Custom Campaign Tagging using UTM codes in Google ...

UTM tagging is referenced in official GA4 documents as the approach that should be used for online campaign tracking. CustomCampaignTaggingusingUTMcodesinGoogleAnalytics(Universal&GA4) WrittenbyJoanneKearney Joannehasover10years’experienceworkingindigitalanalytics,executingandmanagingmanylargescaleprojectsacrosstheUKandIreland. Joanneisalsoanexperiencedtrainer,havingdevelopedmanycustomisedcorporatetrainingschemesandregularlyspeaksatdigitalandanalyticsevents. DigitalAnalyticsInsights|GoogleAnalytics|WebAnalytics April30,2021 ShareonFacebook Share ShareonTwitterTweet ShareonLinkedIn Share Sendemail Mail Doyouinvestyourtimeandmoneyinsocialcampaigns,emailcampaignsornon-Googledisplaycampaigns?DoyoustopandthinkabouttaggingthesecampaignssoyoucanseethevalueofthetrafficclearlyinGoogleAnalytics? Ifnotandifyoucan’tseethistrafficcomingthroughinGoogleAnalyticsundertheACQUISITIONreportsyoucouldbeavictimoflosttraffic.  Whatislosttraffic? Trafficthatislost,issobecauseitisgenerallyuntagged,andasaconsequenceGoogleAnalyticscan’taccuratelydeterminethesourcetheusercamefromduetolackofdetail.Forexample,youmightlookatyourtrafficsourcesreportandexpecttoseeemailtrafficlistedalongsidepaidsearchtraffic.Notthere?Thenit’slikelymuddledinwithyourdirecttraffic,oritcouldbecomingthroughasreferraltraffic.  It’sthesamewithsocialtraffic;whileyoumightseeFacebooksocialtrafficcomingthroughasaFacebookreferralvisit,howdoyouknowifthisisthroughanorganicorpaidpostlinkthatyoushared,oralinkthatsomeonehastakenfromthesiteandpostedtoafriend’sprofilewhohasthenclickedonit? Whilewecan’tdefineortagthelinkbeingusedinthelatterscenario,whatwecandoisbyprocessofelimination,workoutwhatlinksHAVENOTbeenpostedorsharedbythebusinessbydecoratingthelinksweDOpost.  Whyspendtimetagginglinks? Taggingcampaignshasanumberofadvantagesincluding: You’llhavecleanerGoogleAnalyticsreporting You’llhavecleanerDataStudioreports Youcanbuildoutneatercustomchannelgroupingsusingyournewlydefinedsources/mediums YoucanusethesecustomchannelsforbetterMulti-channelfunnelandattributionanalysis Thankfully,GA4(thenewversionofGoogleAnalytics)alsoacceptsUTMtaggingsoifyouaredualtaggingatpresenti.e.runningbothGA4andUniversalAnalytics,asGooglerecommends,thenthesetagswillworkinsegmentingtrafficcorrectlyviabothversions. Ultimately,you’llendupmakingmoreaccuratedecisionsabouttheeffectivenessofyouronlinecampaignefforts. HowdoweensureGoogleAnalytics categorises ourtrafficcorrectly? Anyonlinecampaignsthatyourun–whereyoucontrolthelink–canbetracked,butthisrequirestheuseofcustomcampaigntracking;inotherwords,URLdecorationthatisachievedusingGoogle’sURLbuildertoolthatpushesdetailsaboutwheretheuserhascomefrom,throughUTMparametersintheURL. WhatareUTMlinks&UTMParameters? UTMlinksareURLswithcodesattachedtothemthathelpyoutotrackthatURLwithmoreprecision.ThispieceofcodeconsistsofdifferentUTMparameters. Insummarysofar: Foranyonlinecampaignwhere: Youhavecontroloverthelinkthatpeopleclickon  ThereisnooptiontouseautotaggingORyoudon’twanttheautotagstobeusedastheyarenotdescriptiveenoughofwherethetrafficiscomingfrom,ORthewebsiteset-uprejectsadditionalUTMparameters …itisimportanttotakesometimetotagthelinkswithdescriptivetextsoGooglewill: Identifythistrafficasonlinecampaigntraffic Labelthetrafficasperyourdescriptionsprovided CustomCampaignTaggingGuide Totrackcampaigns,parametersneedtobeaddedtotheendoftheURLthatyouuse. TheeasiestwaytocreatetheselinksisviaGoogle’sURLbuildertool:https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/ Theparametersontheleftarevariable-valuepairsthatcontainthedetailidentifyingthetraffic. Yousimplyfilloutthefieldsontheleft,makingsurethatyouatleastpopulatetheWebsiteURL,CampaignSource,CampaignMediumandCampaignNamefields.         Thereareatotaloffiveparametersthatyoucanuse: utm_source: Thisreferstotheexactsourceofwhereyourtrafficiscomingfromandcouldbeanythingfromasocialmediaplatformtoanemailmarketinglist.IntheaboveexamplethesourceparameterisFacebook,whichshowsthatthetrafficiscomingfromFacebook.  Sourceparametersareaddedbytypingthenameofthesourceafterutm_source= utm_medium: Themediumparametertellsyouexactlywhattypeoftrafficyou’regetting-whetherit’ssocial,referral,emailoranyothertypeoftraffic.Intheaboveexample,thenameofthemediumissocial,whichmeansthetrafficiscomingfromsocialmedia.  MediumUTMparametersareaddedbytypingthenameofthemediumafterutm_medium= utm_campaign: Asthenamesuggests,thisUTMparametercanhelpyoutraceyourtrafficbacktoaspecificmarketingcampaign.Thiscanhelpyoutrackexactlyhowmuchtrafficeachindividualcampaignisdrivingandwhetheritissuccessfulornot.Intheaboveexample,thenameofthecampaignissale. CampaignUTMparametersareaddedbytypingthenameofthecampaignafterutm_campaign= utm_term: Thekeywordparameterallowsyoutotrackwhichkeywordtermawebsitevisitorcamefrom.Thisparameterisspecificallyusedforpaidsearchads.TermUTMparametersareaddedbytypingthenameofthetermafterutm_term= utm_content: Usedtodifferentiatesimilarcontent,orlinkswithinthesamead.Forexample,ifyouhavetwocall-to-actionlinkswithinthesameemailmessage,youcanuseutm_contentandsetdifferentvaluesforeachsoyoucantellwhichversionismoreeffective,orthiscanbeusedtoindicatetheadsizee.g.MPUv’sLeaderboard.ContentUTMparametersareaddedbytypingthenameofthetermafterutm_content= Forexample,thetag utm_source=newsletter identifiesthatthetrafficcamefromanewsletterandthetag utm_campaign=mayidentifiesthatthiswasthecampaigninthemonthofMay.Thereisnolimittothenumberofvaluesyoucanhave,butwerecommendyouusetransparentnamesandkeeptrackofwhatcampaignseachvaluerelatesto. TheparametersfromaURLareseparatedwithaquestionmark.Variablesandvaluesareseparatedbyanequalssign.Eachvariable-valuespaceisfilledwithanampersand.ParameterscanbeaddedtoaURLinanyorder,butmustusethepropersyntax.  utm_term(CampaignTerm)andutm_content(CampaignContent)canbeusedfortrackingadditionalinformationaboutyourcampaign,butarenotrequiredfields. OnceyouaddtheUTMcodetoyourcampaign’sURL,youcantracktheperformanceinGoogleAnalyticsinafewdifferentreports. >GotoAcquisition->Overview->AllTraffic->Source/Mediumtoviewtraffic >GotoAcquisition->Campaigns->AllCampaignstoviewtrafficbasedonyourcustomcampaignnames. Hereyouwillbeabletoanalysehowtrafficfromspecificcampaignsubsetsareinteractingwithyoursite.   BestPracticesforCampaignTagging Tagonlywhatyouneed Therearecertainlinksthatyoudon’tneedtotagandmanytimesarenotabletotag. TheURLbuildertoolDOESNOTneedtobeusedfor searchorganic listingsastheURLthatisusedbyGoogleistakenfromthecrawlofthewebsite,conductedbythebot. Theothercommoncaseswheremanualtrackingoflinksdoesnotneedtooccurisfor GoogleAds campaignsasthereistheabilitytolinkanAdsandAnalyticsaccount.ApplyautotaggingandGooglewillautomaticallytakethetrafficsourcedetailsfromAdsandpushthisintocampaignreportsinGoogleAnalytics. Checkthatthereisn’tanoptionforautotagginginothernon-Googleproducts(ifthereisthiswillsaveyoutime) BecauseGoogleAnalyticsisusedbythemajorityofwebsites,someonlinecampaigndistributiontoolsallowyoutosimplytickaboxandthelinksthatarepushedoutareautomaticallytaggedwithUTMparameters.Mailchimp–oneofthemostcommonemailplatforms–hasasimpletickboxoption,asdomanysocialpostschedulingtools. GoogleAnalyticsdoesnotchangethecaseofthetextyouuseinthefields GoogleAnalyticsiscasesensitive,soyoushoulddecidewhetheryouaregoingtousealluppercaseorlowercaseinyourstringfields.Forexample,utm_source=googlewillbetrackeddifferentfromutm_source=GoogleinGoogleAnalytics,i.e.theywillappearontwoseparatelines.Casesensitivityappliesforeachvariablethatyoudefine,sochooseacaseandstickwithit.Thisleadsusontoournextpoint-namingconventions. Establishingnamingconventionsiskey It’simportanttoestablishnamingconventionsthatyourentireteamwilluse.Ifsomeoneonyourteamuses“facebook.com”andtheotherhalfuses“facebook”forthesource,orsomeonewritesthemediumas“social”vs“socialmedia”youwillgetmuddydata.Capitalisationsorspaceswillmakeyouranalyticsamessbysplittingthesamecampaignsinto2.  UseEasytoUnderstandNames Yourcampaign,contentandsourcelinksshouldbeeasytounderstand.Anyonelookingatthecodeshouldbeabletofigureoutatoneglancewhatthecodemeans.  UseLinkShortenersforUser-FriendlyURLs ThecomplexityofaUTMcodeisdirectlyrelatedtoitslength.Asyoustartrunningmoresophisticatedcampaigns,yourURLswillbecomelongerandlonger.Thisisn’tthebestthingfromaUXperspective. Thesolution:linkshorteners.ByusingGoo.glorBit.ly,youcanturnlengthylinksintomoreshareableURLs.TheshortenedlinkwillstillkeeptheUTMparametersin-tact-thisisespeciallyhelpfulforyoursocialmediaposts. Somepeoplewillalsoopttousebrandedshortenersaswell.TheseareavailabletopurchaseviaBit.lysoforexample,ifyoudon’twanttousebit.ly/xxxxxyoucanuseglo.mt/xxxx. DidyouknowyoucanalsouseshortlinksforTV,RadioandPresscampaignswithhiddenUTMlinks?Meaningthat,alongsideyouronlinecampaignsourcese.g.paidsocial,organicsocial,display,email,etc…youwouldalsobeabletoviewTV,radio,pressoroutdoordriventraffic. Havelotsoflinkstotag? Ifyou’velotsoflinkstotaginbulk,e.g.youarerunningBingadsandneededallyourkeywordstagged,thenyoucanreplicatewhattheURLbuildertooldoes,byusingtheconcatenateformulatocreateadynamictaggingtemplatethatautogeneratesthedecoratedlink.Youcanviewanexampleofthisinoursamplesheethere:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZCkQzg-gDqXl7Nrneg5o_8xkU9M7gUEfkp3M5xSltoc/edit?usp=sharing IfyouareusingthemanuallinkingviaConcatenate-justmakesureyou: CopytheformulaandthenPASTESPECIAL–VALUEStogetthefinallinkthatyouuseforyouronlinecampaign. WhenyouarepopulatingyourfieldsDONOTleaveanyspaces-separatethevaluesyouusewitheitheradash,anunderscoreor%20(whattheUTMtooluses).RememberaURLwillnotfunctionifitincludesspacessodon’tuseany! Youdon’tneedtomodifycodeonyourwebsite WecommonlygetaskedifyouneedtotellGoogleAnalyticsthatyouareusingthesecodesormodifyyourcurrentGAcode.Theanswerisno!GoogleAnalyticswillreadtheURLsastheycomeinandrecognisethemautomatically,thensegmentyourtrafficaccordingly.YoualsoDON’TneedtomakeanychangestoyourGoogleAnalyticsorTagManagercode–youjustneedtoensureyouaredecoratingthelinksthatyoupushouttoyouraudiencesandGoogleAnalyticswilldotherest. Sothereyouhaveit,ifyouwanttobettersegmentyourinboundtrafficandlosetheambiguityaroundwhereuserscomefrom,starttagging!      ShareonFacebook Share ShareonTwitterTweet ShareonLinkedIn Share Sendemail Mail 6Comments GuilhermeLopes onMay7,2021at12:48am Greatoverview.However,GA4ismentionedandcurrentlytherearelotsoflimitationsofUTMlinkswhichseemthataren’tworkingproperlyinGA4.Lotsoftrafficisgoingtodirecteventhoughlinksareproperlytagged. Reply JoanneKearney onMay7,2021at10:48am HiGuilherme, Thanksforyourcomment.UTMtaggingisreferencedinofficialGA4documentsastheapproachthatshouldbeusedforonlinecampaigntracking.Wehadbeentestingthisoutbeforewritingtheblogandfoundthatitdidworkandwasreportingarounda10%highernumberofsessionswhencomparedtothesamecampaigntrafficinUniversalAnalytics.ObviouslytherewillbesomediscrepancyinGA4v’sUAstatsbutinourtests,UTMtrackingdidworkinGA4. That’snottosaythatyourpointisn’tvalid,GooglearestillmakingupdatestotheGA4productplustherecouldbeotherreasonsoutsideGA4thatarecausingyourUTMparameterstobedroppedand/ornotrecognised.IfyouarestillusingUniversalAnalyticshowdothenumbersfortaggedcampaignscompareforyou? Reply JosephKos onMay25,2021at8:51am HiJoanne,areyoucertainyouwereabletouseit?Ifyes,youeitherhaveaspecialGA4account,ormeandotherbunchofpeopledonotknowhowtodoit.AsGuilhermementionedGA4UTMtaggingdoesnotworksyet.Wouldyoubesokindandoutlinedinyourarticle,howdidyoumakeitworking? Reply JoanneKearney onMay25,2021at9:18am HiJoseph,yesitworksandIcanseethetrafficthatweusedUTMcodesforinourGA4reportsunderthesamesource/medium/campaignnamesweusedasUTMparameters.Wecanseethesameacrossclientaccountstoo.Happytolookintothisfurtherforyoutoseewhattheissuemightbeifyouwanttodropmeanemail:joanne[at]glowmetrics.com. Reply Dimitar onJuly16,2021at2:10pm HiJoanne!Yesindeed,IcanconfirmthatitworksandutmdataisindeedvisibleinGA4.However,wecan’tseetheutm_contentparameterwhichwasavailable(aswellasabunchmoreusefulparameters)inUA.Couldyoukindlyconfirmifyouarehavingthesameissue?Thisisveryannoying,especiallyforfacebookads(bothsingleimageandcarouselsespecially). Reply JoanneKearney onJuly20,2021at4:57pm HiDimitar, Yes-utm_contentandutm_keywordsaren’tunfortunatelyavailableinGA4atpresent.Ifwenoticethischanging,I’llreplytothiscommentandletyouknowbutinthemeantimeyoucouldupdatethecampaignnametoincludetheadtype.Notidealasthiswouldn’tbeconsistentwiththenamingconventionyouarecurrentlyusingandfeedingthrough(intobothUniversalandGA4),butatleastyou’dhavesomewayofdistinguishingtheadtypeifbothadtypesusethesameURL. KindRegards, Joanne Reply SubmitaCommentCancelreplyYouremailaddresswillnotbepublished.Requiredfieldsaremarked*Comment*Name* Email* Website SubmitComment Current[email protected]* Leavethisfieldempty ←Prev:SharingReportsandDashboardsinGoogleDataStudio Next:GettingStartedwithStructuredData→ Browsebycategory OptimiseyourwebsiteandmarketingcampaignperformancewithIreland’sleadingdigitalanalyticsagency findoutmore Enjoyedreadingthisarticle?Findmorelikeitbelow… HowtoincludeGoogleAdsExtensionDatainyourGoogleDataStudioDashboard byKyleCrooks|Apr6,2022|DigitalMarketingInsights,GoogleAds,GoogleDataStudioThemust-knowsofGoogleAdsextensions&howtoaddextensiondatatoyourDashboardusingaGoogleSheet. FiveoftheBestNewFeaturesinGoogleDataStudio byConorRoss|Jan10,2022|DigitalAnalyticsInsights,GoogleDataStudio,WebAnalyticsFiveoftheBestNewFeaturesinGoogleDataStudioTherehasbeenawholerangeofnewfeaturesaddedtoGoogleDataStudiothroughout2021,withmanyoftheupdatesand... 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