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

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

utm_medium

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

Attribution Models

Model Comparison

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

UTM & Attribution Strategy — Examples

Example 1: Build UTM Taxonomy from Scratch

Prompt

We are starting to track our marketing campaigns properly. Build a UTM naming convention for our team. We use Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, email (Klaviyo), and organic social (LinkedIn, Twitter).

What the skill does

1. Creates a documented UTM taxonomy with source, medium, campaign, and content conventions 2. Builds channel-specific templates (Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Klaviyo email, organic social) 3. Creates a shared spreadsheet template for the team to log all UTM URLs 4. Maps utm_medium values to GA4 default channel groupings to ensure proper reporting 5. Writes enforcement rules and a QA checklist

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Example 2: Attribution Model Selection

Prompt

We sell B2B software with a 45-day average sales cycle. Help us choose the right attribution model and set it up in GA4.

What the skill does

1. Analyzes sales cycle length (45 days > 30-day default lookback window) 2. Recommends extending GA4 lookback window to 90 days 3. Suggests Position-Based model for reporting (values both awareness and conversion) 4. Recommends Data-Driven model if conversion volume supports it (1000+/month) 5. Provides GA4 configuration steps for attribution settings

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Example 3: UTM Audit

Prompt

Audit our UTM practices. We are seeing a lot of "(other)" traffic in GA4 and our channel data looks messy.

What the skill does

1. Pulls GA4 source/medium report to identify issues 2. Finds 12 variations of Facebook source (facebook, Facebook, fb, meta, instagram) 3. Finds utm_medium values not recognized by GA4 ("social-media", "paid", "ad") 4. Identifies internal links with UTM parameters (breaking sessions) 5. Produces cleanup plan: standardize naming, fix internal links, create enforcement doc

Utm Attribution Strategy Reference

Reference data, benchmarks, and platform-specific details for the Utm Attribution Strategy skill.

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