Should I use cpc or paid_social as the medium for Meta Ads?

Either is defensible — pick one and stay consistent. paid_social makes it easier to compare against organic_social; cpc lets you roll paid social into the same medium bucket as Google Ads. Document the choice and avoid mixing.

What goes in utm_campaign for an always-on campaign?

Use a stable value like always_on_search with an optional date suffix when you refresh creative (always_on_search_2026q2). That keeps the long-running campaign rollup clean while still letting you isolate quarters.

Can two channels share the same campaign value?

Yes — that's actually the point. Share utm_campaign across channels for a coordinated push, and let utm_source and utm_medium distinguish the channels within the rollup.

Marketing overview

Marketing · Guide

UTM builder examples for common channels

Here are realistic UTM patterns for the channels marketers actually use. Use them as templates — adjust campaign names to match your own naming convention.

Last reviewed: April 2026

Why channel-specific patterns matter

Every channel has its own quirks: paid search benefits from a keyword token, paid social benefits from a creative variant tag, and partner links need an unambiguous attribution to the partner. The templates below are tuned to those differences so each channel's report tells you what you actually need to know.

The shared discipline across every template is the medium token. Pick a closed list (cpc, paid_social, email, referral, affiliate, organic_social) and use it consistently across channels — that's how channel-level rollups stay clean in your analytics platform.

Google Ads (paid search)

Source is the platform, medium is cpc, term is the keyword, content distinguishes ad variants.

?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=brand_us&utm_term=utility+belt&utm_content=rsa_v1

Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram)

Use facebook or instagram as the source so you can split the two in reports. Medium is paid_social or cpc — pick one and stay consistent.

?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=spring_launch&utm_content=hero_video
?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=spring_launch&utm_content=carousel_a

LinkedIn Ads

Same pattern, different source. utm_content is especially valuable on LinkedIn for distinguishing between single-image, document, and video ad formats.

?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=q2_demo&utm_content=single_image_b2b
?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=q2_demo&utm_content=document_pdf

Newsletters

Source is the list or sender. Medium is email. Campaign is the specific send. Content distinguishes link positions (header vs footer vs CTA).

?utm_source=weekly_digest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2026_04_22&utm_content=primary_cta
?utm_source=weekly_digest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2026_04_22&utm_content=footer_link

Partner & affiliate links

Use the partner name as the source so you can attribute revenue back to them. Medium is referral or affiliate. Keep partner sources from a controlled list — if you let partners invent their own naming, you'll end up with five variants of the same partner in your reports.

?utm_source=partner_blog_acme&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=evergreen_review
?utm_source=affiliate_network_xyz&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=q2_promo

Organic social posts

For organic social, source is the platform and medium should be a clear non-paid value like organic_social. Avoid simply 'social', which is ambiguous about whether the click was paid or earned.

?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=launch_thread
?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=founder_post

Summary

Use these as starting points and adapt campaign names to your team's convention. Generate every link with the UTM Builder so encoding and casing stay consistent, and audit a sample of inbound URLs each month with the URL Parameter Inspector.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use cpc or paid_social as the medium for Meta Ads?: Either is defensible — pick one and stay consistent. paid_social makes it easier to compare against organic_social; cpc lets you roll paid social into the same medium bucket as Google Ads. Document the choice and avoid mixing.
What goes in utm_campaign for an always-on campaign?: Use a stable value like always_on_search with an optional date suffix when you refresh creative (always_on_search_2026q2). That keeps the long-running campaign rollup clean while still letting you isolate quarters.
Can two channels share the same campaign value?: Yes — that's actually the point. Share utm_campaign across channels for a coordinated push, and let utm_source and utm_medium distinguish the channels within the rollup.