Basic Campaign Tracking Using Google Analytics

Increasing valuable (and converting!)  traffic to your website is the holy grail of digital marketing. As you build the amount of this traffic you are driving, then it is important to be able to compare campaigns to figure out what is and isn't working.

​The way to do this is to start using tracking parameters in the links you use to your site.

These are codes that you add to the end of each link to tell your Analytics platform where the visit has come from. As Google Analytics is the most popular of these for small businesses, then I will focus on that tracking for this blog, however other platforms will just slightly alter the parameter names and values required. 

The most basic Google Analytics tracking parameters are:

• utm_source= the top level marketing channel of your link;
• utm_medium= the sub-channel; and
• utm_campaign= specific campaign details.

With these parameters your URL will look something like this: www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=email&utm_medium=welcome&utm_campaign=welcome_v1.

Once you start to use these parameters you'll be able to tailor your reporting to look at specific channels / campaigns, and compare them against each other. The most basic form of this can be found under Acquisition > All Traffic > Source / Medium. You can also add the parameters as 'advanced' filters on many reports or use them to build a segment.

Complete consistency in the parameter information format you use is the most important thing to remember. In fact, it is best to think these out before you start so that you'll be able to report using the same parameters over time.
Ask yourself these questions and then base the tracking you use on it:

• What kind of campaigns are you running? Make sure to have a parameter set out for each type.
• How detailed do you want your reporting? I.e. Do you want to know the date of each campaign, or is there a type of campaign that is more relevant?

​
​You should only have a few sources, a handful of mediums and many more campaigns. Here are some examples:

1. Email
   www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=email&utm_medium=welcome&utm_campaign=welcome_v1
   www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=template1_020418www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=template1_300418
2. Instagram
   www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=stories&utm_campaign=keyword_020418
   www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=profile&utm_campaign=adifferentkeyword-090418

If you are new to using Google Analytics tracking parameters then their URL builder is a really helpful tool to ensure you’re adding the parameters correctly. You can find this here: https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/

And with that I'll sign off with a fun (?!) fact; UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module, a legacy from the platform Google Analytics is built from; Urchin WebAnalytics Software.

*Please comment or message me with any questions or feedback. Thanks!*