Which UTM parameters to use to trace revenue

By Devendra Variya, co-founder of Virling. Published 2026-10-26.

Use utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign on every link you control, keep the names lowercase and consistent, and never tag links inside your own site. That is enough to trace revenue back to a post, an email or an ad.

The five parameters

• utm_source: where the link lives, such as newsletter, x or reddit
• utm_medium: the kind of channel, such as email, social or cpc
• utm_campaign: the push it belongs to, such as launch-oct
• utm_content: which variant, useful when you test two links
• utm_term: the paid keyword, only for search ads

A tagged link

https://example.com/pricing?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=launch-oct

Naming rules that keep reports clean

• Lowercase everything. X and x become two rows in most tools
• Use hyphens, not spaces
• Write the names down in one list and reuse them
• One value per meaning: pick email or newsletter for the medium, not both

What not to tag

• Links between your own pages. They overwrite the real source with an internal one
• Organic search results. Search engines already pass a referrer
• Links in places that strip them, such as some private messages

Why revenue goes to Direct

When a visit has no UTM tags and no referrer, it is counted as direct. Most untagged email clicks, app links and shared messages end up there. Tag what you can and the Direct row shrinks.

From tags to revenue

Tags only name the source. To see money, join payments to the visits that carried them, as in tracking Stripe revenue by traffic source. Virling groups visits into channels from UTM tags and referrers; see how channels are decided.

Frequently asked questions

Which UTM parameters are required?

None are required technically, but utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign together give enough detail to trace revenue to a campaign.

Should I add UTM tags to links on my own site?

No. Tagging internal links replaces the visitor's real source with an internal one and breaks attribution.

Are UTM parameters case sensitive?

Most analytics tools treat different capitalisations as different values, so keep every value lowercase.

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