Guide
What are UTM parameters?
UTM parameters are five standardized query-string tags — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, and utm_content — that marketers append to links to measure where traffic comes from. They were invented by Urchin (acquired by Google in 2005, which is where the name comes from) and are read by Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and every major analytics tool. The destination page works identically with or without them.
Try the cleaner
Or prepend prunethe.link/<your-link>
What each UTM parameter means
utm_source names the referring platform (newsletter, twitter, google). utm_medium names the type of channel (email, cpc, social). utm_campaign names the specific marketing push (spring-sale, launch). utm_term is used for paid search keywords. utm_content distinguishes variants in A/B tests. utm_id is a newer addition — a single campaign ID used by Google Analytics 4.
Why they show up on links sent to you
If a friend forwards an email newsletter link or shares a link from an ad, the UTMs travel with the URL. The recipient's click then gets counted in the sender's campaign analytics — even though the recipient has nothing to do with the campaign. It's harmless but messy, and in aggregate it pollutes the sender's reporting with unrelated traffic.
Should you strip UTMs?
If you're sharing a link with a friend, yes — keep their analytics clean and don't leak the campaign attribution. If you're a marketer clicking your own links, keep the UTMs so the click gets counted. PruneTheLink strips all standard UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content, utm_id) from every domain.
Frequently asked questions
- Does removing UTMs break anything?
- No. UTM parameters are purely analytics metadata. The destination page loads identically without them.
- What's the difference between UTM and fbclid / gclid?
- UTMs are human-readable and standardized across analytics tools. fbclid (Facebook) and gclid (Google Ads) are opaque per-click identifiers used for ad-network-specific attribution and, in the case of fbclid, cross-site behavioral tracking.
- Do UTMs identify me personally?
- UTMs themselves don't identify you — they only identify the campaign. But combined with other signals (IP, cookies, Meta Pixel, Google Analytics client ID), UTMs feed into your behavioral profile on the destination site.