utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign Parameters Tutorial

UTM tracking (also known as custom campaign tracking) in Google Analytics ... if you are bidding on a keyword say 'conversion optimization', ... Home About Testimonials Services GoogleAnalytics&GTMConsulting DigitalAnalyticsTraining Blog Books DigitalAnalyticsTraining Contact utm_source,utm_medium,utm_campaignParametersTutorial GoogleAnalyticsDeveloper,GoogleAnalyticsDebugging LastUpdated:May24,2022 TableofContentsforutm_source,utm_medium,utm_campaignParametersTutorial  [show]WhatisUTMtrackinginGoogleAnalytics?WhatareUTMparameters?‘Keys’ofUTMparameters‘Values’ofUTMparametersutm_source(campaigntrafficsource)utm_medium(campaigntrafficmedium)utm_campaign(campaignname)utm_term(campaignterm)utm_content(campaigncontent)WhatisataggedURL?HowtocreateataggedURLWhataredynamicURLparameters?Whatarecampaigntrackingparameters?QuickrecapofparametersWhatisanun-taggedURL?Whatisanauto-taggedURL?Whatisamanually-taggedURL?GoogleAnalyticsUTMbuilderPersonallyidentifiableinformationandUTMparametersWheretoputtheUTMparametersAvoidtagginginternallinkswithUTMparametersLinksthatdon’tneedtaggingTestingUTMparametersGoogleAnalyticsUTMreportUTMparametersnotworkingandhowtofixthemIntroductiontocustomcampaignsRelatedArticleFrequentlyaskedquestionsaboutUTMparameters WhatisUTMtrackinginGoogleAnalytics? UTMtracking(alsoknownascustomcampaigntracking)inGoogleAnalyticsreferstothetaggingofyourwebsiteURLwithUTMparameters. WhatareUTMparameters? UTMparameters (alsoknownascampaignparameters,campaignvariables,tags,variablesorutmcodes)aretheparametersrecognizedbyGoogleforsendingdetailedinformationaboutyourmarketingcampaignstoGoogleAnalytics. FollowingaretheUTMparametersrecognizedbyGoogle: utm_source=utm_medium=utm_campaign=utm_term=utm_content= EachUTMparameterismadeupof‘key=value’pair. Forexample,ifutm_source=facebook Then‘utm_source’isthekeyand‘facebook’isthevalue. Similarly,ifutm_medium=paidSocial Then‘utm_medium’isthekeyand‘paidSocial’isthevalue. AwebsiteURLwhichcontainsUTMparametersiscalledacustomcampaign. Followingisanexampleofacustomcampaign: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb ‘Keys’ofUTMparameters FollowingarethefivekeysofUTMParameters: utm_sourceutm_mediumutm_campaignutm_termutm_content AllofthesekeyshavegotspecialmeaningforGoogleAnalyticsandarecasesensitive. So‘utm_source’isnotthesameas:Utm_source’or‘utm-source’, ‘utm_Source’or‘UTM_SOURCE’or‘utmsource’. Youneedtostrictlyfollowtheformat/syntaxofhoweachkeyisspelled/written. Soifyouuse‘Utm_source’insteadof‘utm_source’,GoogleAnalyticswon’tunderstandthekeyandyourcustomcampaigntrackingmaynotwork. ThereisnoparticularorderinwhichUTMparameters’‘keys’shouldbeusedinaURL.Youcanuseanyorderyoulike. Forexample,thefollowingtwoURLsarethesame,asfarascustomcampaigntrackingisconcerned: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb https://www.abc.com/?utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc Getthis70pagedetailedchecklistcontainingscreenshots,step-by-stepinstructionsandlinkstoarticles DoyouwanttosetupGoogleAnalytics4(GA4)fastandcorrectly? YesIwanttheebook ‘Values’ofUTMparameters AvalueofaUTMparametershoulddependuponthekeybeingused. Forexample, ‘utm_source’keyisusedtosendinformationrelatedtotrafficsourcetoGoogleAnalytics.Soitsvalueshouldbesomethingwhichdenotestrafficsource(i.e.theoriginofthetraffic).  utm_source(campaigntrafficsource) ‘utm_source’keyisusedtosendinformationrelatedtothetrafficsourceofacustomcampaigntoGoogleAnalytics. Itsvalueshouldbesomethingwhichdenotestrafficsource(i.e.theoriginofthetraffic).Thetrafficsourcecanbesystemdefinedoruserdefined. ASystemdefinedtrafficsourceistheonewhichGoogleAnalyticsalreadyrecognizeastheknownsourceoftraffic. Followingareexamplesofsystemdefinedtrafficsources: googlebingyahootwitter.comm.facebook.comt.coetc Whenyouuseasystemdefinedtrafficsourceasthevalueforyour‘utm_source’key,Googlemaygroupthetrafficfromcustomcampaign(s)withoneofthesystemdefinedtrafficsource. Forexample,considerthefollowingURL: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Here, Thevalueofutm_sourceis‘google’.Whatthatmeansthetrafficsourceis‘google’. Thevalueofutm_mediumis‘organic’.Whatthatmeansthetrafficmediumis‘organic’. SoGoogleAnalyticswillincludethetrafficfromthiscampaigninGoogleOrganicSearch: AllsystemdefinedtrafficsourcesinGoogleAnalyticsare(bydefault)inlowercaseandcasesensitive. SoforGoogleAnalytics,thetrafficsource‘google’isdifferentfrom‘Google’. Onceyouchangethecase/spellingofasystemdefinedtrafficsource,itbecomesauserdefinedtrafficsourceandisreportedseparatelybyGoogleAnalytics. Forexample,considerthefollowingURL: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Herethetrafficsourceis‘Google’(andnot‘google’)andmediumis‘organic’. SoGoogleAnalyticswillreportthetrafficfromthiscustomcampaignliketheonebelow: Soifyouareplanningtouseasystemdefinedtrafficsourceasthevalueof‘utm_source’key,thenbeverycarefulabouthowyouspellthetrafficsourcenameandwhatcase(lowercase,uppercase,camelcase)youuse. OnesmallmistakeandyoursystemdefinedtrafficsourcewillbetreatedasuserdefinedtrafficsourcebyGA. Auserdefinedtrafficsourceistheonewhichisdefinedbypeoplelikemeandyouandwhichisbydefault,notrecognizedbyGoogleAnalytics. Forexample,considerthefollowingURL: https://www.abc.com/best-seo-contract-in-the-world/?utm_source=facebook%20campaign&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=seo%20contract Here‘facebookcampaign’isauserdefinedtrafficsource. HereishowGAwillreportonthistrafficsource: Note:YoucanusewhitespacestoseparatetwoormorewordsinthevaluesofUTMparameters.Justmakesurethatyouuse%20insteadofasinglewhitespacewhilebuildingthecustomcampaign. Generally,thedomainnamewhichisexpectedtorefertraffictoyourwebsiteisusedasthevaluefor‘utm_source’. Soifyouareexpectingtogettrafficfromfacebook(asyouarerunningFacebookads),youcanuse‘facebook.com’asthevalueof‘utm_source’. Example: utm_source=facebook.com Similarly,ifyouareexpectingtogettrafficfromtwitter(asyouarerunningTwitterads),youcanuse‘twitter.com’asthevalueof‘utm_source’.Example: utm_source=twitter.com Technicallyspeaking,youcanuseanynumber,textorcombinationof‘numberandtext’asthevalueforthe‘utm_source’key: utm_medium(campaigntrafficmedium) ‘utm_medium’keyisusedtosendinformationrelatedtothetrafficmediumofacustomcampaigntoGoogleAnalytics. Itsvalueshouldbesomethingwhichdenotestrafficmedium(i.e.thecategoryofthetraffic).Thetrafficmediumcanbesystemdefinedoruserdefined. ASystemdefinedtrafficmediumistheonewhichGoogleAnalyticsalreadyrecognizeastheknowncategoryoftraffic(i.e.medium) Followingareexamplesofsystemdefinedtrafficmedium: organicnonesocialreferralcpcppcbanneremailetc Whenyouuseasystemdefinedtrafficmediumasthevalueforyour‘utm_medium’key,Googlemaygroupthetrafficfromcustomcampaignwithoneofthesystemdefinedtrafficmedium. Forexample: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Getthis70pagedetailedchecklistcontainingscreenshots,step-by-stepinstructionsandlinkstoarticles DoyouwanttosetupGoogleAnalytics4(GA4)fastandcorrectly? YesIwanttheebook Herethetrafficsourceis‘google’andmediumis‘organic’. SoGoogleAnalyticswillincludethetrafficfromthiscustomcampaignunderGoogleOrganicSearch: AllsystemdefinedtrafficmediuminGoogleAnalyticsare(bydefault)inlowercaseandcasesensitive. SoforGoogleAnalytics,thetrafficmedium‘organic’isdifferentfrom‘Organic’. Onceyouchangethecase/spellingofasystemdefinedtrafficmedium,itbecomesauserdefinedtrafficmediumandisreportedseparatelybyGoogleAnalytics. Forexample: https://www.optimizesmart.com/best-seo-contract-in-the-world/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=Organic&utm_campaign=seo%20contract Herethetrafficsourceis‘google’butthetrafficmediumis‘Organic’(andnot‘organic’). SoGoogleAnalyticswillreportthetrafficfromthiscustomcampaignliketheonebelow: Soifyouareplanningtouseasystem-definedtrafficmediumasthevalueof‘utm_medium’key,thenbeverycarefulabouthowyouspellthetrafficmediumandwhatcase(lowercase,uppercase,camelcase)youuse. OnesmallmistakeandyoursystemdefinedtrafficmediumwillbetreatedasuserdefinedtrafficmediumbyGA. Auserdefinedtrafficmediumistheonewhichisdefinedbypeoplelikemeandyouandwhichisbydefault,notrecognizedbyGoogleAnalytics. Forexample,considerthefollowingURL: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_content=mobile-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Here‘paidsocial’isauserdefinedtrafficmedium. HereishowGAwillreportonthistrafficmedium: Technicallyspeaking,youcanuseanynumber,textorcombinationof‘numberandtext’asthevalueforthe‘utm_medium’key: utm_campaign(campaignname) ‘utm_campaign’keyisusedtosendinformationrelatedtothecustomcampaignnametoGoogleAnalytics. Youcanuseanyofthefollowingasthevalueof‘utm_campaign’key: anytextanynumbercombinationoftextandnumberwordsseparatedbywhitespaces Forexample: utm_campaign=Book%20promo%20Sept2017 utm_campaign=Sept_Bumper_Sales2017 utm_campaign=Analytics-Training-Course Nomatterwhatcampaignnameyouselect,makesurethatyouremainconsistentwithitsspelling,formatandcase. ForGA,‘BookPromo’isadifferentcampaignthan‘bookpromo’. Similarly,forGoogleAnalytics,‘Sept_Bumper_Sales2017’isadifferentcustomcampaignthan‘Sept-Bumper-Sales2017’or‘Sept%20Bumper%20Sales2017’ Thebestwaytomaintainconsistencywiththename,spelling,caseandformatofcampaignnames,istomaintainGoogleSheetorExcelspreadsheetofallthetaggedURLsandalwaysuselowercase. Note:Whenyouuse‘Sept%20Bumper%20Sales2017’asthevalueof‘utm_campaign’thenGAdisplayswhitespacesbetweenvariouswordsofthecampaignname: Useshortanddescriptivewordsasthenameofyourcustomcampaign. IfyouarerunningaFacebookcampaign,youcanusethenameoftheFacebookcampaignasthevaluefor‘utm_campaign’. Ifyouarerunninganemailcampaign,youcanusethenameoftheemailcampaignasthevaluefor‘utm_campaign’. Similarly,ifyouarerunningaTwittercampaign,youcanusethenameoftheTwittercampaignasthevaluefor‘utm_campaign’. Getthis70pagedetailedchecklistcontainingscreenshots,step-by-stepinstructionsandlinkstoarticles DoyouwanttosetupGoogleAnalytics4(GA4)fastandcorrectly? YesIwanttheebook utm_term(campaignterm) ‘utm_term’keyisusedtosendtheinformationrelatedtothecampaignterm(paidsearchkeyword)toGoogleAnalytics. Thevalueofthiskeyisoftenthepaidkeywordyouarebiddingon. Forexample,ifyouarebiddingonakeywordsay‘conversionoptimization’,youcanusethe‘utm_term’keyliketheonebelow: utm_term=conversion-optimization Theutm_termkeyisoftenusedwhenyouaremanuallytaggingpaidsearchcampaigns. Howeverfeelfreetousethiskey,thewayyouwant.Forexample,youcanusethiskeytoidentifythetypeofaudienceyouaretargeting: utm_term=new_parents However,justrememberthatyoushouldremainconsistentwiththespelling,formatandcaseofthevaluesof‘utm_term’key. utm_content(campaigncontent) ‘utm_content’keyisusedtosendinformationrelatedtocampaigncontent(adversion)toGoogleAnalytics. Forexample,ifyouhavegottwobanneradswithsameadcopy,calltoactionbutdifferentgraphic,youcanuse‘utm_content’keyandsetdifferentvaluesforeach.Soyoucanlaterdeterminewhichadversionismoreeffectiveintermsofdrivingtrafficandsales. Forexample: BannerAd1:https://www.abc.com/book-maths-and-stats/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=pdf-book-campaign&utm_content=ad1 BannerAd2:https://www.abc.com/book-maths-and-stats/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=pdf-book-campaign&utm_content=ad2 Note:TheuseoftheUTMparameters:‘utm_term’and‘utm_content’inanadURLisoptional.HowevertheuseofUTMparameters:‘utm_source’,‘utm_medium’and‘utm_campaign’isrequired. WhatisataggedURL? AURLwhichcontainsUTMparametersiscalleda‘taggedURL’.‘TaggingaURL’meansaddingUTMparameterstoit. FollowingisanexampleofataggedURL: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb AnotherexampleoftaggedURL: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb However,thefollowingURLisnotataggedURLasitdoesnotcontainUTMparameters: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715 HowtocreateataggedURL InordertocreateataggedURL,youwillneedtocreateaquerystring. AquerystringisthepartoftheURLwhichcomesafterthe‘?’character. ForexampleintheURL: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715 Thequerystringis:ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715 ConsideranotherURL: https://www.abc.com?gclid=CLjTpNrg8NIC Herethequerystringis: gclid=CLjTpNrg8NIC ConsideranotherURL: https://www.google-analytics.com/collect?v=1&tid=UA-123456-2&cid=36009a59-2a05-49e7-b826-2b884d0f935b&t=pageview&dp=%2Fhome Herethequerystringis: v=1&tid=UA-123456-2&cid=36009a59-2a05-49e7-b826-2b884d0f935b&t=pageview&dp=%2Fhome ConsideranotherURL: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Herethequerystringis: utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Thequerystringismadeupofoneormoreparametersandeachparameterismadeupof‘key=value’pair. ForexampleintheURL: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715 Thequerystringis: ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715 Thisquerystringismadeupofthefollowingtwoparameters: ThemeId=8904iPathId=38715 Theparameter‘ThemeId=8904’ismadeupofthekeycalled‘ThemeId’andthevaluecalled‘8904’ Similarly,theparameter‘iPathId=38715’ismadeupofthekeycalled‘iPathId’andthevaluecalled‘38715’ ConsideranotherURL: https://www.google-analytics.com/collect?v=1&tid=UA-123456-2&cid=36009a59-2a05-49e7-b826-2b884d0f935b&t=pageview&dp=%2Fhome HeretheURLismadeupoffollowingfiveparameters: v=1tid=UA-123456-2cid=36009a59-2a05-49e7-b826-2b884d0f935bt=pageviewdp=%2Fhome Theparameter‘v=1’ismadeupofthekeycalled‘v’andthevaluecalled‘1’ Similarly,theparameter‘tid=UA-123456-2’ismadeupofthekeycalled‘tid’andthevaluecalled‘UA-123456-2’ ConsideranotherURL: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Herethequerystringis: utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb ThisquerystringismadeupoffollowingfiveUTMparameters: utm_source=bingutm_medium=ppcutm_term=car-insuranceutm_content=text-adutm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Here, Thevariable‘utm_source=bing’ismadeupofthekeycalled‘utm_source’andthevaluecalled‘bing’ Similarly,thevariable‘utm_medium=ppc’ismadeupofthekeycalled‘utm_medium’andthevaluecalled‘ppc’ ConsideranotherURL: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Herethequerystringis: ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Thisquerystringismadeupoffollowingsevenparameters: ThemeId=8904iPathId=38715utm_source=bingutm_medium=ppcutm_term=car-insuranceutm_content=text-adutm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Outofthesesevenparameters,followingfiveareUTMparameters: utm_source=bingutm_medium=ppcutm_term=car-insuranceutm_content=text-adutm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb InaURLtwoormoreparametersareseparatedviatheampersandsign‘&’. That’swhyyouseethe‘&’aftereveryparameterintheURLbelow: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb NotallURLparametersarethesame. TherearetwodifferenttypesofURLparameters: DynamicURLparametersCampaigntrackingparameters Getthis70pagedetailedchecklistcontainingscreenshots,step-by-stepinstructionsandlinkstoarticles DoyouwanttosetupGoogleAnalytics4(GA4)fastandcorrectly? YesIwanttheebook WhataredynamicURLparameters? DynamicURLParametersaretheparameterswhicharedynamicallyaddedtoyourwebpageURL(byyourwebserver)duringruntime/pageloadsothatthepagerenderscorrectly. Ifyouremoveoneoftheseparametersthenyourwebpagemaynotdisplayand/orfunctioncorrectly. URLswhichcontaindynamicparametersarecalleddynamicURLs. AwebpagewhichhasgotdynamicURLisauto-generatedduringruntime. Thatiswhysuchwebpagesarealsocalled‘dynamicwebpages’. FollowingisanexampleofaURLwhichcontainsdynamicparameters: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LT80TN4/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i3?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pd_rd_i=B01LT80TN4&pd_rd_r=38GB3XMHBJ1RGP0EKPT0&pd_rd_w=0kCGp&pd_rd_wg=xY0dy&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=VVTM3H164R64SW26WVTJ&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1cf9d009-399c-49e1-901a-7b8786e59436&pf_rd_i=desktop ItisnotreallyhardtoidentifyURLswhichcontaindynamicparameters.Theyareusuallyabnormallylongandcontaincharacterslike%,?,&,+etc. Whatarecampaigntrackingparameters? CampaignTrackingParametersaretheparametersthatareusedtopassadditionalinformationaboutaclickviaaURL. Dependingupontheplatformbeingusedtherecanbedifferenttypesofcampaigntrackingparameters.Forexample,thecampaigntrackingparametersrecognizedbyGooglefallintotwocategories: UTMparameters(commonlyusedfortrackingnon-googleadscampaigns)GCLIDparameters(commonlyusedfortrackinggoogleadscampaigns) Quickrecapofparameters FollowingisanexampleofaURL: https://www.abc.com/ FollowingisanexampleofaURLwithdynamicparameters: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715 FollowingisanexampleofaURLwithUTMparameters: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb FollowingisanexampleofaURLwithbothdynamicparametersandUTMparameters: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb Note(1):AURLwhichcontainsbothdynamicandUTMparametersisstillconsideredas‘customcampaign’.AslongastheUTMparametershavebeenaddedtotheURL,theURLisacustomcampaign. Note(2):YoucanhideUTMparametersfromaURLandcanstillusetheUTMparametersinthebackground.ThesimplestwaytodothatistouseaURLshortenertoollikebit.lyorusethe‘lookuptable‘inGoogleTagManager. Whatisanun-taggedURL? AURLwhichdoesnotcontainUTMparametersiscalledan‘un-taggedURL’. Followingisanexampleofanun-taggedURL: https://www.abc.com/ Anotherexampleofun-taggedURL: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715 Whatisanauto-taggedURL? AURLwhichcontains‘GCLID’parameteriscalledanauto-taggedURL. GCLIDstandsfor‘GoogleClickID’.ItisauniqueIDusedbyGoogleAnalyticstotrackanddisplayGoogleAdsclicksinyourreports. The‘GCLID’parametersareautomaticallyaddedtotheendofthedestinationURLsofyourGoogleadsbyGoogle(providedauto-taggingfeatureisturnedon). Followingisanexampleofanauto-taggedURL: https://www.abc.com?gclid=CLjTpNrg8NIC Anotherexampleofauto-taggedURL: https://www.abc.com?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715&gclid=CLjTpNrg8NIC Googlestronglyrecommendthatyouuseauto-tagging. Note:GCLIDparameterisnotaUTMparameterthoughitisusedtotracktheperformanceofGoogleAdscampaigns. Whatisamanually-taggedURL? AmanuallytaggedURListheonewhichcontainscampaigntrackingparametersbutnotGCLIDparameter. FollowingisanexampleofmanuallytaggedURL: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb However,thefollowingURLsarenotmanuallytaggedURLs: https://www.abc.com/fold1?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715 https://www.abc.com?gclid=CLjTpNrg8NIC https://www.abc.com?ThemeId=8904&iPathId=38715&gclid=CLjTpNrg8NIC https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=car-insurance&utm_content=text-ad&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb&gclid=CLjTpNrg8NIC Weusedtheword‘manuallytagged’,onlyinthecontextof‘auto-tagging’featureofGoogleAds. TaggingaURLmeans,addingtrackingparameterstoit.Youcandothistaggingmanuallyorautomatically.Whenyouarenotusingtheauto-taggingfeatureofGoogleAdstotagaURL,youaremanuallytaggingtheURL. Note:AddingUTMparametersviaURLbuildertool isalsoreferredtoasmanualtagging. Getthis70pagedetailedchecklistcontainingscreenshots,step-by-stepinstructionsandlinkstoarticles DoyouwanttosetupGoogleAnalytics4(GA4)fastandcorrectly? YesIwanttheebook GoogleAnalyticsUTMbuilder UTMbuildersaretoolsthroughwhichyoucanautomaticallyappendUTMparameterstotheendofyourwebsiteURLs. FollowingareexamplesofUTMbuildertools: GoogleAnalyticsCampaignURLbuilderGooglePlayURLBuilder(formobileappsads) WhenyouuseaUTMbuildertooltotagaURL,youjustneedtoenterthe‘values’ofyourUTMparameters.The‘keys’areautomaticallyaddedbytheUTMbuilder. FollowthestepsbelowtousetheGoogleAnalyticsCampaignURLbuildertool: Step-1:Navigatetohttps://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/ Step-2:EnteryourwebsiteURLinthe‘WebsiteURL’textboxandthenenterthevaluesofyourUTMparameters: Step-3:Scrolldownandthenclickonthe‘CopyURL’button: YouarelesslikelytomakeamistakewhiletaggingURLs,ifyouuseaUTMbuildertool. Thisistheadvantageofusingthistool. Note:IfyouuseGoogleAdsauto-taggingthenyoudon’tneedtouseUTMbuildertools.Theauto-taggingfeaturewillautomaticallyaddtheGCLIDparametertotheendofyouradURLs. PersonallyidentifiableinformationandUTMparameters Followingareexamplesofpersonallyidentifiableinformation(orPII): NamesEmailaddressIpaddressPhonenumberHouseaddressetc GoogleAnalyticstermsofservice,prohibitssendingPIItoGoogleAnalyticsserverviaUTMtrackingparameters. Forexample,thefollowinguseofUTMparametersisagainsttheGoogleAnalyticstermsofserviceandcouldresultinaccountsuspension: https://www.abc.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=1844ESky-HarborCirS-Phoenix-AZ85034-USA&[email protected]&utm_content=82.23.186.447&utm_campaign=car-insurance-promo-feb TheURLaboveisusedtosendhouseaddress,emailaddressandIPaddressofausertoGoogleAnalyticsserverandthusviolatesGoogleAnalyticstermsofservice. WheretoputtheUTMparameters WeaddUTMparameterstoexternallinks. AnexternallinkisaURLwhichwhenclicked,takesauserfromonewebpagetoanotherwebpageandboththesourceanddestinationwebpagesarehostedondifferentwebsites/domains. Forexample,alinkfromaFacebookadtoaproductdetailpagehostedonyourwebsiteisanexternallink. AvoidtagginginternallinkswithUTMparameters AninternallinkisaURLwhichwhenclicked,takesauserfromonewebpagetoanotherwebpageandboththesourceanddestinationwebpagesarehostedonthesamewebsite/domain. Forexample,alinkfromproductcategorypage(hostedonyourwebsite)toaproductdetailpage(alsohostedonyourwebsite)isaninternallink.Similarly,alinkfromoneofthewebpagesofyoursub-domain(sayblog.abc.com)toapagehostedonyour primarydomain(abc.com)isaninternallink. EachGoogleAnalyticssessioncanbeattributedtoonlyonetrafficsource(whethersystemdefinedoruserdefined)atatime. SoifthevalueofthetrafficsourcechangesinthemiddleofanexistingGoogleAnalyticssession,itcausesthecurrentGAsessiontoendandanewsessiontostart.Similarly,anychangeinthevalueofthefollowingkeystriggersanewGoogleAnalyticssession: utm_sourceutm_mediumutm_campaignutm_termutm_contentgclid. Becauseofthisreason,whenyoutaganinternallink,itcouldtriggernewGoogleAnalyticssessionsandthusinflateyoursessiondata. Inshort,useUTMparameterstotagonlyexternallinks. Linksthatdon’tneedtagging Ifyouareusingtheauto-taggingfeatureofGoogleAdsthenyoudon’tneedtotagtheURLsofyourads. Anytrafficsource/mediumwhichGoogleAnalyticscanautomaticallydetectandreportondoesnotneedtobetagged. Forexample,GAcanautomaticallydetectallwell-knownsearchengines. Soyoudon’tneedtotaglinksfromsearchengines. TaganexternallinkonlywhenyouwanttosendsomeextrainformationtoGoogleAnalytics. Forexample,whenauservisitsyourwebsitefromFacebook,GAautomaticallydetectstheFacebookreferrerandtietheuser’sactivitieswiththereferrer. Soyoudon’tneedtotagFacebooklinksforthatpurpose. However,ifyouwanttoknow,exactlywhichFacebookcampaignsenttraffictoyourwebsitethentagtheFacebookadURLs. Note:ItisnotrequiredthattheUTMparametersshouldremainappendedtoaURL,untiltheendofaGoogleAnalyticssession.Theyjustneedtobepresentwhenalandingpageloadsforthefirsttimeinawebbrowser. Getthis70pagedetailedchecklistcontainingscreenshots,step-by-stepinstructionsandlinkstoarticles DoyouwanttosetupGoogleAnalytics4(GA4)fastandcorrectly? YesIwanttheebook TestingUTMparameters EnteryourtaggedURLinyourwebbrowseraddressbarandthenpresstheenterkey: IfalltheparametersremainintactthenmostlikelyyourUTMparametersareworkingcorrectly. Theotherthingthatyoushoulddoistocheckthe‘RealTime’>‘TrafficSources’reportinyourGAviewforcustomcampaigndata: GoogleAnalyticsUTMreport YoucanfindUTMtrackingdatainGoogleAnalyticsbynavigatingtoAcquisition>Campaigns>AllCampaignsreport: UTMparametersnotworkingandhowtofixthem InfollowingcasesyourUTMparameterswon’twork: #1SomeswebsitesdonotallowarbitraryURLparametersandserveanerrorpagewhenaUTMparameterisaddedtoaURL.YoucanfixthisproblembyaskingyourdevelopertoallowUTMparametersintheURLs. #2URLredirects(301,302,HTTPtoHTTPsredirectsorredirectfromdesktoptomobilewebsite)cancauseUTMparametertobedroppedfromthelandingpageURLs. WhenUTMparametersaredropped,thecampaigntrackingdoesn’tworkandcampaigndataisnotsenttoGoogleAnalytics. YoucanfixthisproblembyaskingyourdevelopertosendUTMparametersalongwithredirects.IfthatisnotpossiblethentagthedestinationadURLs(whereausereventuallylandsafteraredirect). #3SometimesGoogleAnalyticscannotreadthevaluesofUTMparametersevenwhenyoucanseetheUTMparametersinthebrowseraddressbar.Thiscanhappenwhen: #3.1GoogleAnalyticsTrackingcodeonthelandingpageisnotvalid. #3.2GAtrackingcodeisvalidbutdoesnotfireforsomereason. #3.3GAtrackingcodeisembeddedinanIFRAMEandtheIFRAMEisnotaparentframe.IfGAtrackingcodeisembeddedinachildframethenitcannotreadthecampaigntrackingvaluesasachildframecannotreadtheaddressURLofaparentframe.SomakesureGAtrackingcodeisalwaysembeddedintheparentframe. #3.4YourwebserverisalteringortruncatingtheUTMparameters. #3.5YourGAreportingviewfiltersdonotallowcustomcampaigndata. Introductiontocustomcampaigns InthecontextofGoogleAnalytics,acustomcampaignisyourwebsiteURLwhichcontainsUTMparameters. Throughcustomcampaigns,youcansenddetailedinformationaboutyourmarketingcampaignstoGoogleAnalytics. Forexample,ifyouarerunningvariousadcampaignsonFacebook,youbydefaultcannotevaluatetheperformanceofeachindividualFacebookcampaigninGoogleAnalytics. Allyouwillsee,bydefaultinGA,isthetrafficandsalesfromdozensofFacebookreferrers. InordertotracktheperformanceofeachindividualFacebookadcampaignsinGoogleAnalytics,youwouldneedtoaddvariousUTMparametersattheendofthedestinationURLofeachFacebookad: FollowingisanexampleofFacebookadURLwhichcontainsUTMparameters(highlightedinboldtext): https://www.abc.com/book-maths-and-stats/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=pdf-book-campaign&utm_content=ad1 TheseUTMparametershavethepowertooverwritetheoriginalreferrerandsendthatinformationtoGAwhichcannotbesentotherwise. RelatedArticle HowtoFixMissingCampaignParametersinGoogleAnalytics FrequentlyaskedquestionsaboutUTMparameters WhatdoesUTMstandforinGoogleAnalytics? ‘UTM’standsfor‘Urchintrackingmodule.’ WhatareUTMcodes? UTMcodes(orUTMparameters)aretheparametersrecognizedbyGoogleforsendingdetailedinformationaboutyourmarketingcampaignstoGoogleAnalytics.FollowingareexamplesofUTMcodes:1)utm_source=some-value2)utm_medium=some-value3)utm_campaign=some-value4)utm_term=some-value5)utm_content=some-value WheredoIputtheUTMcode? AppendtheUTMcodestoanexternallink. HowtocreateUTMcodesinGoogleAnalytics? YoucanUTMcodesinGoogleAnalyticsbyusingtheGoogleAnalyticsCampaignURLbuildertool. WhatisUTMinGoogleAds? InGoogleAds(Adwords)weusetheauto-taggingfeaturetotagURLs. HowdoIsetupautomatictagginginGoogleAds? YoucansetupautomatictagginginGoogleAds(Adwords)byenablingtheauto-taggingfeature. Doyouwantbetterskillsindigitalanalyticsandmarketing? Ifyesthendownloadthe‘SalesandROIAccelerator’ebook     MybestsellingbooksonDigitalAnalyticsandConversionOptimization MathsandStatsforWebAnalyticsandConversionOptimization Thisexpertguidewillteachyouhowtoleveragetheknowledgeofmathsandstatisticsinordertoaccuratelyinterpretdataandtakeactions,whichcanquicklyimprovethebottom-lineofyouronlinebusiness. MastertheEssentialsofEmailMarketingAnalytics Thisbookfocusessolelyonthe‘analytics’thatpoweryouremailmarketingoptimizationprogramandwillhelpyoudramaticallyreduceyourcostperacquisitionandincreasemarketingROIbytrackingtheperformanceofthevariousKPIsandmetricsusedforemailmarketing. AttributionModellinginGoogleAnalyticsandBeyondSECONDEDITIONOUTNOW! Attributionmodellingistheprocessofdeterminingthemosteffectivemarketingchannelsforinvestment.Thisbookhasbeenwrittentohelpyouimplementattributionmodelling.Itwillteachyouhowtoleveragetheknowledgeofattributionmodellinginordertoallocatemarketingbudgetandunderstandbuyingbehaviour. AttributionModellinginGoogleAdsandFacebook ThisbookhasbeenwrittentohelpyouimplementattributionmodellinginGoogleAds(GoogleAdWords)andFacebook.Itwillteachyou,howtoleveragetheknowledgeofattributionmodellinginordertounderstandthecustomerpurchasingjourneyanddeterminethemosteffectivemarketingchannelsforinvestment. AbouttheAuthor HimanshuSharma Founder,OptimizeSmart.com Over15yearsofexperienceindigitalanalyticsandmarketing Authoroffourbest-sellingbooksondigitalanalyticsandconversionoptimization NominatedforDigitalAnalyticsAssociationAwardsforExcellence Runsoneofthemostpopularblogsintheworldondigitalanalytics Consultanttocountlesssmallandbigbusinessesoverthedecade error:Alert:Contentisprotected!! 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