Complete Guide to Google Analytics UTM tagging - Funnel.io

If you want to be able to track the performance of your marketing efforts on the campaign level, then you need to use the source, medium and campaign tags. Bestpractices/how-tos CompleteGuidetoGoogleAnalyticsUTMtagging Share FollowusonLinkedIn FollowusonFacebook FollowusonTwitter GoogleAnalyticsisbyfarthemostusedanalyticstool. BuiltWithestimates thatin2022,morethan80%ofallwebsitesworldwideuseGoogleAnalyticsformeasuringtheirwebsiteusage.Unfortunately,manyofthepeoplewhorelyonGoogleAnalyticsformeasuringtheirwebsitetrafficlackagoodunderstandingofhowitworksandhavenotsetuptheirUTMtrackingcodescorrectly.HavingagoodGoogleAnalyticssetup(withproperUTMparameters)isthecornerstoneofasuccessfulmarketingprogram. ThisarticlefocusesonhowtouseUTMstoensurethetrafficyouacquiretoyoursiteshowsupcorrectlyinGoogleAnalytics.FormoredetailsontheinsandoutsofGoogleAnalyticswerecommendtheofficial GoogleAnalyticsHelpCenter. HowGoogleAnalyticsknowswhereyourvisitorscomefrom Whenapersonvisitsyourwebsite,theirbrowserreadstheunderlyingHTMLandCSScodeinordertoknowwhattoshowinthebrowser.ProvidedyouhaveGoogleAnalyticsinstalled,partofthiscodeistheGoogleAnalyticsscriptwhichexecuteswhenthebrowserloadsthewebsite.Thiscodedoesalotofthings,andoneofthemistointerprethowthevisitorendeduponthewebsite.ThisisdonebycheckingtheURLthatledhimorherthere.ThisiscalledthereferrerURL. Forexample,onwebsiteAthereisalinktowebsiteB:http://www.websiteb.com/.ProvidedthatwebsiteBhasGoogleAnalyticsinstalled,visitsfromwebsiteAwillshowupinGoogleAnalyticsas Source=http://www.websitea.comMedium=referral Thisisprobablysomethingyou’veseenintheGoogleAnalyticsinterfacebefore.Butwhatdoesitmean?   GoogleAnalyticsdimensions GoogleAnalytics thinksofincomingvisitsintermsofafewdimensions.Thesedimensionsareusedforcategorizingvisitorsintodifferentbucketssoyoucanunderstandwherethewebsitetrafficiscomingfrom.Thishelpsyoudeterminewhichmarketingeffortsareworkingwellandwhichneedadjustments. Therearefiveprimarydimensionsunderyourcontrolthatcanbeusedforslicingupthetrafficdata: Source:Thereferrerofthevisits,e.g.,google,facebook,bing,nytimes. Medium:Themarketingmedium,e.g.,cpc,organic,email. Campaign:Thenameofthecampaign,ifapplicable. Term:Typicallyusedforpaidtrafficonly.Keywordwhenusedforsearchads.Forotheradplatforms,itistypicallyusedforidentifyingtheaudienceorthelevelbelowthecampaign.Forexample,theadsetinFacebook. Content:Typicallyusedforpaidtrafficonlyandrepresentsthead’scontent,whichallowsforidentifyingindividualads.E.g.,blue-imageorthenameoftheheadline. Ifyouwanttobeabletotracktheperformanceofyourmarketingeffortsonthecampaignlevel,thenyouneedtousethesource,mediumandcampaigntags.Ifyouwanttobeabletotrackperformancetotheadslevel,thenyouneedtouseallfivedimensions. Thetwomostimportantdimensionsoutofthefivearesourceandmedium.Infact,theyaresoimportantthattheydeserveasectionoftheirown.   TheSourceandMediumdimensions YoucanthinkofSourceaswhosentthevisitortothesite,andofMediumashow.InourexampleabovewebsiteAwasthesourceofthetraffic(thewho)anditsentthevisitortowebsiteBbyreferringtoitviaalink(thehow). Butdon’tyoualwaysenduponawebsitebyclickingalink?Wellyes,exceptforwhentypingintheURLdirectlyintothebrowser’sURLfield(inthatcasesourceis“direct”andmediumis“(none)”).However,althoughyoutypicallyenduponagivenwebsitebyclickingalink,thatdoesn’tmeanalllinksareequal.Medium=referralcanbeinterpretedasthelinkrecommendsthisothersitewithnootherpurposethantorecommendit,i.e.,itreferstoit. Sayyou’reclickingasponsoredlinkinstead.Inthatcase,the“how”isn’tasimplereferral,butratherapurposefullyplacedlinkthatispaidfor.TheMediumshouldthenbesomethingalongthelinesof“cpc”(forcostperclick),“paid”,or“ad”. InordertogetabetterideaofwhatMediumis,hereareafewcommonexamplesofhowtouseit: referral:ThedefaultMediumifnothingelseisset. (none):TrafficwithnoreferringMedium,i.e.,directtraffic. (notset):TrafficwhereGoogleAnalyticsisunabletofigureoutanythingabouttheoriginofthetraffic. organic:Organicsearchtraffic.Thisdoesnotincludesponsoredsearchresults.GoogleAnalyticsautomaticallyidentifiesnon-paidtrafficfrommajorsearchengines(e.g.,Google,Bing)asorganic. cpc:Shortforcostperclickandthetypicalcategorizationofpaidtraffic. email:Trafficvialinksinemails. social:Linksfrompostsonsocialmediawebsites. video:Linksinvideos. Mediumcanthusbequiteafewdifferentthings,andintheend,it’suptoyouhowyouwanttouseit.Theimportantthingtorememberisthatitisrarelyautomaticallyset,whichleadstoalltrafficshowingasreferralsinGoogleAnalytics.Thismakesithardtoeffectivelycategorizeincomingtraffictogetagoodideaofwhichmarketingeffortsareworking. So,howdoyouensureallvisitstoyourwebsitearecategorizedinawaythatallowsforcomparingapplestoapples?   Taggingincomingtraffic Thisisoneofthemostimportanttasksinonlinemarketingandonethatmanyadvertisersdon’tdowell.ThetrickistoensurethatGoogleAnalyticsgetsasmuchrelevantinformationaspossibleabouthowavisitorendeduponthewebsite.Forexample,avisitormaycomeinthrougharegularlinkonawebsite,anad,alinkinanemail,etc. Ifyoudon’ttagyourURLs,GoogleAnalyticswillonlyextractlimitedinformationfromthevisitor.Thismeansthesourceofthetrafficandaguessofwhatthemediumshouldbe,whichistypically,“referral”. Knowyourwebsitevisitors Whenyouhavecreatedanad,putalinkinanemailyousentout,orpublishedapostonasocialnetwork,thenyoutypicallyhavealotmoreinformationaboutthevisitthatyouwanttopassontoGoogleAnalytics.ThemechanismthatisusedtotellGoogleAnalyticswherethevisitiscomingfromistoaddtrackingparameterstotheURLinthelink.ThisoverridesGoogleAnalytics’owneffortstoinfertheinformation. TrackingparametersareaddedattheendoftheURLandstartwitha“?”.ThismeansthebrowserignoresthemandtheaddresstheURLispointingtodoesnotchange.Thetrackingparametersareonlyusedtotransmitinformationtothesitereceivingthevisitfromthelink. ThetrackingstandardusedbyGoogleAnalyticsiscalledUTMparameters.BecauseGoogleAnalyticsisthedefactostandardforwebsiteanalytics,thesameappliestoUTMparameters.YouhaveprobablynoticedtheseatsomepointinthebrowserURLfieldafterclickingalink.AtypicalURLinanadcouldlooksomethinglikethis: http://www.website.com/?utm_source=newssite.com&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=my-campaign Everythingafterthe“?”intheURLaboveisinformationforGoogleAnalyticstocorrectlycategorizevisitsfromthislinktothewebsite. Ifyou’reluckythepublisheryou’rebuyingadsfrom(e.g.,Google)tagsyourads’destinationURLsautomatically.Youcanhave GoogleAdWords and Bing automaticallydothis.But,thesetwoareexceptions.Inmostcases,youeithermanuallyhavetomakesureyourdestinationURLsaretaggedcorrectlyoruseathird-partyadstooltoautomateitforaspecificchannel. LuckilyitisnotparticularlyhardtoaddUTMparametersfromatechnicalpointofview.Thehardpartisbeingconsistent.Tohelpgetthetechnicalbitsright,Googlehascreateda URLbuilder thatletsyougenerateURLsthatGoogleAnalyticscanmakesenseof.It’snotveryfancy,butaneasywayofmakingsuretheUTMsarecorrectlyformatted.It’sthenuptoyoutomakesuretheUTMtagsmakesenseandareconsistent.We’vealsobuiltourown campaignnameandURLbuildertool thatallowsyoutocreatenicestructuredadvertisingcampaignnamesandautomaticallyincludetheseinyourUTMtaggedURLs. HowtouseUTMtagsforyoururls BelowarethemostimportantguidelinestofollowwhenusingUTMsinURLs.Usethemtocreateaframeworkthatfitsyou.Makesuretowritedowntherulesandconventionsinadocumentsoitisavailabletoeveryoneinyourorganization. Tagalltrafficthatyouhavecontrolover Evenunpaidtrafficandlinksinemailsthatyousendoutshouldbetagged.Ifathird-partytoolisuseditusuallyhasanoptiontotagURLs.Lookforitanduseit!LookthroughallyourtrafficinGoogleAnalyticsandidentifythetrafficthatisnottaggedandtrytofigureoutawaytotagit.Therewillbetrafficthatyoucannottag,suchastruereferralURLsandtrafficthatreallyisdirecttraffic,andthat’sfine. BeconsistentwhensettingUTMtags Itdoesnotreallymatterifyouuse“cpc”,“paid”,“promoted”orsomeothertagtosignifypaidtrafficfromagivenadplatform.Whatisimportantisthatyoualwaysusethesametagtomeanthesamething.Ifdifferentpeopleindifferentpartsofyourorganizationinterchangeablyuse“cpc”,“paid”and“promoted”forthesametypeoftrafficyouwillhaveahardtimegettingagoodoverviewandproperlyaggregatingyourdata. Useaconsistentcase GoogleanalyticsUTMtagsarecasesensitive,souseaclearruleforhowtocapitalizeandfollowitreligiously. Createa namingconventionforcampaigns Theexactnamingconventiondependsonthesetupforyourbusiness.Herearesomeguidelines: Keepthenamesasshortaspossiblewhilestilluniqueanddescriptiveofthenatureofthecampaign.Abbreviationsaregoodiftheyareeasytounderstand.Also,avoididenticallongphrasesinmanycampaignnames.Alotofthatcanusuallybecutout. StartwiththethingsthatareuniquetothecampaignasthenamewilloftenbetruncatedwhenlookingatitinGoogleAnalytics.Ifyouadvertiseindifferentcountries,useanabbreviationforthecountryinthecampaignname.Forexample,US,DE,SE. Considerwhetheryouwanttoaddanidentifierforthetypeofadinthecampaignname.Forexample,ifitisaGoogleAdWordsdisplaycampaignyoumaywanttostartitwiththeabbreviationGDNforGoogleDisplayNetworksoyoucandistinguishitfromAdWordssearchcampaigns.AdWords’sauto-taggingsetsthemediumtocpcforallsearchanddisplaytrafficsoitishelpfultofindanotherwaytodistinguishbetweensearchanddisplaytrafficthanthemedium. Beconsistentinhowyouusecaseincampaigns.UTMtagsarecase-sensitive,soyouneedtomakesureyoualwaysgetthisright.Formoreinformationaboutnamingconventionsforyourdigitalmarketingcampaigns,lookattheCampaignNamingGuide.  Setthesourcetagtothenameofthechannelyouareusing Alwaysusethenameoftheadplatform,affiliate,emailserviceorpublisherforthesourcetag.ForexamplefacebookforFacebook,hasoffersfortheHasOffersaffiliatenetworkandmailchimpforemailssentusingMailchimp. Consideralwayssettingthemediumtagforpaidtraffictocpc ThisiswhatGoogle’sauto-taggingdoes,soallpaidtrafficfromAdWordswillappearthiswayinGoogleAnalyticsunlessyouaddyourowntags.Thiswayitiseasytofilteroutpaidtraffic.Alternatively,youcanusethemediumtagtosignifytheexactbidtypefortheadsuchascpc,cpm,etc.Butfirst,considerwhetheryoureallyneedthatinformationinGoogleAnalytics.Itmaybebettertojustkeepitsimple. Setthecampaignparametertothecampaignname Thecampaignparametershouldbeidenticaltothecampaignnameintheadsplatform.Includingcapitalizationsifapplicable.SpacesarenotallowedinURLsandthusnotinUTMparameters.Ifyouusespacesinyourcampaignnamesyouneedtoreplaceeachspaceby%20.ThenGoogleAnalyticswillreaditasaspace. Setthetermparametertosignifythetargetingofthead GoogleAdWordsautomaticallysetsthistothekeyword(forpaidsearch),providedthatyouhaveauto-taggingenabled.Termisthususedtosignifyhowtheadistargeted.Werecommendusingitinthesamewayforallothertrafficsourceswhereyouhavetargetinginformation.ForFacebook,forinstance,thiscorrespondstotheadsetnameastargetingissetattheadsetlevelinFacebook.ForTwitterandLinkedInads,createastringbasedonTwitterorLinkedIntargetingparametersusedforad.Foremails,useatermthatdescribestheemaillistused.Forexample,“incompletesignups”. Setthecontentparametertoidentifytheindividualad Thisisusuallysomethingthatistiedtothecreativeofthead.Don’tworryifyouusethesamecreativefortwoadswithdifferenttargeting.Thenthecontentparametercanbethesameforthetwoadsasthetermparametercanbeusedtodistinguishthetrafficfromthetwodifferentads.Examplesofthecontentparameterinclude“bluebanner”or“alljeans50%”. DecideonaconsistentwaytohandlethesituationwhereyoumakechangestocampaignsintheadsplatformthatimpacttheUTMtags Thecampaign,termandcontenttagsdependonthecampaignname,keywordortargeting,andadcreativeintheadvertisingplatform.Ifyoumakechangestoanyoftheseafteryouhavelaunchedtheadyouhavetwochoices.EitheryouleavetheUTMparametersastheyareoryouchangethemtoreflectthenewvalues.OurrecommendationisthatyouchangetheUTMtagstoreflectthemodificationsyouhavemadeintheadsplatform.Thiswayyouknowthereisalwaysaconsistencybetweenthetwo. ThetablebelowshowsyouthefivedifferentUTMparameterswithsuggestionsforhowtousethem.Itshouldberelativelyeasytodecideonaconventionthatsuitsyourbusiness.Again,themostimportantthingistotagallURLsandtobeconsistent.Ifindoubt,keepitsimple.Also,makesurethatGoogleAdWordsandBingauto-taggingisenabled.Thiswillsavealotofmanualwork. ThesevenmostcommonUTMtaggingmistakes: 1.Nottaggingatall Wearesurprisedhowoftenweseethis,evenwithlargeradvertisers. 2.Notbeingconsistentinthetagging Forexample,ifthemediumforpaidtrafficissometimestaggedas“paid”or“cpc”or“cpm”or“ad”ornotatallforthesameadchannel,thenitisreallyhardtoseetheeffectofyouradvertisingasthedataisnotaggregatedcorrectly. 3.Usingdifferentcasesforthesametag URLtagsarecasesensitive,so“cpc”and“CPC”aretreatedasdifferent.Makesureyouhaveaconventionforhowtousecases.Arecommendationistouselowercaseforsourceandmediumtagsasthat’showmostauto-taggingtoolsdoit.BothAdWords’sandBing’sauto-tagginguselowercaseforsourceandmedium. 4.WronguseoftheUTMparameters  Forexample,todistinguishbetweendifferenttypesofFacebooktrafficyoucouldsetthesourceto“facebook-post”forpagepostsyoucreate,“facebook-ads”forFacebookads.ButthatisnothowtheyaremeanttobeusedandthusyouwillnotseeinformationintherightwayinGoogleAnalytics.Thesourceshouldsimplybefacebook(orfacebook.comifyouwanttousethatasyourconvention)andthepostandpaididentifiershouldbeputinthemediumtagwhereitbelongs.ThiswayyoucanseeinformationcorrectlyinGoogleAnalytics. 5.Usingcampaignnamesthataretoolong  Withverylongcampaignnames,manycampaignsthatstartwiththesamephrase,andcampaignsthatdon’tfollowanamingconvention,itisreallyhardtoseeinGoogleAnalyticswhattheactualcampaignis. 6.Tagginginternallinks YoushouldnotputUTMsonlinksfromyourownwebsitethatleadtootherpagesonyourwebsite.First,itisnotnecessary.GoogleAnalyticscantracktrafficonyoursitewithoutanyURLtagging.Second,ifyouaddUTMtrackingparametersoninternallinksyouwillloseinformationonwherethetrafficoriginallycamefrom. 7.Notaccountingforsub-domains Itisquitecommonforwebsitestohavesub-domainssuchasblog.website.comorapp.website.com.Ifyoudon’texplicitlytellGoogleAnalyticstheyareallthesamewebsiteitwillinterpretthemasseparateproperties.ThismeansyouwillseetrafficfromyourowndomainsinyourGoogleAnalyticsaccount.AtypicalexampleiswhenvisitorsclickalinkonFacebooktoyourblogandafterreadingtheblogpostclickontoyourmainsite.Withoutthepropersetup,GoogleAnalyticswillinterpretthesourceofthetrafficasblog.website.comwhenit,infact,wasFacebook.Youcanlearnhowtoavoidthisscenarioatthe GoogleDevelopersite. ThevalueofGoogleAnalyticsUTMtagging IfyouuseaconsistentframeworkfortaggingallyourwebtrafficGoogleAnalyticswillbeabletoprovidealotmoreinsightforyou.Youwillbeabletoseetheeffectofindividualmarketingcampaignsandevenspecificads.Thiswayyoucanevaluatewhichadsandcampaignsleadtosalesandwhichoneshavelittleeffect. Furthermore,taggingupyourwebtrafficfromyourpaidadvertisingallowsyoutomatchyourGoogleAnalyticsdatawithyourspendandadvertisingdatafromyouradschannels.YoucaneitherdothismanuallyorbyusinganautomatedtoollikeFunnel.io.Thetablebelowshowsyouwhatthisdatacanlooklike. Adschannel Adspend Sessions Transactions Assists Revenue CAC ROAS Googleads Search $45489 36012 1801 3601 $194465 $25 428% GoogleAdsDisplay $9765 28319 283 850 $28035 $34 287% Bingpaidsearch $8345 6828 273 546 $28130 $31 337% Facebook $37654 115472 2309 8083 $228635 $16 607% Twitter $4921 5249 142 638 $14172 $35 288% LinkedIn $3548 1833 55 220 $7149 $65 202% YouTube $12493 7853 275 825 $26660 $45 213% Total $122215 201566 5138 14762 $527248 $24 431% Ontheleft-handsidearethedifferentadschannels.Thencomesthedatafromtheadschannels(adspend),thenthedatafromGoogleAnalytics(sessions,transactions,assists,revenue)andfinallythemetricsthatarecalculatedfromtheadschanneland GoogleAnalyticsdata (customeracquisitioncost(CAC),returnonadvertisingspend(ROAS)).Thisistheinformationyouneedinordertodecidewhichadschannelsworkbestforyouandwhichdonotperformwell.Thisisverypowerfulinformation. Thenextstepistodothisanalysisforallcampaignsforalladschannelstoseewhichcampaignsworkbestcrosschannel.Youcanevendrilldowntotheadslevelandseewhichadsworkthebestandwhatthecustomeracquisitioncostandreturnonadvertisingspendisfortheseads. Getintouchwithustoday.Letusshowyouhowyoucanputyourdatatowork.