UTM (Urchin tracking module) parameters are the ones you can add to a link to help you track the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns across traffic sources and publishing media. Usually, these parameters are used for such advertising systems as Google Ads or Facebook.
As the default setting, marketers usually use auto-tagging. We recommend using both auto-tagging and UTM-tagging for your campaigns to see the details for the name of campaigns and keywords the users come from to your website in Call tracking reports.
You can set up this setting by linking your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics.
Pay attention! Before linking your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics property, you should check if the values for required utm-parameters (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, and utm_term) are the same as they are set in the template for settings of URL parameters of the campaign.
For example, if you set up only auto-tagging, you’ll see the following details about your user in a Call tracking service report:
Meanwhile, using combined tagging will allow you to recognize the name of your campaigns and the keywords:
Here’s an example of the link with such utm-parameters: https://www.example.com/page?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=test&utm_term=test&utm_content=test
utm_source — the source of your advertising traffic such as site, publication, for example, Google, Twitter, etc.;
utm_medium — defines the type of your advertising traffic, for example, cpc, organic, referral, etc.;
utm_campaign — the individual campaign name, slogan, for example, promo_for_new_year;
utm_term — the information related to your campaign as the paid keyword you are bidding on.
To create the links with such parameters, use URL builders.
While doing it, remember that the link shouldn’t include any space. The register is also essential, as “utm_source=google” and “utm_source=Google” will be shown as two different sources in Google Analytics.
How to make utm-tagging in Google Ads
To do utm-tagging for your advertising campaigns in Google Ads, you should use a tracking template. Such a template allows you to tag all your campaigns in a few minutes.
Here’s an example of the template:
{lpurl}?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=name_of_campaign_in_ads&utm_term={keyword}
It has two dynamic parameters: “{lpurl}” and “{keyword}”. When you use utm-tagging, put the same value for utm_campaign as it’s set in your Google Ads account. That means that each letter, digit, or symbol should be precisely the same, even the register of the letters.
Go to the “All campaigns” page to set this setting for new campaigns. Select “Settings” => “Account settings”. Then open the setting for tracking.
Then fill up the field “Tracking template” with your URL with utm-parameters.
To enable such a tracking template for the campaigns created before — go to the “Settings”. Then select the required campaigns and click on the “Edit” button. In the list, choose “Change tracking templates”.
In the field “New tracking template” put your URL with utm-parameters and apply.
You also can use the additional dynamic utm-parameters. More of them you’ll find in Google documents.
How to make utm-tagging on Facebook
Let’s check how to build a URL with utm-parameters for the ads on Facebook.
First, go to your Facebook Ads account and find the ads you want to tag with utm-parameters. You can change settings for each ad separately or do it for a few at one time.
Then find the “Tracking” block and click on “Build a URL Parameter”.
Fill up the form with the required utm-parameters.
Campaign Source — put the source such as
fb, facebook, ig, instagramCampaign Medium — set
cpcCampaign Name — choose
{{campaign.name}}Campaign Content — put dynamic parameters
cid|{{campaign.id}}|gid|{{adset.id}}|aid|{{ad.id}}|pos|{{placement}}|adn|{{site_source_name}}Add parameter utm_term for keyword and put the dynamic parameter
{{keyword}}
Then click on “Apply”.
The link for an ad will look like this:
After setting utm-parameters for a list of ads, don’t forget to check if the settings were applied before publishing the ads.
