utm-attribution-strategy

UTM & Attribution Strategy

Campaign tracking with UTM parameters and marketing attribution modeling.

Install

git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/utm-attribution-strategy ~/.claude/skills/

UTM Parameter Reference

The 5 Standard UTM Parameters

| Parameter | Purpose | Required | Example | |-----------|---------|----------|---------| | utm_source | Where traffic comes from | Yes | google, linkedin, newsletter | | utm_medium | Marketing medium/channel | Yes | cpc, email, social, referral | | utm_campaign | Campaign name | Yes | spring-sale, product-launch-q1 | | utm_term | Paid keyword (search ads) | No | email+marketing+software | | utm_content | Differentiate ad variants | No | cta-button, sidebar-banner, video-ad |

UTM Naming Convention

Rules:

• All lowercase (Google Analytics is case-sensitive)
• Use hyphens (-) as word separators, never spaces or underscores
• Be descriptive but concise
• Use consistent vocabulary across all teams
• Document your taxonomy and enforce it

Recommended Taxonomy

utm_source

| Value | When to Use | |-------|------------| | google | Google Ads, Google organic | | facebook | Meta/Facebook ads and organic | | instagram | Instagram ads and organic | | linkedin | LinkedIn ads and organic | | tiktok | TikTok ads | | twitter | Twitter/X | | youtube | YouTube ads and organic | | bing | Microsoft/Bing ads | | newsletter | Your email newsletter | | email | Transactional or one-off emails | | partner-[name] | Partner/affiliate traffic | | podcast-[name] | Podcast mentions |

utm_medium

| Value | When to Use | |-------|------------| | cpc | Paid search (cost per click) | | paid-social | Paid social media | | social | Organic social media | | email | Email marketing | | referral | Partner/affiliate referrals | | display | Display/banner ads | | video | Video ads (pre-roll, in-stream) | | retargeting | Retargeting/remarketing | | influencer | Influencer partnerships | | organic | Organic search (usually auto-tagged) | | direct | Direct traffic (usually auto-tagged) |

utm_campaign

Pattern: [initiative]-[audience]-[date]

Examples:

• spring-sale-2026
• product-launch-enterprise-q1
• webinar-seo-masterclass-mar2026
• blog-weekly-digest-w12
• retarget-cart-abandoners-mar

utm_content

Pattern: [format]-[variant]-[placement]

Examples:

• video-testimonial-feed
• carousel-product-stories
• cta-start-trial-hero
• banner-logo-sidebar
• text-ad-headline-v2

UTM Builder

URL Structure

https://example.com/landing-page?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid-social&utm_campaign=product-launch-q1&utm_content=video-demo-feed

Common UTM Templates

| Channel | Full UTM String | |---------|----------------| | Google Search Ad | ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=[campaign]&utm_term=[keyword]&utm_content=[ad-group] | | Facebook Ad | ?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid-social&utm_campaign=[campaign]&utm_content=[ad-name] | | LinkedIn Ad | ?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid-social&utm_campaign=[campaign]&utm_content=[creative-type] | | Email Newsletter | ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=[newsletter-name]-[date]&utm_content=[link-position] | | Organic LinkedIn Post | ?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=[post-topic] | | Partner Referral | ?utm_source=partner-[name]&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=[initiative] |

Attribution Models

Model Comparison

| Model | How It Works | Best For | Limitation | |-------|-------------|----------|-----------| | Last Click | 100% credit to last touchpoint | Short sales cycles, direct response | Ignores awareness/consideration | | First Click | 100% credit to first touchpoint | Brand awareness measurement | Ignores conversion-driving touches | | Linear | Equal credit to all touchpoints | Simple multi-touch view | Over-credits low-impact touches | | Time Decay | More credit to recent touches | Long sales cycles with clear momentum | Under-values early awareness | | Position-Based | 40% first, 40% last, 20% middle | Balanced view of full funnel | Arbitrary weight distribution | | Data-Driven | ML-based credit allocation | Large datasets (1000+ conversions) | Black box, requires volume |

GA4 Attribution

GA4 uses data-driven attribution by default. Key settings:

• Reporting attribution model: Set in Admin > Attribution Settings
• Lookback window: 30 days (click) / 7 days (view) default
• Conversion paths: Analyze in Advertising > Attribution > Conversion Paths

Choosing a Model

Sales cycle < 7 days → Last Click or Data-Driven
Sales cycle 7-30 days → Position-Based or Data-Driven
Sales cycle > 30 days → Time Decay or Data-Driven
Brand awareness focus → First Click
Performance marketing focus → Last Click
Balanced view needed → Position-Based
1000+ monthly conversions → Data-Driven (always)

UTM Audit Checklist

• [ ] All paid campaigns have UTM parameters
• [ ] Naming convention documented and shared with team
• [ ] No mixed case (utm_source=Google vs google)
• [ ] No spaces in parameter values (use hyphens)
• [ ] utm_medium values align with GA4 default channel groupings
• [ ] Internal links do NOT have UTM parameters (breaks attribution)
• [ ] UTM parameters are on the landing page URL, not post-redirect
• [ ] No PII in UTM parameters (names, emails, account IDs)
• [ ] Short URLs / link shorteners preserve UTM parameters
• [ ] Redirects preserve UTM parameters (302s can strip them)

Common Mistakes

1. UTMs on internal links — breaks session attribution, inflates source counts
2. Inconsistent naming — Facebook vs facebook vs fb creates 3 separate sources
3. Missing utm_medium — traffic falls into "(other)" channel grouping
4. Non-standard utm_medium values — use GA4 recognized values for proper channel grouping
5. UTMs on organic search results — Google auto-tags organic; adding UTMs creates duplicate sources
6. PII in UTM parameters — email addresses or user IDs in URLs violate privacy policies
7. Forgetting post-click tracking — UTMs track the click, not what happens after

Integration with Other Skills

• google-analytics — UTM data flows into GA4 for analysis
• google-ads — Google auto-tags with gclid; UTMs are supplementary
• facebook-ads — Meta auto-tags with fbclid; UTMs needed for GA4 attribution
• linkedin-ads — LinkedIn requires manual UTM configuration
• tiktok-ads — TikTok requires manual UTM configuration