Tag the campaign, then shorten it in the same form
Six labelled fields instead of a hand-written query string, synced both ways with the destination URL. The link you share is short and clean; the tagging rides underneath it.
On every plan, including Free · No credit card required
Quick answer
What is a UTM builder?
A UTM builder is a form that writes campaign parameters into a URL so analytics can tell one channel from another. ClikSo's has six fields — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content and a bare ref — kept in two-way sync with the destination URL's query string, and shortens the tagged link in the same form.
- Fields — the five UTM parameters plus a bare ref
- 6Fields — the five UTM parameters plus a bare ref
- Edit a field or edit the URL — both sides stay in sync
- Two-wayEdit a field or edit the URL — both sides stay in sync
- Ampersands, question marks or percent-encoding you type yourself
- 0Ampersands, question marks or percent-encoding you type yourself
- On every ClikSo plan — Bitly holds UTM building behind a paid tier
- FreeOn every ClikSo plan — Bitly holds UTM building behind a paid tier
- Six fields: the five UTM parameters plus a Referral field that writes a bare ref parameter
- Two-way synced — paste a tagged URL and the fields fill in; edit a field and the URL updates
- The short link you share stays clean, so a tagged URL can go on a poster or in an SMS
- No saved templates or presets — parameters are set per link
- On every plan, including Free — Bitly holds UTM building behind a paid tier
How to create a UTM link
Four steps on one form, with no copying between two tools.
Paste the destination URL
The page you actually want people to land on. It can already carry query parameters of its own — ordinary ones are left alone, and any utm_ parameters already in it are read straight into the builder.
Turn on UTM Parameters and fill in the six fields
Source, Medium, Campaign, Term, Content and Referral. The builder assembles the query string and encodes the values, so you never type a question mark or an ampersand yourself.
Edit either side — they stay in sync
The fields and the destination URL’s query string are synced both ways. Paste a URL somebody else tagged and the six fields fill in; change a field and the URL updates. There is no “apply” step to forget.
Shorten it, and share the short link
The link you hand out is a clean short URL on your own domain, while the tagged URL rides underneath it. The visitor lands on the tagged page, so the analytics you run on that page attribute the visit to the campaign.
Six fields, one URL
Each field writes one key and one value. Leave a field empty and it is not written at all.
Destination URL, tagged
example.com/spring-2026?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring-launch&utm_content=header-cta&ref=partner-42
What each UTM parameter is for
The convention is older than most analytics products and has not changed. Three of the five do nearly all the work.
| Parameter | What it answers | Example value | Do you need it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| utm_source | Which specific site or list sent the visit | newsletter, linkedin, partner-blog | Almost always |
| utm_medium | What kind of channel it was | email, cpc, social, qr | Almost always |
| utm_campaign | Which push or promotion this belongs to | spring-launch, black-friday | Almost always |
| utm_term | Which paid keyword triggered the ad | url+shortener | Paid search only |
| utm_content | Which of several links in the same place was clicked | header-cta, footer-link, creative-b | When one placement has more than one link |
Who tags links, and why
Every one of these is a case where “traffic went up” is not a useful enough answer.
Email and newsletters
Tag every send with the same utm_source and utm_medium so campaigns aggregate instead of scattering, and use utm_content to tell the header link apart from the footer link in the same email.
Paid social and display
One utm_campaign across a flight, utm_source per network and utm_content per creative. That is the difference between knowing a campaign worked and knowing which ad in it did.
Creators, partners and affiliates
Give each partner their own utm_source, and the Referral field for a bare ref parameter if your destination already expects one. They get a short branded link; you get attribution that does not depend on them doing anything.
QR codes, posters and packaging
A tagged URL is far too long to print. Tag the destination, shorten it, and put the short link in the QR code — the parameters still arrive at the page, without a 180-character URL on the artwork.
Agencies reporting per client
A naming convention only works if it is easy to follow. Six labelled fields on the create-link form make the convention the path of least resistance, rather than something to police in a spreadsheet.
Fixing a tag after the link is out
The parameters live on the destination URL, and the destination stays editable after the link is shared. A typo in utm_campaign is a correction rather than a re-send — the short link people already have does not change.
UTM builders compared
One row goes against us: Bitly and Dub.co both ship saved UTM presets and we do not. Bitly is also the only one of the four that charges for UTM building at all.
| Capability | ClikSo | Bitly | Dub.co | Google Campaign URL Builder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Builds all five UTM parameters | ||||
| Shortens the tagged link in the same step | Only via a connected Bitly account | |||
| Stores and reports on the links you tag | ||||
| Saved UTM templates or presets | ||||
| Included on the free plan | ||||
| Cheapest plan that includes it | Free | $10/mo | Free | Free |
Competitor details taken from each provider's own published pricing and documentation, last verified 16 September 2026. Google's Campaign URL Builder assembles the URL entirely in your browser and never sends it to Google; its shorten button works only by connecting a Bitly account. Bitly's own pricing table and its blog disagree on whether UTM building starts at Core or Growth — the $10/mo figure follows the pricing table.
Good to know
- There are no saved UTM templates or presets. Every link is tagged from the six fields, so a naming convention lives in your head or your documentation, not in the product. Bitly and Dub.co both offer saved presets and ClikSo does not.
- The parameters are written onto the destination URL, not onto the short link. The visitor lands on the tagged page, and it is the analytics running on that page that read the parameters.
- The Referral field writes a bare ref parameter, not utm_ref. It is not part of the UTM convention at all — it is there for destinations that already expect a ref, and a destination that does not will simply ignore it.
- The six fields are fixed. You cannot add a custom parameter of your own through the builder, though anything you type directly into the destination URL is left alone and carried through.
- There is no bulk way to tag a set of links at once. The builder is a per-link form, and ClikSo’s bulk actions cover delete, archive and move-to-folder only.
UTM builder by plan
The full builder is on every plan, including Free — the plan sets how many links you can create each month, not which fields you get. Every click on a tagged link is still counted in click analytics, which is also on every plan.
Frequently asked questions
A UTM code is a set of query parameters added to the end of a URL to tell analytics where a visit came from. There are five: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term and utm_content. They change nothing about the page — they are read by the analytics on the destination and then ignored.
Start from the page you want people to land on, then add the parameters you need to its query string. In ClikSo you paste the destination into the create-link form, switch on UTM Parameters, and fill in the labelled fields — the query string is assembled and encoded for you, and the link is shortened in the same step.
utm_term records the keyword you paid for, and comes from paid search — it is the search term that triggered the ad. utm_content tells two links in the same placement apart: the header banner versus the footer link, or version A of a creative versus version B. If you are not running keyword-bought ads, utm_term is usually the one to leave empty.
No. utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign are the three that most reporting is built on, and many teams use only those. utm_term matters for paid search, and utm_content matters when several links in one place point at the same page. An empty field is simply left out of the URL.
They do not carry a ranking penalty. The one thing worth knowing is that a tagged URL is a distinct URL for the same page, so a search engine can index it unless the page declares a canonical URL — which most content platforms do automatically. Tagged links are also usually shared privately in campaigns rather than linked publicly, so they rarely get crawled at all.
Yes, and shortening is what makes it practical. Encode the short link in the QR code, keep the tagged URL as the destination, and the parameters arrive at the page when the code is scanned. Encoding a fully tagged URL directly would make the QR code far denser and harder to scan from a distance.
Any of them, including Free, with no card required. All six fields and the two-way sync are the same on every plan — what changes with the plan is how many links you can create each month, from 50 on Free up to 10,000 on Business. Bitly, by contrast, does not include UTM building on its free plan.
Google’s tool assembles the tagged URL in your browser and nothing else — it never sends the URL to Google, does not store it, and can only shorten it by handing it to a Bitly account you have connected. ClikSo builds the same parameters, keeps them synced with the URL if either side changes, shortens the link on your own domain, and keeps every link you have tagged in one place.
Related features
Or see everything in the full feature list.
Click analytics
Country, city, device, browser, OS and referrer for every click — with fifteen filters and no double counting.
On every plan, including FreeA/B testing
Split traffic across several destinations by weight, and see which one earns the clicks.
Pro and aboveDynamic QR codes
Branded QR codes you can re-point after printing — your colours, your logo, up to 4K in PNG, SVG or PDF.
On every plan, including FreeLast reviewed 16 September 2026 against the live product. Competitor details come from each provider's own published pricing. See the full feature list or ClikSo vs Bitly.
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