Free UTM Builder from Convertavo: Tag a Link, Then Shorten It
Did that newsletter actually bring anyone to your site, or was it the Instagram post? Run the link through Convertavo’s UTM builder before you share it, and your analytics will finally tell you. The tagged link comes out long and ugly (that’s normal), so shorten it right here. No account needed, and it costs nothing.
- Works with GA4, Matomo and Plausible
- Old tags replaced, nothing else touched
- Shorten the result in one click
How to build a UTM link
- STEP 01
Paste the page address
Paste the address of the page you want people to land on.
- STEP 02
Pick a preset or type your tags
Pick a preset like Newsletter or Instagram. Or type your own source and medium.
- STEP 03
Name the campaign
Choose something you’ll still understand in six months, like spring-sale.
- STEP 04
Copy or shorten the link
Copy the tagged link. Better still, press Shorten it first, because a short link looks far less scary in a post or on a poster.
What do the five UTM parameters mean?
Every UTM builder works with the same five tags. Three of them do the real work. The other two? You’ll reach for them once in a while.
| Tag | What goes in it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| utm_source | Where the link sits: the site, the app or the newsletter | newsletter, instagram, partner-blog |
| utm_medium | The kind of channel | email, social, cpc, print |
| utm_campaign | The name of this campaign or offer | spring-sale, webinar-oct |
| utm_term | Optional. The keyword you paid for in a search ad | running shoes |
| utm_content | Optional. Tells apart two links in the same place | header-button, footer-link |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
In Google Analytics 4, look in the Traffic acquisition report. The tags show up there as session source, medium and campaign. Matomo and Plausible use names that are close enough.
Our advice? Leave utm_term empty unless you run search ads. Most people never touch it.
When is a UTM link worth the trouble?
Your newsletter against your Instagram
You post the same offer twice. Once in your Tuesday email, once in an Instagram story.
Without tags, your analytics dumps the email visits under “direct” and files the Instagram ones as some vague referral. Good luck telling them apart. Tag each link with its own source, and the report shows exactly how many people each one sent.
A poster on a café wall
Print is usually a black hole. You stick up a poster and hope for the best.
Tag the link with source poster and medium print, shorten it, and put its QR code on the poster. Visits from it now land in your analytics with a proper label. The short link counts its own scans as well.
Two links in one email
There’s a big button at the top of your email and a plain text link near the bottom. Which one do people click?
Give both the same source, medium and campaign. Change only utm_content, to header-button on one and footer-link on the other. Mystery solved.
Why use this free UTM link builder?
A lot of UTM builders stop once they’ve made the long link. Ours keeps going.
You can shorten it on the spot. Nobody wants ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email sitting in their WhatsApp chat. People see a short address, while your analytics still gets every tag.
Presets fill in the boring part. There’s one each for Newsletter, Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Google Ads and printed QR codes. Each one puts a sensible source and medium in for you.
Old tags get swapped out. Pasted a link that already carries UTM tags? Yours take their place. We don’t touch any other part of the address.
You can fix a typo after sharing. On a short link, the tags are stored apart from the link itself. Open the link’s Edit page, correct them, and nothing has to be rebuilt.
UTM mistakes we see all the time
None of these break your link. They just make your reports fib a little.
- Mixing capital letters. To your analytics, “Facebook” and “facebook” are two different sources. Your numbers get split down the middle without anyone noticing. Stick to lowercase, with hyphens in place of spaces.
- Switching names halfway. Is it “email” or “e-mail”? Pick one, then write it down where your whole team will see it.
- Tagging links inside your own site. A tagged link from one of your pages to another tells Google Analytics the visit came from that campaign, and the real source, like a Google search, is lost. UTM tags belong on links that live outside your site.
- Putting private stuff in tags. Anyone can read them in the address bar. No customer names, no email addresses.
One last thing. The builder doesn’t look at the page you’re linking to. Shortening does, though: the address then gets the same safety checks as any short link.
Is Convertavo’s UTM generator free?
Yes. Build as many tagged links as you want, with no account. Shortening them is free too.
It also isn’t tied to one analytics tool. UTM tags are a standard, so Google Analytics, Matomo, Plausible and most others read them without any set-up on your side.
Next campaign? Put its links through Convertavo’s UTM builder before they go out. In a month you’ll know what worked, instead of guessing.
Build a UTM linkQuestions about UTM links
What is a UTM link?
It’s a normal link with a few labels tacked on the end, like ?utm_source=newsletter. Your analytics reads those labels to see where a visitor came from. The page itself opens just the same.
Which UTM tags do I need?
Source, medium and campaign cover almost every case. Add utm_content when two links sit in the same place. Save utm_term for paid search ads.
Will the tags show in my short link?
No. People only see the short address until they tap it. After the tap they land on the full tagged link, so your analytics still picks up every tag.
What if my link already has UTM tags?
Ours win. The old ones are replaced, and we leave every other part of the address alone.
Can I change the tags after sharing the short link?
Yes. Spotted a typo after the email went out? Open that link’s Edit page and fix it there.
Do UTM tags affect SEO?
Not when they sit on links outside your site, in emails or ads. Keep them off links between your own pages, though, or your analytics gets confused.
How many UTM tags are there?
There are 5. The first 3, utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, cover almost every link; utm_term is for paid search ads, and utm_content tells 2 links in the same place apart. The builder’s 8 presets fill in source and medium for Newsletter, Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Google Ads and QR on print.