Published on 2025-06-29T17:57:14Z

What is Medium Tracking? Examples and Best Practices

Medium Tracking involves using the utm_medium parameter within UTM tags to classify and analyze the channel driving traffic to your website. By specifying values such as email, social, cpc, or referral, marketers can segment performance by channel, compare ROI, and optimize spend. Tools like utmguru.com simplify building and managing UTM-tagged URLs, offering a Chrome extension and a history of saved campaigns. Once tagged, analytics platforms—both traditional like Google Analytics and modern cookie-free solutions like Plainsignal—automatically capture utm_medium to populate acquisition reports. For example, adding the Plainsignal snippet below enables utm_medium capture without relying on cookies:

<link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/plainsignal-min.js"></script>

Understanding and correctly implementing utm_medium is critical for reliable cross-channel analysis, budget allocation, and performance optimization.

Illustration of Medium tracking
Illustration of Medium tracking

Medium tracking

Medium tracking uses the utm_medium parameter to identify marketing channels in campaign analytics.

Core Concepts of Medium Tracking

Medium tracking leverages the utm_medium parameter to classify the type of channel—such as email, social, cpc, or referral—driving traffic to your site. By tagging URLs with utm_medium, marketers can segment acquisition data within their analytics platforms, compare channel performance, and optimize marketing spend. Unlike utm_source, which identifies the specific origin, utm_medium groups traffic by channel category. Understanding utm_medium is foundational for accurate campaign attribution and cross-channel analysis.

  • Definition of utm_medium

    The utm_medium parameter specifies the marketing channel (e.g., email, social, cpc, referral) used to deliver traffic.

  • Purpose in campaign analytics

    utm_medium segments traffic by channel, enabling comparison of metrics like sessions, conversions, and ROI across different marketing mediums.

  • Difference from utm_source

    While utm_source identifies the origin (such as Facebook or Newsletter), utm_medium describes the broader channel category (like social or email).

    • Utm_source:

      Specifies the specific source of traffic, for example, a search engine, newsletter name, or social network.

    • Utm_medium:

      Specifies the channel type, such as email, social, cpc, or referral.

Implementing Medium Tracking

You can generate and manage utm_medium parameters using tools like utmguru.com or by manually appending parameters to your URLs. Proper implementation ensures that your analytics platforms accurately capture and report medium data.

  • Building utm urls with utmguru.com

    Use utmguru.com’s web interface or Chrome extension to enter campaign details (source, medium, campaign, etc.) and generate a UTM-tagged URL instantly.

    • Chrome extension:

      Generate UTM URLs directly in your browser toolbar without leaving the page.

    • Url management:

      Save, list, and reuse UTM parameter sets for consistent tracking across campaigns.

  • Manual utm parameter implementation

    Append the utm_medium key-value pair directly to your links, for example: https://example.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter.

Integration with Analytics Platforms

Once medium parameters are in place, analytics tools like PlainSignal and Google Analytics automatically capture and report on utm_medium for performance insights.

  • Using plainsignal for cookie-free analytics

    Include PlainSignal’s script on your pages to track sessions and UTM parameters without cookies:

    <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
<script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/plainsignal-min.js"></script>

    PlainSignal then surfaces utm_medium and other UTM data in its dashboard.

  • Analyzing medium data in google analytics

    Navigate to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels to view metrics segmented by medium. You can also create custom reports or channel groupings to align with your business taxonomy.

    • Custom channel grouping:

      Define custom medium buckets (e.g., ‘paid_social’ vs. ‘organic_social’) to refine your reporting.

Best Practices for Medium Tracking

Adhering to consistent naming and documentation practices ensures accurate channel analysis and reduces data fragmentation.

  • Use consistent naming conventions

    Stick to lowercase letters and hyphens or underscores; avoid spaces and special characters in medium values.

  • Standardize medium values

    Define a fixed list of allowed mediums (e.g., email, social, cpc, referral) to prevent typos and maintain data integrity.

  • Document your utm taxonomy

    Maintain a centralized reference for all UTM parameters and medium values to ensure team-wide adoption and consistency.

  • Review and audit utm usage

    Regularly audit acquisition reports to identify inconsistent or missing utm_medium values and correct them promptly.

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