How to Set Up UTM Codes to Track Your Campaigns in Google Analytics 4 – ASP Knowledge Base

If you're running marketing campaigns — whether it's via email, social media, or paid ads — you’ll want to know which campaigns are actually driving traffic and conversions. That’s where UTM tracking comes in.

This guide will show you how to set up UTM codes to track your campaigns in Google Analytics 4 (GA4), whether your registration form is on your own website or hosted externally on a third-party system.

✅ What Are UTM Codes?

UTM codes are extra bits you add to the end of a link to tell Google Analytics where traffic is coming from.

For example:

When someone clicks this link, GA4 will track them as part of your Facebook campaign under the "exprom" label — so you know it’s working.

🔧 Scenario 1: Reg Form on Your Website – Easy!

If your registration form is on your own website, setting up UTM tracking is straightforward.

Step 1: Build Your URL

Use Google’s Campaign URL Builder:
👉 https://ga-dev-tools.google/campaign-url-builder/

Fill in at least the following three fields:

utm_source – Where the traffic comes from (e.g. google, facebook, newsletter)
utm_medium – Type of marketing (e.g. cpc, email, social)
utm_campaign – Name of your campaign (e.g. spring_sale, exprom)

Google’s Campaign URL Builder will build something like:

Step 2: Add the Link to Your Campaigns

Use this URL in:

Email newsletters
Social posts
Google or Facebook Ads

That’s it!

Because the reg form is on your own site, Google Analytics 4 will automatically track everything. ✅

🚧 Scenario 2: Reg Form on a Separate Website – A Bit Harder

If your registration form is hosted on a third-party website, extra steps are needed to ensure your UTM tracking data flows correctly from your site to the reg platform, and on into Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

Here’s how to set it up:

Step 1: Build Your UTM URL (Same as Scenario 1)

Use Google’s Campaign URL Builder to generate your tracking link.

Example:

Use this UTM-tagged link in your marketing campaigns (email, social posts, Google Ads, etc.).
When a user clicks through, ASP will store the UTM data in a cookie.

✅ Step 2: Build the Link from Your ASP Website to Your Registration Form

To pass the UTM values from ASP to your third-party reg form, add the relevant ASP merge fields to your registration link.

These merge fields are replaced by ASP with the real UTM values pulled from the cookie.

ASP Merge Fields	Google Parameter Equivalent	Required?	Example Value	Description
utm_source={{utm_source}}	utm_source	✅ Yes	google	Specifies where the traffic originated from, such as a search engine (google), email service (mailchimp), or social platform (facebook). Helps you identify which external platform or partner sent visitors to your site.
&utm_medium={{utm_medium}}	utm_medium	✅ Yes	cpc	Defines the marketing channel or method used, such as cpc (cost-per-click ads), email, or social. This tells you how the traffic was delivered — for example, through a paid ad, a newsletter, or a social post.
&utm_campaign={{utm_campaign}}	utm_campaign	👍Recommended	exprom	Labels the specific marketing campaign or promotion the traffic is tied to, such as spring_sale, launch_week, or exprom. This helps you measure and compare the performance of different campaigns across channels. Ideal for tracking the effectiveness of individual pushes or promotions over time.
&utm_campaign={{utm_term}}	utm_term	Optional	ai-event	Identifies keywords used in paid search
&utm_campaign={{utm_content}}	utm_content	Optional	robot-image	Differentiates similar ads or links pointing to the same URL
&utm_campaign={{utm_id}}	utm_id	Optional	abc.123	Identifies a specific ads campaign (e.g. for Google Ads campaign ID tracking)

✅ Example Full URL with All Fields

This is the link you'd add to your "Register Now" button on your ASP website:

Only include the parameters you are actively using in your campaign URLs. If you're just using source, medium, and campaign — that’s totally fine!

✅ Step 3: Add Your Link To Your Register Now call to action buttons

In your ASP CMS, go to the page or panel where your registration CTA is located and update the link behind the button to use your merge field-based URL.

Once live:

A user clicks a campaign link with UTM tags (e.g. from your email)
Lands on your ASP website (which stores the UTM data in a cookie)
Clicks Register Now
ASP replaces the merge fields with the real UTM values
These are passed into your third-party reg platform

✅ If everything is set up correctly, these values will be recorded in Google Analytics 4, and potentially in your reg platform too.

Step 4: Review Your Campaign Performance in GA4

Once people start clicking your links, you can track how each campaign performs in Google Analytics 4.

How to find UTM data in GA4:

Go to:

Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition
Change the first column (dimension) by clicking the dropdown.
Select:
- Session campaign
- Or Session source, Session medium for more detailed views

These fields match your UTM codes exactly, so you'll see:

Which campaign sent traffic
What medium was used
Which platform it came from

💡 Final Tips

Make sure your UTM links are clean — no spaces, no duplicate parameters.
Use consistent naming for campaigns (e.g. earlybird2025, not Early Bird).
Double check that your Register buttons on the ASP site use [utm_*] merge tags if you're using a third-party reg platform.

⚠️ Disclaimer: Things That May Stop Your UTM Data from Reaching GA4

While UTM tracking is a powerful tool, there are several common issues that can prevent your campaign data from being recorded properly in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — especially when using third-party registration platforms.

Here are some things to watch out for:

Potential Issue	What Can Go Wrong
Google Tag Manager (GTM) misconfigured	If Consent Mode v2 is not correctly set up or GTM is not installed properly on your reg platform, GA4 may not track user sessions or conversions.
Cookie consent banners not aligned	If cookie consent is not implemented or synchronised correctly on both your website and your registration platform, GA4 may be blocked from firing.
3rd party reg platform quirks	Some registration platforms strip UTM parameters, don’t support query strings, or overwrite referrer data, causing attribution to break.
Inconsistent UTM usage	If UTM fields are missing or used inconsistently across campaigns, reporting in GA4 will be incomplete or unclear.
Cross-domain tracking not configured	Without proper setup, GA4 may treat sessions on your site and your reg form as separate users, leading to lost attribution.

🧠 Tip: Always test your UTM links end-to-end before launching a campaign. Use GA4’s Realtime and DebugView reports to verify that tracking works across both your website and the reg form.

✅ Need Help? We're Here for You

Getting UTM tracking set up correctly is straightforward when your registration form is hosted on your own website — but we know it gets more complicated when you're working with third-party platforms.

If you’re unsure whether your setup is passing data correctly into Google Analytics 4, or you just want someone to double-check it for you, we’re here to help.

👉 Visit our Optimisation Services page to see how we can support you with UTM tracking, GA4, Google Tag Manager, and campaign reporting.

Or feel free to speak to your Account Manager — we can review your setup, test your links, and help make sure you're getting the most out of your marketing campaigns.