How URL Tracking Works and Why It's Important - DashThis

URL tracking is the process of adding identifier(s) to a URL so that you can: ... Sure, you can use other analytic tools to track these data. But here's the thing ... Blog Marketing Howurltrackingworks HowURLTrackingWorksandWhyIt’sImportant StartyourURLtrackinginabeautifulandsimplereportwithDashThis!   Tryitfree WhileGoogleAnalyticsisapowerfultool,itdoesn'tgiveusacompleteviewofourmarketingcampaigns.    Fortunately,URLtrackingisheretosavetheday.    WhatisURLTracking? WhyShouldYoubeTrackingYourLinks? -ForMarketers -ForDigitalMarketingAgencies -ForAffiliateMarketing SoHowDoesURLTrackingWork? URLTrackingTools -GACampaignURLBuilder -ClickMeter -Bit.ly HowtoTrackYourLinkswithDashThis WhatisURLTracking? URLtrackingistheprocessofaddingidentifier(s)toaURLsothatyoucan:    Locateyourbest-performingmarketingchannels,andmoreimportantly,  Drilldowntothespecificcontentthat’sresponsibleforthereferraltrafficorsales   Sure,youcanuseotheranalytictoolstotrackthesedata.    Buthere’sthething:They’reofteninaccurate.Youcan’tmonitortrafficfromusersoncomputersthatblockcookiesorJavaScript!    URLgeneratorsaremoreusefulinthiscase,astheytracktheexactmetricsforallchannelsandcontentindividually. ProTip:Addthesemetricsinanautomatedreport—likethesmallbusinessdashboardshownbelow—tovisuallycommunicatetheresultstoclients.   TrackyourURLlinksonDashThiswithyourowndata! Showclientswhichspecificpage(s)broughtthehighestnumberofleadsandconversionrateatasingleglance    Here’sanexampleofanURLtrackinglink:    https://www.example.com?utm_source=google&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=black_friday_sale   Noticethewordsweboldedabove?They’recalledparameters.    Here’sabreakdownofwhattheseURLparametersmean:   Campaignmedium(utm_medium):Themarketingchannelofyourcampaign(e.g.,cpc,social) Campaignsource(utm_source):Theindividualsourceofyourmarketingchannel(e.g.,google,facebook) Campaignname(utm_campaign):Thenameofyourcampaign(e.g.,black_friday_sale,christmas_sale) CampaignID(utm_id):Thespecificadcampaign(e.g.,blackfriday.a,blackfriday.b) Campaigncontent(utm_content):Thedifferentlinksthatpointtothesamefinaldestination(e.g.,logolink,textlink) Campaignterm(utm_term):Thespecifickeywordsforpaidsearch(e.g.,reporting+tool,automated+scheduling+tool)   Youdon’tneedtouseallcampaignparameterseverytime.Usually,thesethreeUTMparameterswillsuffice:    Campaignsource Campaignmedium Campaignname    Youalsodon’tneedtomemorizetheformatofthecampaignURLparameters,asyourURLtrackingtoolswillgeneratethemforyou.   WhyShouldYouTrackYourLinks? Askanymarketerrunningalarge-scalemarketingcampaignacrossmultiplechannels,andthey’lltellyouit’scrucialtoknowwhichcontentattractsthehighestnumberofconversions.      Byaddingauniquetrackingcodetoeachmarketingactivity,youcanpinpointyourmosteffectivecampaigndowntotheprecisemessageortopic.   ForMarketers  URLtrackinghelpsmarketersmaximizeconversions,astheycaneasilyseewhichcontenttookoffandwhichfellflat.   Grabthistemplatewithyourowndata!   Let’ssayyouwroteabunchofhow-tos,productcomparisons,andcasestudiesforthecompanyblog.     Howdoyouknowwhichcontentdrivesthehighestnumberofleads?It’ssimple,createuniqueURLlinksforthesedifferentposts’calls-to-action(CTAs)andtrackthemaccordingly.   Theresultswilldetermineyournextcontentstrategy.    Forexample,ifmostofyourleadscamefromproductcomparisonsandcasestudies,youmightdecidetopauseoncreatinghow-toguidesandsaveyourresourcesforthebottomofthefunnelinstead.   ForDigitalMarketingAgencies It’sawholedifferentballgamerunningmarketingcampaignsindigitalmarketingagencies.Often,you’retrackingnumerouscampaignsfornotoneclientbutdozensatthesametime.   Justpictureit.    You’redrivingtraffictoamom-and-popstore’slandingpagewithPPCandbannerads,generatingleadsforaB2Bcompany’sLinkedInpage,andpromotingsponsoredadsonsocialmediaforanecommerceclient.   Ifyouthinkthisisametricsmayhemwaitingtohappen,you’renotalone.    AccordingtoasurveyfromDemandGenReport,46%ofmarketersstruggledwithmessydata.   Grabthistemplatewithyourowndata! Kickmessydatainthebuttwithavisual-basedreport   URLtrackingavoidsmetricsmayhemfromhappeningasit’sbasedonlinkredirects.Inotherwords,it’s100%accurate.   TheseURLparametersmakeiteasytomeasuredata,suchastheconversionrateofeachA/Btestingadortheclick-throughrateofeachCTAbuttoninmultipleemailmarketingcampaigns.    ForAffiliateMarketing It'schallengingtoidentifywhichaffiliatesdrivethehighestnumberofconversionstoawebsitewithoutURLtracking.   ByprovidingeachaffiliatewithauniquetrackingURL,brandscanidentifytheirbestsales-generatingpartnersandchoosewhichtoworkwithinbiggerpromotionalcampaigns.    SoHowDoesURLTrackingWork? Inthissection,we’llwalkyouthroughhowtocreateandtrackacampaignURLlink.    Firstthingsfirst,grabtheoriginallinkyouwanttotrack(e.g.,https://www.example.com).  Next,enterthelinkandcampaignname,source,andmediuminyourURLtrackingtool(note:we’llusetheGoogleAnalytics(GA)CampaignBuilderinthiswalkthrough).     ScrolldowntocopythegeneratedURL(s)andshareitinyourchannels.    EachtimeauserclicksontheuniqueURL,theURLgeneratorwillrecordtheactivity.Ifyou’reusingadashboardreportingtool,youcanautomatetheentireprocess.   Sayyou’reusingGoogleAnalyticsandClickMeterwithDashThis.Youmightconnectthesethreetoolstocreateareport. PickatemplateandchooseyourKPIsfromadropdownmenuunderPresetWidgets.DashThiswillgrabtherelevantdataaccordingly.   Grabthistemplatewithyourowndata!   Don’tworryifyoucan’tfindtheKPI(s)you’relookingfor.    Insomecases,youmightneedtosetupyourownunderCustomWidgets.Fillinthemetric,dimension,andthelike,andyou’regoodtogo.   URLTrackingTools Phew,we’realmostdone.    Beforeweconcludethisguide,herearethreepopularURLtrackinganalyticstoolsyoucan’tgowrongwith.   GACampaignURLbuilder TheGoogleAnalyticsCampaignURLbuilderisidealifyouwanttogenerateURLstowebsites.   NotethatyoushouldusetheGooglePlayURLBuilderandtheiOSCampaignTrackingURLBuilderifyou’readvertisingAndroidandiOSapps.   ClickMeter Ifyou’relookingforanadvancedURLgenerator,looknofurtherthanClickMeter.    Youcanuseittoredirectuserstoadestinationofyourchoice(e.g.,FrenchuserstoaFrenchwebsite)andevenfightclickfraudactivities.   Bit.ly Customize,brand,andtrackyourlinkswithBit.ly.    ThisURLlinkshortenerisbestusedforsocialmediaandofflinemarketingchannels(e.g.,postcards,billboardads,radio).   HowtoTrackYourLinkswithDashThis There’sonlysomuchGoogleAnalyticscantellyou.    Fortunately,URLtrackingisthemissingpiecetomakingsenseofyourmarketingeffortsindividually.    Withthesetrackinglinks,youcanfinallyidentifyyourmostprofitableadcampaigns,determinewhichspecificinboundoroutboundstrategyworksbetterforyourbusiness,andcraftanirresistibleCTAthatmakesusersclick.    Betteryet,trackyourlinkswithDashThis.Ourautomatedmarketingreportingtoolhelpsyoucreatereportsintheblinkofaneye.   GrabthisFREEadvertisingdashboardwithyourowndata.   ThispostwasupdatedonNov2021.TheoriginalarticlewaswrittenbyLouisaMcGrath,acontentmanageratClickMeter.ClickMeterisaDashThisintegrationandpartner,allowingmarketerstomonitor,compareandoptimizealltheirlinkstoincreaseconversions.   StartYourFreeTrial GuestPost Thisarticlewaswrittenbyoneofouramazingguestauthors.We’realwayslookingfortalentedcontributorstosharetheirexpertisewithouraudience!  Readytoautomateyourreporting? 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