← Back to all articles
tutorialutmanalytics

Set Up UTM Tracking

By Middlewr Team··4 min read
Set Up UTM Tracking

UTM parameters are the standard way to track where your traffic comes from. When you add UTM tags to a short link, every click carries campaign metadata through to your analytics tools — Google Analytics, Plausible, Mixpanel, or whichever platform you use. Middlewr lets you attach UTM parameters directly to your links through the visual graph editor, so the parameters are appended automatically at redirect time without cluttering your original destination URL. This guide walks you through the process.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

A quick refresher on UTM parameters

UTM parameters are query string tags appended to a URL. There are five standard ones:

Parameter Purpose Example
utm_source Where the traffic comes from newsletter, google, facebook
utm_medium The marketing channel email, cpc, social
utm_campaign The specific campaign name spring_promo_2026, product_launch
utm_term Paid search keywords (optional) running+shoes
utm_content Differentiates ad variants (optional) header_link, cta_button

At minimum, fill in source and medium — those two give you the most actionable data. Campaign, term, and content add extra granularity when you need it.

Navigate to your Links page and click the edit icon on the link you want to track. This opens the link detail view with the visual graph editor.

In the toolbar, click Apply preset to reveal the available preset cards. You'll see options like Scheduling, Device routing, Geo routing, and more. Click the UTM parameters card.

Link editor with preset cards showing UTM parameters option

Step 2: Fill in your UTM values

A modal appears with five fields — one for each UTM parameter. Fill in at least the Source or Medium field (at least one is required), then add as many of the others as you need.

For example, if you're sharing this link in an email newsletter promoting a spring campaign:

  • UTM Source: newsletter
  • UTM Medium: email
  • UTM Campaign: spring_promo_2026
  • UTM Content: cta_button

Once you're happy with the values, click Generate.

UTM parameters modal filled with example values

Step 3: Review and save the graph

After clicking Generate, Middlewr creates a Transform node in your link's graph. This node sits between the Entry Point and the Destination, and it appends your UTM parameters to the destination URL at redirect time.

You can see the parameters summarized on the node — for example, "utm_source, utm_medium +2" means four UTM parameters are configured. Click Save in the top-right to persist the graph, then Publish to push the changes live.

From now on, every click on this short link will land on the destination URL with your UTM parameters attached automatically.

Graph editor showing the Transform node with UTM parameters

Tips for consistent UTM tracking

  • Use lowercase consistently — Newsletter and newsletter are treated as different sources in most analytics tools.
  • Use underscores instead of spaces — spring_promo is cleaner and more portable than spring promo.
  • Document your naming conventions — agree on standard source and medium values across your team so reports are consistent.
  • Don't UTM internal links — UTM parameters are designed for external traffic. Using them on internal links can overwrite the original referrer in your analytics.

Going further