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How UTM Tags work
In order to track campaigns accurately in Google Analytics, we need parameters that are passed in our dashboard. For this we use UTM Tags.
https://mywebsite.com/?utm_source=FacebookAds&utm_medium=impressions&utm_campaign=MyTestCampaign
Data is sent to Google Analytics via this ending and is therefore made measurable for us. The attached data in the above example would be displayed for us in Google Analytics as follows:
We see that the traffic came through the source Facebook The medium is impressions.
In one sentence: because we can measure/see where the traffic comes from and under which circumstances it comes to us (all the parameters witch you can add to your UTM tag – I’ll show you later). This is especially important when we measure which channels/campaigns perform best.
We use UTM tags whenever we want to know under which conditions the traffic comes to us. In short: UTM tags should practically always be used. Sometimes there is the possibility to automatically set parameters via e.g. advertising campaigns in Google Ads (Auto-Tagging). This is an alternative to manually created links.
UTM tags should always be used for incoming links to your own website.
How to create a UTM tag
As mentioned above, there are several ways to add parameters to a link. The easiest in my eyes is the “Campaign URL Builder Tool” from Google.
In the following I will show you how to create a UTM tag with the tool:
We enter our desired parameters into the predefined fields as shown above.
In our example, we run an advertising campaign on Facebook. The source we enter is “FacebookAds”. The medium we use to run our campaign is “Impressions” (we pay for impressions in this fictional campaign) and under Campaign Name we enter the exact name of the Facebook campaign.
ATTENTION: It is important that we do not leave a space in any of the fields, or use special characters such as: ?,!%$§ ec. This has the consequence that the link is badly readable and is represented accordingly unclearly.
Once we have filled in all the parameter fields, we can copy the prepared link from the field below. In our example, we would now use this link in a Facebook ad.
You can add the following parameters to a UTM tag
The Google UTM Tool allows you to add the following parameters to the URL
- Campaign Source (Campaign source – e.g. FacebookAds, GoogleAds, FacebookButton, Newsletter…)
- Campaign Medium (Campaign Source – e.g. CPC, Impressions…)
- Campaign Name (Campaign Name – e.g. 0100-AW-US-MyCampaing)
- Campaign Term (Campaign term)
- Campaign Content (campaign content – for example, Ad1, Ad4…)
IMPORTANT: you must always append at least 2 UTM parameters to your URL, e.g. utm_source and utm_medium. If you only add one parameter, Google Analytics will not display anything.
Tip: If you want to create many UTM tags at once, it is often helpful to cache the links in a table. Especially if you plan and manage larger campaigns. For this you can use the following tool: UTM Link Tagging Tool.
(Credits to EpicOne at this point).
—> Founder-Hacks Link Tagging Tool
This is how you see if your UTM tag works
After you have entered the parameterized link in the browser, you can see in Google Analytics whether the parameters were transferred correctly.
To see if your UTM tag works, you can check the traffic parameters on your Google Analytics staging. To see in real time which parameters are assigned to the traffic, go to “Real time” in the left navigation bar in GA.
The parameters in Google Analytics are displayed here
To filter according to the individual parameters, such as campaign, medium, source… , you can filter out the individual link parameters data under “Secondary Dimension”.
Now you know why you should attach parameters and how to create a UTM tag. If you liked the post, let me know with a comment.
On this page I share my learnings with you. You have found a better/ faster/ more effective way to do what I explain? Let me know at hi@founder-hacks.com – I am happy to improve the article! Let’s grow together!