How to add UTM tags to your YouTube links

A UTM tag is a label on the link.

A UTM tag is a label added to the end of a link. Google Analytics reads the labels and files the visit under them instead of guessing where it came from. Viewers still land on the same page.

There are five tags. YouTube links need three, plus one optional:

• utm_source=youtube names the site that sent the visit.
• utm_medium=video names the kind of link.
• utm_campaign names the video. Use a short name for it, like pricing-mistakes.
• utm_content (optional) names where the link sits, like description or pinned-comment.

The fifth, utm_term, is for paid search keywords. Leave it off.

Build the link.

Start with the page you want viewers on, add a question mark, then the tags joined with ampersands:

https://yoursite.com/course?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=pricing-mistakes&utm_content=description

If the link already contains a question mark, join the tags on with an ampersand instead. Google's free Campaign URL Builder assembles the link for you.

Name every video the same way.

Google Analytics treats YouTube, youtube and Youtube as three different sources, so a scheme only works if every link follows it:

• Lowercase everything.
• Use hyphens instead of spaces.
• Keep utm_source=youtube and utm_medium=video the same on every video.
• Give each video one campaign name, short enough to read in a report: pricing-mistakes, not the full title.
• Keep a list of each video next to its campaign name. It's the only place the two are connected.

utm_medium=video also puts tagged visits in Google Analytics' Organic Video channel, next to your untagged YouTube traffic.

Put the tagged link everywhere the video links out.

• Description: the link most viewers click.
• Pinned comment: the same link with utm_content=pinned-comment, so you can tell the two apart.
• Cards and end screens: links to your own site here need YouTube Partner Program membership. Use utm_content=end-screen for these.
• Shorts: links in Shorts descriptions aren't clickable. Use a related video link to send viewers to a long video that carries the tagged link.

Read the results.

In Google Analytics, open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition. Change the table's first column to Session campaign, and add a filter for Session source exactly matching youtube. Each row is a video.

If your checkout sends purchases to Google Analytics, the same table has a Total revenue column. That's revenue per video.

Mistakes that break UTM tracking.

• Checkout on another domain. If buyers move from your site to a checkout on a different domain, set up cross-domain measurement in Google Analytics, or the sale arrives without the tag.
• Copied descriptions. When you reuse a description, change its campaign name, or the new video's visits count for the old one.
• Redirects. Some redirects drop everything after the question mark. Click the final link once before you publish.
• Switching devices. A tag can't follow a buyer from phone to laptop, so expect some sales to show up as direct.

The upkeep is the hard part.

Tagging one link takes a minute. Keeping a whole channel tagged is a standing job:

• A new tagged link for every video and placement, all following the same scheme.
• Each one pasted into YouTube Studio by hand. One typo breaks that video's link, and nothing warns you.
• A list you keep current, because Google Analytics shows campaign names, not videos.
• Purchase tracking, with prices, set up on your checkout before any revenue shows.