UTM Naming Convention Sheet

Attribution dies by a thousand inconsistencies. “Facebook” here, “fb” there, and six months later nobody can say which channel actually produces customers. This one-page convention ends that: three rules, allowed values, and worked examples for every common channel. Print it, share it with anyone who makes links, never argue about it again.

QUIDORT MARKETING. UTM NAMING CONVENTION (v1)
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THE THREE RULES
1. lowercase everything, hyphens for spaces. "Facebook", "facebook" and
   "FB" report as three different sources forever. Pick one spelling; never
   deviate.
2. Tag every link you distribute. Ads, emails, social posts, QR codes,
   directories. Untagged links become "direct traffic" and teach you nothing.
3. Source answers WHERE, medium answers WHAT KIND, campaign answers WHICH PUSH.

ALLOWED VALUES
utm_source   google | facebook | instagram | linkedin | newsletter | yelp |
             gbp | partner-<name> | qr
utm_medium   cpc (paid clicks) | email | social | referral | print | organic-social
utm_campaign <initiative>-<yyyymm>   e.g. spring-sale-202603, launch-202608
utm_term     (paid search only) the keyword or ad-group name
utm_content  (optional) which variant: headline-a, button-top, van-door

WORKED EXAMPLES
Google Ads:   ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=core-offer-202608
Newsletter:   ?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=august-tips-202608
Truck QR:     ?utm_source=qr&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=vehicle-wrap-202601
GBP profile:  ?utm_source=gbp&utm_medium=organic-social&utm_campaign=profile-evergreen

TWO TRAPS
- Google Ads adds gclid automatically; you still add UTMs. gclid is for
  machines, UTMs are for your reports.
- Never put private data in UTMs. They're visible in the URL, forever.