Google Analytics Audit Test #

107

UTMs on Internal Links

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding where your traffic is coming from and assigning appropriate credit.

Industries:

All

Checks For:

Accuracy

How accurate is your recent data?

Insight Category:

Attribution

Can you tell which marketing efforts are working?

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Background

A GA4 audit is essential for uncovering missing insights—key data points that organizations don't yet know and can act upon. A well-done audit evaluates both behavioral tracking and traffic attribution, ensuring each is accurate and useful. It also assesses whether the data collected truly supports business decisions and reporting.

Test Detail

This test checks whether UTM parameters are being used on internal links—a common mistake that causes Google Analytics to reset session attribution mid-visit.

UTM parameters are intended only for external marketing links.

If they’re used inside your own site (e.g., on CTAs, banners, or navigation), they override the original traffic source and cause:

  • Broken multi-step funnel tracking
  • Inflated session counts
  • Incorrect attribution of conversions and revenue
  • Misleading performance reporting

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How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In Google Analytics > Explore, create a Free-form report with:
    • Dimensions: Session source / medium, Landing page + query string
    • Metric: Sessions
    • Filter for landing pages that include UTM parameters like utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign
    • Check if users are "landing" on internal pages (e.g., /checkout, /cart, /signup) with UTM tags attached.
  • Use a site crawling tool (e.g., Screaming Frog) to find internal links that have UTM parameters

Advanced QA

  • Use BigQuery to identify sessions where the first page path is an internal link with UTMs using this query:
    SELECT landing_page, COUNT(*) as sessions
    FROM `your_dataset.sessions_*`
    WHERE landing_page LIKE '%utm_%'
    GROUP BY landing_page
    ORDER BY sessions DESC
  • If users are arriving mid-site with UTMs, session splitting is likely happening.

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How To Fix

  • Remove UTM parameters from internal links across your site:
    • Navigation, CTA buttons, banners, footer links, product tiles
  • If you need to track internal campaign performance, use custom parameters (e.g., int_campaign=homepage_banner) or custom events instead
  • Educate content and marketing teams: UTMs = external use only
  • Consider implementing a rule in your CMS or GTM that strips UTM parameters from internal navigation clicks automatically
  • Hire a pro to audit and clean up UTM usage across your site—so your attribution makes sense again.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

Every Google Analytics audit should result in a plan for more insights.

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An insight is:

  • something you don't know
  • and can act on to improve performance

The Goal

Identify and remove insight blockers. Don't get tempted to track things you can't act on!

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