Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) is a method for adding parameters to URLs in order to track traffic sources, campaigns, keywords and more in web analytics.
UTM was created in 1996 by Urchin Software Corporation. In 2005 Google acquired Urchin and rolled UTMs into Google Analytics, which launched in the same year.
- Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) enables marketers to track the impact of various marketing efforts by dynamically appending campaign data such as source, medium and campaign name to URLs. The resulting visitor data tied to customized UTM parameters allows deeper analysis within analytics platforms to determine attribution and return on investment across digital marketing initiatives.
- Originally called “Urchin Traffic Monitor”, UTM became a popular method for understanding web traffic and campaign effectiveness in the early era of Google Analytics.
The practice of UTM tagging continues to provide enhanced analytics capabilities today despite significant platform evolution since its invention in 1996.