Every link signed.

Why tag your links

UTM tags are parameters at the end of a link that tell analytics systems where a visitor came from: which ad campaign, newsletter, post or QR code on a flyer. It looks like this: the page address gets ?utm_source=vk&utm_medium=social and a few more parameters added to it. The person sees an ordinary page, while Yandex Metrica records the source of the visit - and, if goals are set up, the leads that came from it.

Metrica recognises visits from search engines and ordinary websites on its own, but for many other channels tags are essential. The Metrica help pages call the utm_source parameter mandatory for social networks and ad systems other than Yandex Direct, and for QR codes, messengers, social networks and email newsletters utm_medium is required as well. Without tags these visits cannot be split by channel, and any discussion of what works turns into a clash of opinions.

What UTM tags consist of

There are five standard parameters. The first three are always included; the last two are used as needed:

• utm_source - the source: vk, telegram, yandex, the name of a platform or newsletter.
• utm_medium - the channel type: cpc for paid ads, social, email, messenger, qr.
• utm_campaign - the name of the campaign or promotion.
• utm_content - a specific ad, banner, button or post, so you can compare variants within a campaign.
• utm_term - a keyword or targeting condition.

The first parameter goes after a question mark, the rest are joined with an ampersand. An anchor such as #form, if you need one, goes at the very end. For the channel, the Metrica help pages recommend specific values: qr or qrcode for QR codes, messenger for messengers, email for newsletters, social for social networks. For VK, vk or vkontakte work as the source; for Telegram, telegram or tg. Two more rules from the help pages: values are case-sensitive, and Metrica reads the tag only from the first pageview of a visit.

Rules that keep reports clean

Tags break not because they are complicated but because of inconsistency. One employee writes VK, another vk, a third vkontakte, and instead of one source the report shows three rows. To avoid this:

• Keep a tag dictionary - a document with the allowed source and medium values and a naming scheme for campaigns, for example 2026-11_remont_akciya.
• Use lowercase Latin letters. For Metrica, "Vkontakte" and "vkontakte" are different values.
• No spaces. A space breaks the link - replace it with an underscore or a hyphen.
• One spelling for everything. If it is email, it is email everywhere, not email in one place and e-mail in another.
• Do not tag links within the site. A tag is only needed at the entry point. Internal links with tags create extra page addresses, and an address copied from the browser bar later credits other people's visits to the campaign.

You do not have to build links by hand: Yandex's Advertising Portal has a UTM tag generator. It offers channel templates and Direct substitutions, and its normalisation option converts values to lowercase and replaces spaces with underscores.

How to tag different channels

• Yandex Direct. Metrica recognises Direct visits even without utm_source: the yclid click ID is passed in the link. Tags are still useful - for your CRM and other analytics systems. In the ad link you can use dynamic parameters that Direct fills in itself: {campaign_id} - the campaign ID, {ad_id} - the ad, {keyword} - the keyword, {source_type} - search or networks, {device_type} - the device type.
• Other ad accounts. The principle is the same: a dedicated source for the platform, the placement type in medium, a clear campaign name. Each system has its own set of substitution parameters - look for it in the account's help pages.
• Social media. Tag the link in the profile description, in posts and in stories. To see which post led to a request, put it in utm_content.
• Newsletters. utm_medium=email, the campaign is a specific email, the content is a button or block within it.
• QR codes and offline. utm_medium=qr, and in content the placement: a flyer, a shop window, packaging. That way you see which medium people actually scan.
• Maps and bloggers. The website link in your Yandex Maps business listing is worth tagging too, and each blogger should get their own link - otherwise you cannot compare whose integration paid off.

Example: one promotion across several channels

Say that in November a company is promoting a discount on diagnostics and mentions it in four places. The campaign is the same everywhere - noyabr_diagnostika - while the source, channel and content change:

• A VK post: utm_source=vk, utm_medium=social, utm_content=post_12nov.
• A Telegram channel post: utm_source=telegram, utm_medium=messenger, utm_content=post_14nov.
• A newsletter: utm_source=newsletter, utm_medium=email, utm_content=knopka_verh - for the top button of the email, with a separate value for the bottom one.
• A flyer with a QR code: utm_source=listovka, utm_medium=qr, utm_content=ofis_lenina - a separate value for each location where flyers are handed out.

In the report this campaign can be broken down by source and content to compare which channel brought more leads for the same offer. If a month later it turns out that flyers are scanned at one office but not at another, you see it straight away, without surveying customers.

Where to see the results and how to carry the tag through to the lead

In Metrica, tag data is collected in the "UTM tags" report in the "Sources" group, and tags are also taken into account in "Sources, summary". Visits on their own say little: select your main goal in the report, and you will see which campaigns and posts bring leads and which bring only traffic. We explained how to choose and set up such goals in our article on goals in Yandex Metrica.

The next step is to pass the tag into the lead itself. A website form can pick up the utm values from the page address into hidden fields, and then the source is visible right in the deal record in your CRM. A month later you can count not only leads but also payments for each campaign - which is why passing tags is built into CRM implementation. Tags do not catch calls: a person sees the number and dials it. For calls you need call tracking, which swaps the number depending on the source. How to bring all of this together to measure social media results is described in our article on how many leads SMM brings.

In short

• UTM tags show which campaign, post or newsletter brought a visitor and a lead.
• The mandatory trio is source, medium and campaign; content and term add detail.
• Values are case-sensitive: lowercase Latin letters, no spaces, one shared dictionary.
• Links within the site are not tagged.
• Use dynamic parameters for Direct and a dedicated medium for QR codes and newsletters.
• Read the "UTM tags" report together with goals and pass tags into your CRM.

Frequently asked questions

Do UTM tags affect SEO?

An address with tags is formally a different address for the same page. Yandex says it may drop analytics parameters such as utm automatically if it considers them insignificant, and for other cases there is the Clean-param directive in robots.txt. The main thing is not to put tags on internal links.

Do I need to tag Yandex Direct ads?

Not for Metrica: Direct passes a click ID, and the source is identified without tags. But if leads go into a CRM or you use other analytics, tags with dynamic parameters give more detail - right down to the keyword.

Why did one campaign split into several rows in the report?

Almost always because of different spellings: letter case, an extra space, a hyphen instead of an underscore. Check the links against your tag dictionary and fix them at the source - past visits will stay in the report under the old values.

Can I shorten tagged links?

Yes: a short link or QR code leads to the full address, and the tags are kept if the service passes the address in full. Before printing a batch, follow the link yourself and make sure the visit shows up in Metrica with the right tags.