Sites with UTM-tagged internal links (real utm_ parameters)
| Group | Sites | Sites with UTM internal links | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress (by platform) | 126 | 35 | 27.8% |
| Other platforms | 97 | 20 | 20.6% |
| Shopify | 70 | 9 | 12.9% |
| WordPress sites (by site type) | 95 | 26 | 27.4% |
| Business sites | 98 | 20 | 20.4% |
| Stores | 100 | 18 | 18.0% |
| All sites | 293 | 64 | 21.8% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. The platform rows and the site-type rows are two different groupings of the same 293 sites.
Summary
UTM parameters are meant for links that bring people to your site: an email, an ad, a social post. Put them on links between your own pages and two things go wrong. Analytics tools can credit the visit to the internal "campaign" instead of the channel that actually brought the visitor, which splits sessions and muddies attribution. And every tagged link is a new URL that crawlers can find, so the same page shows up at several addresses.
We checked how often ranking sites do this anyway. 64 of 293 crawled ranking sites (21.8%) put UTM tracking parameters on at least one of their own internal links. On a typical affected site the tags point at only a few URLs, and WordPress sites have the problem most often.
What we measured
We used a crawl of 293 ranking sites, capped at 1,000 pages each: 100 stores, 95 WordPress sites and 98 business sites, 195,708 URLs in all. The data was collected in October 2026.
A site counts when at least one internal link target carries a real utm_ query parameter, meaning ?utm_ or &utm_ in the URL.
We report two different groupings. By platform, the sites split into 126 on WordPress, 97 on other platforms and 70 on Shopify. By site type, they split into the crawl's three samples: 95 WordPress sites, 98 business sites and 100 stores. Some business sites and stores also run on WordPress, which is why the two WordPress counts differ.
One in five ranking sites tags its own links
21.8% of the 293 crawled ranking sites (64) put real utm_ tracking parameters on at least one internal link. These are sites that already rank in Google.
The tagged links usually come from good intentions: someone wants to measure clicks on a homepage banner, a promo bar or a "recommended" block, and reaches for the same UTM tags used in email and ads. Analytics tools treat those tags as a new traffic source, which is the opposite of what an internal click is.
21.8%
Share of 293 crawled ranking sites with real UTM parameters on at least one of their own internal links.
WordPress sites tag internal links most often
By platform, WordPress sites tag internal links most often: 27.8% of 126 WordPress sites do it, against 20.6% of 97 sites on other platforms and 12.9% of 70 Shopify stores.
The site-type split tells the same story. 27.4% of 95 WordPress sites, 20.4% of 98 business sites and 18.0% of 100 stores carry at least one UTM-tagged internal link.
A likely reason is how links get added. On WordPress, editors paste links into posts, widgets and page builder blocks by hand, often copied from a campaign. Shopify stores lean more on theme navigation and collection links that the platform generates, which leaves fewer places for a tagged URL to slip in.
The median affected site has about a dozen tagged links
The median affected site has 12 UTM-tagged internal links pointing at 6 distinct URLs. That fits a few campaign links placed on a few pages, such as a banner or an in-content callout.
It is not always small, though. 38 of the 64 sites have 10 or more tagged internal links, and 8 of the 64 carry UTM-tagged internal links on a quarter or more of their crawled pages. Spread that wide, the tags are most likely in site-wide navigation, a header promo or the footer, where every page view can pass through a tagged link.
What this means for your site
Crawl your site and filter internal links for "utm_". Then fix them at the source:
- Remove UTM parameters from navigation, footer, banner and in-content links that point to your own pages.
- To measure internal clicks, use click or event tracking in your analytics tool instead of campaign tags.
- Check templates and reusable blocks first. One tagged link in a header or footer can repeat across every page.
- Make sure each page has a self-referencing canonical, so any tagged URLs that are already out there point back to the clean version.
After the fix, campaign reports should only show traffic that really arrived from campaigns.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters crawl of 293 ranking sites (up to 1,000 pages each, 195,708 URLs), October 2026
- Google Search Central, How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methods: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls
Embed this research
Paste this on your site to embed the chart. It links back to the source automatically.
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<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.psmEmbed==="internal-utm-links"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("psm-internal-utm-links");if(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px";}}});</script>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/internal-utm-links">Internal UTM Links: 21.8% of Crawled Ranking Sites Tag Their Own - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
Should I use UTM parameters on internal links?
No. UTM tags are meant for links from outside your site. On internal links they split analytics sessions and create duplicate URLs, yet 21.8% of 293 crawled ranking sites have at least one.
Which sites tag internal links with UTMs most often?
WordPress sites. 27.8% of 126 WordPress sites tag at least one internal link, against 20.6% of 97 sites on other platforms and 12.9% of 70 Shopify stores.
How many internal UTM links does a typical affected site have?
The median affected site has 12 UTM-tagged internal links pointing at 6 distinct URLs. 8 of the 64 affected sites have them on a quarter or more of their crawled pages.
How do I find UTM-tagged internal links on my site?
Run a site crawl and filter internal link targets for ?utm_ or &utm_. Start with header, footer and banner templates, since one tagged link there repeats on every page.
Internal UTM tags are quick to remove, and doing so cleans up both your analytics attribution and the URLs crawlers find. Need help with this? See our technical SEO services.