How to Build Campaign Links That Actually Track Properly

Which UTM tags do I actually need?

You don’t need all of them. But you do need these three to keep your attribution from falling apart:

The essentials

utm_source — where is this traffic coming from? (YouTube, newsletter, Instagram)
utm_medium — what kind of channel is it? (cpc, email, social, referral)
utm_campaign — what's the name of this campaign?

Should I use one link for the whole campaign, or a different link for each ad?

One link per campaign tells you something happened. One link per variant tells you why. Here’s what you lose when you reuse the same link across everything:

Variant A (image) vs Variant B (video) — which actually got the click?
Feed placement vs Stories placement — where are people actually seeing this?
Audience 1 vs Audience 2 — which group cared more?

Build a separate tracked link for each variant before you launch →

Can I automate this so I’m not doing it manually every time?

Yes. HikrLink’s API can create tracked links on the fly with the right UTM structure already baked in. Your campaign tools can mint a unique short URL for every ad variant at launch time, no manual copying and pasting required.

And because tracking runs server-side through Hikr, the attribution actually survives the journey instead of getting lost in browser limbo.

What usually breaks campaign attribution?

Three things, over and over again:

Missing utm_source or utm_medium — without these, your analytics tool just shrugs and files the traffic under 'Direct.' Useless.
Inconsistent naming — google_ads vs Google Ads vs google-ads are three different things to your reports. Pick one format and stick to it.
Reusing the same link for everything — you see total clicks but can't compare anything.

Frequently asked questions

Which UTM fields are required?

utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign are the non-negotiables. utm_content, utm_term, and utm_id are helpful add-ons when you want more detail.

Should I use one link per campaign or one link per ad variant?

One link per variant. If you lump everything under one link, you lose the ability to see which creative, placement, or audience actually worked.

Can campaign tools create tracked links automatically?

Yes. HikrLink's API handles programmatic link creation so your tools can generate tracked short URLs with proper UTMs at launch time, no manual setup needed.

Pricing Compare Starter, Pro, and Business plans

Technical FAQ Analytics, QR codes, UTM tracking, attribution

Technical FAQAnalytics, QR codes, UTM tracking, attribution

HikrLink vs Linktree vs BitlyPricing and feature comparison

YouTube Link TrackingTrack clicks from YouTube descriptions

How to build campaign links that actually track properly