A campaign naming template you can actually keep using.

A naming convention only works if the next person can follow it. Start with a small set of rules, keep them beside your campaign worksheet and assign one person to check new links before launch. The downloadable worksheet is a planning aid; it does not automatically create or validate tracking links.

Choose a consistent set of fields

For manually tagged links, record utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign. Source identifies where the traffic came from, medium describes the channel and campaign groups the activity. Use utm_content when you need to distinguish creative variations. Keep spelling and letter case consistent because differently capitalised values can be reported separately.

Write the rules before the first link

For this worksheet, use lowercase values with underscores between words. Choose campaign names that describe the initiative rather than an internal nickname. Keep an approved list of channel values with examples. If your business already has reporting conventions, follow those instead of introducing a second system.

Work through an example

For a fictional autumn email campaign, the worksheet uses newsletter as the source, email as the medium and autumn_consultation as the campaign. The content value intro_button distinguishes the first call to action. These are illustrative values, not results from a client campaign. Replace the sample destination before creating a real link.

Check how the platform handles tagging

Do not add parameters blindly to every channel. Connected ad platforms may use automatic tagging, and your analytics configuration affects how those values are interpreted. Confirm the setup with the person responsible for reporting. Use the official campaign URL builder for supported manual links, then open the finished URL to check the destination.

Keep a record the team can use

Duplicate the sample row for each link. Record the destination, naming fields, owner and launch date. Have another person check the final link against the worksheet. Never put names, email addresses, phone numbers or other personal information into UTM values.

When reviewing a report, compare the campaign values with the worksheet before concluding that a channel has disappeared or underperformed. Inconsistent naming can split one initiative across several rows. Use the same convention for the next campaign and improve it only when the team has a reason to change.