Google Analytics: UTM Link Tagging Explained

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Saturday, 05 April 2008

A customer of Intown Web Design developed an offline postcard campaign. The postcard campaign centered around their revolutionary new product. The postcard instructed them to visit a website about the new product. However, this website was not complete. To provide the best customer experience we created a 301 redirect to the existing product page on the company's main website.

The challenge that we faced was how do we track the number of people who received the postcard and followed the instructions.

The problem was solved using link tagging with Google Analytics UTM values.

Overview

Intown Web Design built custom UTM urls to be used in the 301 redirects. By doing this the customer could visit the new product domain name on the postcard and then be redirected to the product page with the longer url and we could track the entire process in Google Analytics.

What are Google Analytic UTM Tags?

Google UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) tags allow you to add extra information to you the link you create. This extra information appears in the Google Analytics reports under Traffic Sources.

A Link with UTM tags added:

http://www.domain.com/page.html?utm_source=Partner-Domain &utm_medium=Mailer&utm_campaign=New-Product

Required UTM Values

utm_source=XXX This is the source of the link Example: Search Engine, another domain, or name of email list
utm_medium=XXX This is the method of delivery. EX: Postcard, Email, or Banner Ad
utm_campaign=XXX This is a name that helps you keep track of your different campaign efforts Example: Fall_Drive, Christmas_Special

Optional UTM Values

utm_term=XXX This is a used to identify paid keywords. Example: speakers, monitors, shoes
utm_content=XXX This is for split testing or separating two ads that go to the same URL

To create the URL just add a "?" at the end of the URL and then an "&" between each one of the terms.

If you would like some assistance here is a very helpful Google Analytic UTM URL Builder.

Where to view the Link Tagging Results?

After you have created your links and sent them out via email, other web sites or pay per click, it is time to see your results. As with all Google Analytic Reporting it can take several hours for the data to appear in you reports.

In Google Analytics go to Traffic Sources --> All Traffic Sources

Depeding on how much traffic you site gets you may have to filter to find the information. After you locate it you will see the UTM values you entered for the Source and Medium.

Additionally you can filter the different reports to see the other UTM values that you added to your links.

Summary.

Tagging Links with UTM values is a very powerful and valuable tool that gives you the ability to create unique links for different campaigns. These links can be distributed via email, banner ad, affiliate program, or even offline marketing campaign.

Any questions or comments? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

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Comments (11) Add Comment

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written by Tiago S., October 12, 2008

Thanks for the info!

Great Work
written by Tobias Fox, December 17, 2008

Thank's for this article. It's just a pity, that google takes its time to "count" the links if you want to test some trackings. Always have to wait several hours... Same to you?

student
written by amin, December 29, 2008

hello
I want to understand the way of access the google earth or google map with
have gps number , for example I have x,y,z of map but how to access this coordinate map in yahoo map.
Can you help me to this matter?
Tanks
bye

...
written by Talk Scotland, January 07, 2009

Great info, always learning, every day is a school day! Thanks

cool
written by memulai bisnis online, January 10, 2009

Thank you for the information. I've been using google analytics and it works great!

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written by Belajar SEO, January 12, 2009

I never use G analytic anymore, the reason is that it slows my site smilies/sad.gif

-1

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written by Original London Tour, January 28, 2009

Nice use of google analytics - I didnt know you could do this. I havent found google slows down the site.

Thanks
written by James, February 15, 2009

Thanks, just what I was looking for.

UTM's are Great
written by rob, April 03, 2009

Its very rare to have a high profile analytics platform show real time results. If you can't wait 24hrs for results then youve got some personal issues. The UTM is actually a service of Urchin Analytics; hence Urchin Tracking Module. Google acquired Urchin and utilizes many of its features.

UTM's are fantastic to track very specific campaigns to gather data, you can even use them on your PPC campaign and when combined with revenue tracking you have some very solid data to work with. You can use UTMs for email campaigns, newsletter, links and off page marketing like radio spots. UTMs are much better than creating a simple redirect to track activity.

I highly suggest that anyone using GA or Urchin take advantage of the UTM feature, its great.

-Rob
www.shockwaveprofits.com