Build a tagged campaign link
A tagged link tells MarqIQ which campaign sent a visitor, before any guessing from the referring site is needed. Build every one in UTM Builder so the same channel is spelled the same way each time. If your reports already show one campaign under several names, read Why your traffic shows as Direct as well — its last cause covers the variant spellings and how to group them.
Before you start
Have the destination URL to hand. Agree with your team what the campaign is going to be called before you build the first link.
Build the link
Open UTM Builder in the sidebar.
Enter the page you want people to land on in Website URL.
Any parameters already on that URL are kept. MarqIQ adds `https://` for you if you leave it off.
Type a name in Label so your team recognises the link later.
Optional, and for your reference only. It never appears in the URL.
Fill in UTM Source.
Where the click comes from, as a place: `google`, `linkedin`, `newsletter`. Click one of the chips under the box to use a standard spelling.
Fill in UTM Medium.
How it reaches them, as a method: `cpc`, `email`, `social`. There are chips here too.
Fill in UTM Campaign.
The push this link belongs to, the same value on every link in it: `spring_sale`.
Add UTM Term if you bought a keyword.
Optional. It carries the keyword you paid for, such as `running+shoes`.
Add UTM Content if two links are otherwise identical.
Optional. It separates the image link and the text link in one email, or two headlines in one ad set.
Read the finished link under Generated URL.
It is rebuilt as you type. The page is coloured one way and each parameter name and value another, so you can check it at a glance.
Click Copy URL.
Click Save to history.
Saving needs Website URL, UTM Source, UTM Medium and UTM Campaign. Copying does not. Once saved, the button reads Saved to history.
Note
MarqIQ trims spaces and changes nothing else. `LinkedIn` and `linkedin` stay two different values, and your reports show them as two channels.
What to put in each parameter
| Channel | Source | Medium | Campaign | Content |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | cpc | spring_sale | headline_a | |
| LinkedIn paid | cpc | spring_sale | carousel | |
| Organic social post | social | spring_sale | founder_post | |
| Your newsletter | newsletter | spring_sale | top_button | |
| A partner's site | partner_name | referral | spring_sale | |
| A printed QR code | trade_show_name | offline | spring_sale |
Source is a place. Medium is a method. Campaign is the same on every link in one push.
The three mistakes that break a report
- A medium in the source box. `utm_source=cpc` files paid search under a source called "cpc" and loses which platform it came from.
- A different campaign value on every link. Put the creative difference in UTM Content and keep UTM Campaign the same, or one campaign becomes twelve rows.
- A new spelling each time. `linkedin`, `LinkedIn` and `Linked In` are three sources. Build from Recent URLs rather than from memory.
Reuse what your team already built
Saved links are shared with everyone in the workspace, newest first, under Recent URLs. Each row shows its label, its parameters as chips and how long ago it was built.
Click Load into builder on the row you want.
It is the second of the four icons in the row, between Copy URL and Delete. Every box refills with that link's values.
Change the one thing that differs.
Click Copy URL.
Note
The history is deliberately bounded: the 50 most recent links, and nothing older than 15 days. Both limits are printed under the page heading. Keep your long-term naming somewhere of your own — this is a shortcut, not an archive.
What MarqIQ does with the link
When somebody clicks it, the script reads the parameters from the address of that visit and stores them for that browser.
- Parameters in the link of the current visit always win. Nothing stored and no referring site can overrule them.
- The values are then kept for 7 days, counted from the last visit MarqIQ could attribute — a tagged link, a Tracking URL rule, or a recognised referring site. A visit it cannot attribute does not extend them.
- Stored tagged values outrank a later referring site, so a return visit from a search engine does not take the credit for the campaign that earned it.
- Whatever is resolved on that browser's first visit is also locked into a separate first-touch record, kept for a year and never overwritten. Tag the links people first meet you through, not only the ones near the form.
- `utm_id` is read as well, and lands in the UTM Campaign ID field. The builder does not write it — Google Ads and GA4 add it themselves.
Take care
A tagged link only works if the parameters survive the journey to your page. A vanity URL, a link shortener or a www redirect can drop them. Click your own finished link and read the address bar on the page you land on: if the `utm_` parameters are not there, the redirect stripped them and nothing downstream can recover them.
If it did not work
Save to history stays greyed out
Why: One of the four required boxes is empty: Website URL, UTM Source, UTM Medium or UTM Campaign.
Fix: Fill in all four. Copy URL works without them, so you can still take the link if you meant to leave one blank.
Nothing appears under Generated URL
Why: The destination is not a URL MarqIQ can parse — usually a stray space, or a page path with no domain in front of it.
Fix: Paste the full address from your browser's address bar, then edit it.
Saving answers with a refusal about the workspace being read-only
Why: The subscription has lapsed, or an administrator set the workspace to read-only. Read-only workspaces accept no writes of any kind.
Fix: Open Plan & billing. Copying links still works in the meantime.
A link you built yesterday is missing from Recent URLs
Why: The history keeps 50 links and 15 days. Whichever limit is reached first, the oldest entries go.
Fix: Keep the links you reuse in your own campaign plan. Use Recent URLs to check the spelling your team used most recently.
The campaign shows in your reports under several similar names
Why: The links were not all built here, so casing and separators drifted apart.
Fix: Open Source truth on the Analysis screen. It groups the near-identical values and shows the real total, and Normalization can then standardise them. Why your traffic shows as Direct walks through both.
Next steps
Related articles
Was this article helpful?