UTM builder
Build a tagged link, then see how it will be attributed
Compose utm_source, utm_medium and campaign parameters, or paste any landing URL, and the tool shows which marketing channel a revenue-attribution tracker would credit, and why: click ids such as gclid, paid mediums such as cpc, and the traps like fbclid that look paid but are not.
Where the link is placed: newsletter, google, producthunt.
The kind of channel: email, cpc, social, referral. cpc and paid variants mark the click as paid.
The specific push: spring-launch, black-friday.
Paid keyword, or the audience segment.
Which variant: hero-button, footer-link.
Enter the page the link should open.
How a landing URL becomes a channel
The tracker reads the URL in this order and stops at the first rule that applies.
- 1An unambiguous click id. gclid, msclkid, ttclid and the others below are written only by the ad platform that billed the click. They decide the paid channel outright.
- 2An ambiguous click id plus a paid medium. fbclid and epik are added to every outbound link from Facebook and Pinterest. They resolve to the paid channel only when utm_medium is a paid value; otherwise they mean organic social.
- 3A paid utm_medium. cpc, ppc, paid, paidsearch, paid-search, paid_search and similar values mark the click as paid, and utm_source is mapped to the matching ad network, or a generic paid label if none matches.
- 4utm_source. Named channels such as newsletter, chatgpt, producthunt or twitter resolve to their own channel; anything else keeps its value under Other.
- 5The referrer. With no tags at all, the referring host decides: search engines, social networks, AI answer engines that cited the page. No referrer means Direct.
Click-ID reference
| Parameter | Attributed to | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| gclid | Google Ads | Google Ads auto-tagging. Appended when Google bills a click, so it is proof of paid traffic. |
| gbraid | Google Ads | Google Ads on iOS where gclid cannot be set under App Tracking Transparency. Web-to-app measurement. |
| wbraid | Google Ads | Google Ads on iOS, the web-to-web counterpart of gbraid. |
| dclid | Display & Video 360 | Display & Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360 click id. |
| msclkid | Microsoft Ads | Microsoft Advertising auto-tagging for Bing and its partner network. |
| ttclid | TikTok Ads | TikTok Ads click id. |
| twclid | X Ads | X (Twitter) Ads click id. |
| li_fat_id | LinkedIn Ads | LinkedIn first-party ad tracking id, used with the Insight Tag. |
| irclickid | Affiliate | Impact affiliate-network click id. |
| fbclid | FacebookMeta Ads with a paid utm_medium | Appended by Facebook, Instagram and Messenger to every outbound link, paid or not. Only utm_medium can say whether the click was bought. |
| epik | PinterestPinterest Ads with a paid utm_medium | Appended by Pinterest to outbound links, paid or not, like fbclid. |
Common questions
What is the difference between utm_source and utm_medium?
utm_source is where the link was placed: the newsletter, google, a specific partner site. utm_medium is what kind of channel that is: email, cpc, social, referral. Together they let a report answer both which property sent the visit and what kind of traffic it was.
Why does gclid override my utm_source?
Because gclid is written by Google Ads when it bills a click, and nothing else produces it. utm_source is a string someone typed into a campaign builder once and may be wrong. When both are present, the auto-tagged click id is the more trustworthy paid signal, so it wins.
Why is fbclid not counted as Meta Ads?
Facebook, Instagram and Messenger append fbclid to every outbound link, including links people paste into organic posts. Reading it as paid would credit advertising you never bought. The tracker counts it as organic Facebook unless utm_medium independently says the click was paid.
Should UTM values be lower case?
Yes. Almost every analytics tool, NumberHill included, compares values case-sensitively, so "Newsletter" and "newsletter" become two rows in the report. Use lower case and hyphens, and keep a shared sheet of the values your team uses.