diff --git a/integration_tests/tests/web/test_get_url_parameter_substring.sql b/integration_tests/tests/web/test_get_url_parameter_substring.sql
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f12d3fdb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration_tests/tests/web/test_get_url_parameter_substring.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+-- Regression tests for https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-utils/issues/980
+--
+-- `get_url_parameter` must only match a parameter when the search token
+-- appears as a complete parameter name — not when the token happens to be
+-- a suffix of a different parameter name. The cases below all used to
+-- return the matched substring's value rather than NULL.
+
+with cases as (
+
+    select
+        'http://example.com/?msg=hello'                               as url,
+        'g'                                                           as param,
+        cast(null as {{ dbt.type_string() }})                         as expected
+
+    union all
+
+    select
+        'http://example.com/?sku=EXAMPLE_SKU&u=https%3A%2F%2Fx.com',
+        'ku',
+        cast(null as {{ dbt.type_string() }})
+
+    union all
+
+    -- Legitimate short-name parameter matches must still resolve correctly.
+    select
+        'http://example.com/?m=first_value&s=second_value',
+        'm',
+        'first_value'
+
+    union all
+
+    select
+        'http://example.com/?m=first_value&s=second_value',
+        's',
+        'second_value'
+
+    union all
+
+    -- Existing behaviour must be preserved.
+    select
+        'http://example.com/?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=github',
+        'utm_source',
+        'github'
+
+    union all
+
+    select
+        'http://example.com/?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=github',
+        'utm_medium',
+        'organic'
+
+),
+
+comparisons as (
+
+    select
+        {{ dbt_utils.get_url_parameter('url', 'g') }}           as actual,
+        case when param = 'g' then expected end                 as expected,
+        param
+    from cases
+    where param = 'g'
+
+    union all
+
+    select
+        {{ dbt_utils.get_url_parameter('url', 'ku') }}          as actual,
+        case when param = 'ku' then expected end                as expected,
+        param
+    from cases
+    where param = 'ku'
+
+    union all
+
+    select
+        {{ dbt_utils.get_url_parameter('url', 'm') }}           as actual,
+        case when param = 'm' then expected end                 as expected,
+        param
+    from cases
+    where param = 'm'
+
+    union all
+
+    select
+        {{ dbt_utils.get_url_parameter('url', 's') }}           as actual,
+        case when param = 's' then expected end                 as expected,
+        param
+    from cases
+    where param = 's'
+
+    union all
+
+    select
+        {{ dbt_utils.get_url_parameter('url', 'utm_source') }}  as actual,
+        case when param = 'utm_source' then expected end        as expected,
+        param
+    from cases
+    where param = 'utm_source'
+
+    union all
+
+    select
+        {{ dbt_utils.get_url_parameter('url', 'utm_medium') }}  as actual,
+        case when param = 'utm_medium' then expected end        as expected,
+        param
+    from cases
+    where param = 'utm_medium'
+
+)
+
+-- A row is a failure if actual and expected disagree, treating NULLs as equal.
+select *
+from comparisons
+where
+    (actual is null) <> (expected is null)
+    or coalesce(actual, '') <> coalesce(expected, '')
diff --git a/macros/web/get_url_parameter.sql b/macros/web/get_url_parameter.sql
index 8147b41f5..a12dc3eac 100644
--- a/macros/web/get_url_parameter.sql
+++ b/macros/web/get_url_parameter.sql
@@ -4,9 +4,19 @@
 
 {% macro default__get_url_parameter(field, url_parameter) -%}
 
-{%- set formatted_url_parameter = "'" + url_parameter + "='" -%}
+{#-
+    Normalize the query string so every parameter is preceded by `&`, then split on
+    `&<url_parameter>=`. Requiring the leading `&` in the search token prevents false
+    matches against parameters whose names merely *end* with `url_parameter`
+    (e.g. searching for `g` inside `...&msg=...`).
+    See: https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-utils/issues/980
+-#}
 
-{%- set split = dbt.split_part(dbt.split_part(field, formatted_url_parameter, 2), "'&'", 1) -%}
+{%- set formatted_url_parameter = "'&" + url_parameter + "='" -%}
+
+{%- set normalized_field = dbt.concat(["'&'", dbt.replace(field, "'?'", "'&'")]) -%}
+
+{%- set split = dbt.split_part(dbt.split_part(normalized_field, formatted_url_parameter, 2), "'&'", 1) -%}
 
 nullif({{ split }},'')