Medium campaign tracking with UTM
Medium articles can drive traffic through in-text links, author bios, and publication pages, and Medium routes outbound links through its own redirector. UTM parameters on the destination URL are the reliable way to attribute Medium traffic, provided the UTM survives the redirect to your landing page.
Outbound links via a redirector
Medium commonly rewrites outbound links so the click passes through a Medium redirect host before reaching your site. That means your referrer may show the redirector rather than the originating article, which weakens referrer-based attribution.
A UTM on the destination URL is unaffected by the redirect host, so tag your links with a stable scheme such as utm_source=medium, utm_medium=referral, and a utm_campaign for the article.
- Outbound links routed through a Medium redirector
- Referrer may show the redirect host, not the article
- UTM on the destination identifies the channel
Make the UTM survive the hop
Because the click passes through a redirect, confirm the full tagged URL (with its query string) is what lands on your page. If a redirect drops the query string, the UTM is lost. Put the parameters on the canonical destination you control.
Redirector behaviour can change and varies by context, so the referrer pattern is described rather than fixed, which is why this entry is partially verified. Validate a tagged link end to end.
How it appears in analytics and logs
A tagged link arriving with utm_source set to medium identifies article-driven traffic even when the referrer shows Medium's redirect host. An empty or redirector referrer is expected for outbound links Medium rewrites.
Diagnostic use case
Attribute clicks from a Medium article or publication to a campaign by tagging the destination URL, instead of relying on a referrer that may show Medium's redirector rather than the article.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID records tagged Medium arrivals server-side, so you can attribute article-driven clicks by UTM even when Medium's redirector replaces the article referrer.
Common mistakes
- Relying on referrers that show Medium's redirector instead of the article.
- Letting a redirect strip the UTM query string before the landing page.
- Encoding reader identity in UTM values.
- Reusing one campaign value across unrelated articles.
Privacy and accuracy notes
Use a coarse label such as medium in utm_source and a campaign value for the article or series. Do not encode a reader identity; UTM describes the campaign, not the person.
Related pages
- Substack campaign tracking with UTM
Substack drives traffic from emailed newsletters, the web reader, and Notes. Email clicks pass through tracking and the reader app, so referrers are unreliable. UTM parameters on the destination link are the dependable way to attribute Substack traffic across email and web.
- Guest post campaign tracking with UTM
When you publish a guest article or contributed piece on another site, the byline and in-body links send referral traffic. Those clicks usually arrive with the host's referrer, but a UTM lets you separate intentional campaign links from incidental ones and compare which guest placements actually convert. This page covers tagging guest-post links so each host and article is measurable.
- UTM parameters in redirects
Redirects are where UTM attribution quietly dies. A 301/302 or a link shortener that does not forward the query string strips your tags before the visitor reaches the landing page. This page explains how to preserve UTM parameters through redirects, shorteners, and vanity URLs.
- Campaign links docs
Tag Medium links so they attribute through the redirector.
Sources and verification notes
- Medium Help Center — Links in storiesOutbound links routed through Medium's redirector; referrer may differ.
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.