UTM-marking: so that the traffic source is not lost
The UTM markup setting is a single link naming scheme and reference to values that everyone who makes those links adheres to. We reduce multiple writings of the same channel to a single value, mark up mailings, social networks and offline, remove labels from internal links and bring the source to a hidden form field. The term is from two to eight working days: most of the time is not consumed by the scheme, but by the re-marking of what has already been done. We analyze the current report by sources for free.
one writing per channel, marked mailings and offline, the source reaches the application
after a free audit
Price
30
Guarantee
days after project sign-off
one writing per channel, marked mailings and offline, the source reaches the application
What's out
2-8
Term
working days, depends on the number of channels
free of charge, 1-3 working days, the document remains with you
Analysis of the report by sources
remotely; rights to edit campaigns, letters and tags are required
Format
spellings of the same source - exactly one, internal links with labels - zero
How we check ourselves
on six of the 33 verified sites there are no counters at all - there is no point in marking them there yet
From our measurement 07/31/2026
Who it's for
Situations where this service delivers results
Scenario 1 of 5
There are several channels, and it is impossible to read the report by sources
An ad, a newsletter, a blogger mention, a link in a profile description — and twenty lines in a report where half mean the same thing. As long as the source is written as facebook, then fb, then facebook.com, comparing the channels with each other is fiction. The scheme removes exactly that: after it, a line in the report means exactly one channel.
We'll review your situation in a free audit
Scenario 2 of 5
Applications are sent, and in the CRM opposite them - a direct measure
The person saw the ad on Monday, returned on Friday for the company name and left the number. Without saving the source of the first visit, the manager sees the direct event and concludes that the ad is not working. We write down the source and transfer it together with the application in a hidden field of the form.
Scenario 3 of 5
Links are made by several people and each in their own way
Marketer, advertising contractor, person who runs social networks. Without a guide, everyone reinvents the name of the campaign, and after three months, no one remembers what "akciya2" means. The value guide and instruction page cost one business day and continue to work without us.
Scenario 4 of 5
Available offline: business cards, catalogs, QR codes on packaging
All of these come to the site as direct measures and are mixed in with those who simply typed in the address manually. A marked short link or QR code with a campaign label gives at least some figures on printed materials - otherwise nothing is known about them.
Scenario 5 of 5
You are changing an advertising contractor and want to honestly compare before and after
The comparison makes sense only when both periods are labeled the same. The scheme should be set before changing the contractor, and not after: it will not correct the already collected data retrospectively.
What's included
Complete list of work and what you get as a result
Naming scheme for five parameters — source, channel, campaign, content, key: the line in the report is read without decryption
Reference of allowed values in the table with examples - new references are made to it, not from the head
Retargeting of active advertising campaigns with a list of matches: old periods in reports remain readable
Marking of links in newsletters, messengers and social network profiles - these channels cease to fall into direct measures
Markup of QR codes and links from printed materials, a separate campaign for each medium
Untagging internal site links - they break the session and create sources in an empty place
Coordination of manual labels with automatic marking of offices so that one transition is not counted twice
Checking redirects for loss of parameters: labels disappear most often on redirects
Saving the source of the first visit and passing it to a hidden form field - the application comes with a channel
Checking that the marked addresses did not get into the sitemap and internal links
How-to page for your team: How to make a new schematic link
Reconciliation a week after implementation - in the first week, two or three links made in the old way always pop up
When this service isn't right
What's not included — so there are no surprises at delivery
Conducting advertising campaigns
Correction of historical data - previous periods remain as they were
Implementation of CRM
Writing the texts of newsletters and publications
Link shortening as a separate service
Free analysis of the report by traffic sources
Markup is either a system or a dump. The analysis shows how many different writings of the same channel live in your reports and what can be salvaged from it.
What we measure
How many variants of writing one sourceClassic: facebook, Facebook, fb, facebook.com — four lines in the report instead of one. Each view collects its share of traffic, and no number is true.
Are all paid channels marked?Unmarked traffic from advertising falls into the general pile of conversions, and it becomes impossible to evaluate the channel.
Internal traffic is not markedLabels on links within the site terminate the session and create new sources on empty space. The mistake is common and very harmful.
Status of automatic markup in advertising officesIt can conflict with manual tags. Let's see what is enabled and whether it is duplicated.
Newsletters, messengers and offlineLinks in letters, in social network profiles and in QR codes on printed materials must also be marked - otherwise they go as direct measures.
Do the labels reach the form?If the source is not saved until the moment of application, it will not be possible to connect the application with the channel - and no analytics will save it.
What you get
A list of spellings found and how they corrupt reports.
A ready naming scheme for your channels.
A list of places where markings are missing or where they are redundant.
Conversation for 30 minutes on the document.
Timeline: 1-3 working days
Why is it free
Because the analysis takes a day or two, and the result almost always explains why the numbers for the channels never converged.
What's next
We give an estimate for the re-marking of channels, implementation of the scheme and preservation of the source to form.
Short form: your contact and site URL
Contract, act and 30-day warranty
Every project gets a written contract: scope, deadlines, amount, acceptance procedure. After delivery — act and invoice, then 30 calendar days of warranty.
Sole proprietor & bank transfer
The contractor is a registered sole proprietor. Payment by invoice with closing documents.
Rights & access — yours
Code, design and materials transfer to you after full payment. Domain, hosting, repository and analytics are registered to you.
Client portal instead of email chains
During the project you get access to a portal: contracts, invoices, acts and project status in one place.
European clients
Among our work — projects for Norway, Bulgaria, Moldova and Spain.
Verifiable numbers
Every case in the portfolio comes with a link to a live site and a technical measurement.
Audit first, then pricing
There is no price list on the site intentionally: the scope of the same work differs multiples between clients.
We say "no" when unsure
If the task isn't ours or the deadline is unrealistic — we tell you upfront.
What affects the price
Why two seemingly identical tasks are priced differently
Number of channelsOne advertising cabinet and one mailing — several hours of work. Advertising in two systems, three mailing services, affiliate links and offline — this is a separate day for the entry point inventory itself.
How many old links to relabelActive ads, letter templates, links in profile descriptions, QR codes on already printed materials. We do not reissue the printed material: a short link is made under it, which leads to the marked address.
Status of automatic marking in officesIf the cabinets add parameters themselves, first you need to understand what conflicts with what and where the transition is counted twice. The step is short, but you can't skip it - otherwise the manual labels will simply get lost under the automatic ones.
Saving source to formThe most technical part. On a ready-made CMS with a tag manager, it is a few hours. On a self-written site with a non-standard form, it takes longer: the hidden field must also be brought to the CRM and made sure that it is accepted there.
Who will support the schemeIf one person is making the link, the instructions will suffice. If there are five of them and external contractors are among them, an access guide and short training are required, and this is additional time.
Access levelWithout rights to edit campaigns and letters, the work turns into correspondence: we write as it should be, someone from your side enters and makes a mistake in the register. It takes longer than doing it yourself.
Process steps
Transparent stages with approval at every step
Total duration:2–8 days
1
Channel inventory and report analysis
1-3 working days
We write out all entry points, including offline ones, and look at the current report by source: how many entries live on one channel, what is not marked at all, where labels stand where they should not be. This is a free part.
2
Naming scheme and meaning guide
1 working day
We fix what exactly we write in each of the five parameters, and create a table of allowed values with examples. The rule is one and strict: only lowercase letters and only from the list.
3
Reassignment of channels
1-3 working days
Announcements, letter templates, profiles, affiliate links, QR codes. We don't throw away the old values — the list of correspondences remains so that last year's report can be read next to the new one.
4
Alignment with automatic markup and cleanup of internal links
1 working day
We see what the offices themselves add, we remove labels from internal transitions and from the site map, we go through redirection chains and check whether the parameters reach the final address.
5
Save the source to the application
1-2 working days
We record the source of the first visit, bring it to the hidden field of the form and check with a test application that it reached the CRM in a readable form, and not as an empty line.
6
Instruction, transmission, reconciliation
1 working day
An instruction page for those making links and a second look at the report a week after the scheme is launched: the first days almost always bring links made from memory.
Did not find your case?
Describe how it works on your side — we will tell you whether “UTM marking” fits and what it means in your situation. No brief and no call: one question, one answer.
Technologies & integrations
What we build on and what it connects to
Stack
Tags utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term — they are read by any analytics; border: lie openly in the address and are easily copied
GA4 as a receiver: the source report is built from these parameters; the limit is a trend, not a cash register
Google Tag Manager - the source is recorded and inserted into the form without editing the code; limit: container block extensions
Automatic markup of Google Ads - removes manual work in its ecosystem; limit: does not work beyond it
Hidden form fields are the only way to convey the source to CRM; limit: field must be accepted by CRM itself
Value directory in a regular table, deliberately without a separate service: a tool that no one enters, does not hold diagrams
Short link or QR code to print; limit: service reduction is another point of failure
Integrations
GA4
Google Tag Manager
Google Ads
Meta Ads
mailing services
CRM
feedback forms
Manual labels versus automatic labeling of advertising cabinets
How this option differs from the alternative
Automatic marking of officesOur approach
Where does he work?only within its ecosystem — its own advertising in its reportsanywhere: advertising, newsletters, messengers, affiliate links, QR codes on print
How to read a row in a reporta click ID that doesn't mean anything without an accountas you agreed: the name of the channel and the campaign in words
Summary of several systems in one tableeach system calculates in its own way, the amounts between offices do not matchcommon scheme — channels are compared with each other
Where does it break?on redirects and conflict with manual labels when both are enabledon a person: one capital letter — and a new line in the report; therefore a guide is needed
What is required from the teamturned on and forgotdiscipline: each new link is made according to the scheme
Cases
Tasks and results in numbers — all metrics measured by us
a shop of professional tools, a catalog of more than 6,000 items — our external technical dimension
Task
Understand why paid traffic looks different in the reports than in the advertising cabinet.
Solution
We passed the entry points from the root of the domain, measured server responses, listed the site map, collected a list of counters in the markup.
Result
GA4 and Google Ads tag are connected - data receiver is present. But the root of the domain over HTTPS gives a 301 to the HTTP version of the language branch with a valid certificate: ads leading to a bare domain lead a person to an unsecured connection. Referrer from HTTPS to HTTP is not transmitted by the browser, so anything unmarked at such an entry point inevitably becomes a direct entry. The first response is 671.2 ms with 407.8 KB of markup. By the way: the site map is generated in 34.2 seconds and contains 25,537 entries for 6,857 unique addresses — each product is on average 3.9 times. Measured on 07/31/2026.
the online store of natural cosmetics is our external technical dimension
Task
Check if marked traffic has a place to land before marking it.
Solution
We read the marking of the main one: which meters are connected, which identifiers are live, what about the site map.
Result
The advertising part is alive: the Meta Pixel and the Google Ads tag are in place. There is no data receiver - Universal Analytics remains in the markup, disabled by Google on July 1, 2023, and there is no GA4 (G-…) identifier at all. That is, there would be no place to land the label: the report according to the sources on this site has not existed for three years. At the same time, the page itself is the fastest among those measured — 126.3 ms to the first byte with 196.3 KB of markup. Indirectly found 271 entries in the site map for 116 unique addresses. Measured on 07/31/2026.
the plastic surgery clinic is our external technical dimension
Task
Find out why the analytics is empty, although there are tags in the site code.
Solution
We analyzed the tag manager's inline snippet line by line and looked at the consent mode settings.
Result
The snippet is self-blocking: the variable GTM_ID = 'G-XCE3BLJBSP', and the exit condition checks that GTM_ID is equal to this same value — return fires every time, the container doesn't load at all. Plus the confused IDs: G-… is GA4, not a container. The v2 consent mode is in the default denied state. The label here reaches the page — and is not recorded anywhere. The rest of the site is done neatly: the bot is given pre-rendered HTML of 126 KB in 145 ms, ten types of JSON-LD. Measured on 07/31/2026.
What we need from you
We can't start without this — best to prepare in advance
1A list of all traffic entry points, including offline ones, is easier for you to collect than for us to guess.
2Editing rights in advertising offices and mailing services: without them, relabeling turns into correspondence.
3Access to the site or to the tag manager - to save the source and hidden form field.
4Names of people creating links: marketer, contractor, social media person. The instruction is written under them.
5List of active printed materials with links and QR codes, including those already in circulation.
6Access to CRM or at least an answer, in which field you can put the source of the request.
If something is missing — let us know, we'll help you gather it or do it as a separate task.
FAQ
Most frequently asked questions — with concrete answers
Why are facebook and Facebook different sources in the report?
Because the label values are case-sensitive, and the system sees two different lines. Add here fb, facebook.com and facebook_ads — and instead of one channel you have five lines, each with its share of traffic. The simplest rule that saves from this forever: only lowercase letters and only from your dictionary of meanings.
Is it possible to label links within the site?
No, and this is a mistake that is made all the time. A label on an internal link terminates the current session and starts a new one with a new source. As a result, you see non-existent campaigns, and the real source of conversion is lost. For internal transitions, there are other ways of measuring, and we put them instead of labels.
Advertising offices are marked by themselves. Why still manual labels?
Automatic markup works well within its ecosystem and poorly — when you need to combine several systems into one table. We usually leave the automatic one where it already is and add manual labels for everything else: newsletters, social networks, affiliate links, offline. The main thing is that they do not conflict with each other, and this is checked during implementation, not afterwards.
What to do with references in printed materials?
Mark them too: a short link or a QR code with a campaign label, separate for each medium. Otherwise, all offline comes as direct measures and mixes with those who just typed in the address manually. This is one of the few ways to see the effect of printing at least some numbers.
Do tags spoil the page address for search?
Marked addresses should not be included in the index and usually are not: search engines recognize these parameters and reduce the page to canonical. The risk appears when the marked link is placed inside the site or it gets into the sitemap - that's why we separately check that it doesn't exist.
How to save the source, if a person came today, and applied a week later?
Record the source of the first visit and submit it together with the application in the hidden field of the form. Without it, you will see a direct event in CRM and conclude that the ad is not working. It's a small piece of technical work that changes the quality of the data more than any dashboard.
A person copied the highlighted link and threw it into the chat - what will happen to the report?
Anyone who follows this link will be enrolled in the same campaign, even though they did not receive the email. It is not completely treated - the parameters lie openly in the address. What we do: for mailings, we put labels on the links inside the letter, for public places we take a separate value of the channel, and we manually check sharp spikes in one campaign. It seems like a small thing until the day when a link from a letter gets into a big chat.
Is it possible to use a link shortener instead of tags?
A shortener is a wrapper over an address, not a markup replacement. It counts clicks for itself, but does not send anything to your source report, unless there is already a marked address under it. For printing, the binding is working: a short view on the outside, a full label on the inside. For digital channels, this is an extra link and another point of failure.
How long does it take and what does the scope of work depend on?
Two to eight working days. The scheme and the guide are one day, the rest of the time is spent on re-marking what has already been done: announcements, letter templates, profile descriptions, QR codes on printed matter. The volume is visible only after analyzing the current report by sources, so we first do it for free, and we give an estimate later - when it is clear exactly how many links will have to be redone.
Submit a screenshot of your traffic source report - that's enough to get you started.
Let's see how many writings live on one channel and what can be deduced from it. The answer is a list of what was found and a ready-made naming scheme for your channels. Analysis is free.
From measured casesGA4 and Google Ads tag are connected - data receiver is present
There is no price list on the site on purpose: the same work differs several times over between two clients, and a “from” figure explains nothing in that case. First a free audit — we count your pages, duplicates and speed — then we name the sum and the deadline and fix both in the contract.