# mtm_campaign and pk_campaign — Matomo's campaign tags

- Canonical: https://linkclean.app/trackers/mtm-campaign/
- Updated: 2026-10-05
- Author: Ken Tominaga (https://ken0nek.com)
- Get the app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/linkclean/id6758604043

Parameter: `mtm_campaign` · Category: Analytics IDs · Vendor: Matomo (formerly Piwik)

> mtm_campaign is **the campaign-name tag read by Matomo, the free-software analytics platform formerly called Piwik**. With `mtm_source`, `mtm_medium` and five more it does for Matomo what `utm_` tags do for Google Analytics. Older links use the `pk_` and `piwik_` spellings of the same fields. The page loads the same without them, and LinkClean strips the set on every site.

## What the mtm_ tags record

Matomo's campaign plugin documents eight of them: `mtm_campaign` (the campaign name, its examples are `mailing_2017_03` and `Easter_Sale`), `mtm_source` (such as `google` or `facebook`), `mtm_medium` (such as `email` or `cpc`), `mtm_keyword`, `mtm_content`, `mtm_cid` (a campaign ID code), `mtm_group` and `mtm_placement`.

The values are labels the sender chose. They say which mailing or ad a click came from, and everyone who clicks the same link carries the same label.

## Why there are four prefixes

Matomo was called Piwik until version 3.3.0, whose changelog opens with the line "Piwik is now Matomo" and links the January 2018 announcement. The older tags kept the old name: `pk_campaign` and `piwik_campaign` mean what `mtm_campaign` means, and `pk_kwd` and `piwik_kwd` what `mtm_kwd` means.

Matomo still reads all of them. Its default configuration lists `pk_cpn`, `pk_campaign`, `piwik_campaign`, `mtm_campaign` and `matomo_campaign` as campaign-name parameters, and it reads Google's `utm_campaign`, `utm_source` and `utm_medium` too.

## Does removing them break the link?

No. Matomo reads the tags when the page loads in order to file the visit under a campaign; the page itself does not depend on them. Matomo's campaign plugin also leaves these tags out of the page addresses it records.

## How LinkClean removes them

Default-on and global: 23 names, the eleven `mtm_` fields plus the `pk_`, `piwik_` and `matomo_` spellings. A few rarer spellings that Matomo also accepts, `pk_cpn` and `matomo_kwd` among them, are not in the list yet. AdGuard's filter and Brave strip the main `mtm_` names too, and ClearURLs removes every name that starts with `mtm`.

## Example

Looks like this in a URL: `https://example.com/offer?mtm_campaign=Easter_Sale&mtm_source=newsletter&mtm_medium=email&size=m`

After LinkClean: `https://example.com/offer?size=m`

## Frequently asked

**Is mtm_campaign the same as utm_campaign?**

It does the same job for a different analytics product. utm_campaign is Google's name; mtm_campaign is Matomo's. Matomo reads both.

**What is pk_campaign?**

The older spelling of mtm_campaign, from when Matomo was called Piwik. Matomo still accepts it.

**Is it safe to remove mtm_ tags?**

Yes. They are read by the site's analytics, and the page loads the same without them.


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