear attributed to the exact parameters you set. This simple five-minute check can save you from a major tracking headache later.

By following these simple rules, you’ll ensure the data flowing into your GA4 reports is clean, accurate, and ready for analysis.

Final Thoughts

Once you know where to look, tracking your UTM performance in Google Analytics 4 is a straightforward process. The Traffic Acquisition report is your primary destination for viewing campaign-level data, while custom reports and explorations give you the power to build deeper, reusable analyses tailored to your specific goals.

Instead of manually digging through reports across multiple platforms, our goal with Graphed is to make getting these insights as simple as asking a question. We built a platform where you can connect sources like Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, and Shopify in seconds. Then, you can use plain English to ask things like, "Show me my top 5 campaigns by conversion rate last month" and instantly get a live dashboard that answers your question — no need to remember which report to customize or what dimensions to add.