d-tags 
Loading...- UTM tags. What Are They?
- The Principles Of Creating UTM tags
- How To Check If UTM Tags Are Implemented Properly?
UTM tags: what are they?
UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module and it’s a system of tracking traffic. It was developed by Urchin Software and then taken over by Google. Moreover, Google Analytics was created based on the solution implemented by the abovementioned company.UTMs are special parameters that can be added to your URL. Once you do it, you can precisely measure the effectiveness of specific sources leading to your website. It's a valuable tool in all link building services.
To be honest, tagging is beneficial once you start conducting advertising campaigns for your website. It’s important to mention that these parameters should be well thought out. Otherwise, the increasing number of campaigns may make it hard to analyze the effectiveness of specific activities.
UTMs are needed mainly because of the fact that Google Analytics isn’t always able to identify all sources of traffic and classifies a few of them:
In the table you can see:
- google/organic - organic Google traffic.
- bing/organic - organic Bing traffic.
- com/referral - redirects from Facebook.
- direct/none - theoretically speaking, this source should include all website visits where users typed in your URL in a web browser or clicked one of the bookmarks. In real life, it turns out that direct traffic comprises many other types of website visits. If users click on a link redirecting to your website (that isn’t protected and its address starts with HTTP) from a page secured with HTTPS protocol, then, the information about the redirecting page isn’t passed on and such visits are categorized as direct traffic. There are many more examples showing incorrect classification of traffic.
5 UTM tags - how to use them?
5 UTM tags are at your disposal, however, you don’t necessarily have to apply all of them. It’s important to mention that you can add them in any order you wish, it doesn’t matter. UTM tags at your disposal include:- utm_source - indicates the source of the visit. This may be e.g. Facebook, newsletter or any website, e.g. delete.pl.
- utm_medium - indicates the type of traffic source, e.g. organic, social, display, email.
- utm_campaign - informs about the campaign, e.g. black-friday.
- utm_term - one of the optional parameters that provide even more data. It enables tracking paid search results based on keywords and determines phrases entered by users into the search engine before they clicked the ad. If you run a Google Ads campaign that targets the keyword "budget washing machines", then this UTM might look like this: utm_term=budget+washing machines.
- utm_content - an extra parameter that can be used to monitor a specific part of your campaign. Let’s assume that you sent out a newsletter and you want to check if the recipients clicked the link or the graphic ad. In this case, you can tag one of these elements with “utm_content=url_10” and the other one with “utm_content=banner_10”.
The principles of creating UTM
When creating links with UTM parameters, you should keep a few rules in mind. Let’s assume that we want to add UTMs to the http://delante.pl domain. In this case, the link should include:- A slash and a question mark were added to the URL. This is what the link will look like http://delante.pl/?.
- UTM tags, e.g. utm_source=twitter to get: http://delante.pl/?utm_source=twitter.
- An "&" sign between the end of one tag and the beginning of the other. Then, the link may look in the following way: http://delante.pl/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=blackf.
These aren’t all the principles you should keep in mind when creating UTMs. When it comes to other important issues, it’s important to remember about:
- Determining tagging rules - this is particularly relevant if activities related to a given website are performed by a few persons. Come up with recommendations. If you set the following tags for a Google ad campaign: utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=campaign_name, use the same ones in the future. This will minimize the risk of making tagging mistakes.
- Using appropriate characters - instead of spaces, go for dividers or underscore signs. Avoid capital letters - utm_source=FACEBOOK and utm_source=facebook aren’t the same things for Google Analytics. Special characters also aren’t recommended.
Consistency is the key to success. Every member of your company who will be tagging links should be informed about the rules. It has a crucial impact on the decisions in the future.
UTM: what tagging principles to adopt?
Create a tagging plan that can be tailored to a given platform. Make sure it’s simple, intuitive and has a pyramid structure. When it comes to various sources, you can obtain traffic in different ways, e.g. Facebook visits may be generated by a CPC campaign or a link added to a given article on a fan page. Sometimes, users also share links to your page, e.g. on a Facebook group. It’s helpful to adopt the following principles:http://delante.pl/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc- for paid traffic.http://delante.pl/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social- for links you publish yourself, e.g. on a fanpage.http://delante.pl/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=[data_post]- if you wish to check how many clicks were generated by a specific Facebook post.http://delante.pl/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=blackf- if you want to monitor the effects of a particular paid campaign you are currently running.http://delante.pl/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=blackf&utm_content=adA- if you use several advertising creatives in one campaign, it's beneficial to add the content tag. The tag above includes the “adA” and the second one can come with “adB”.
http://delante.pl/?utm_source=database_name&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=[dateandnameofthecampaign]- as the name of the database you can give, for example, the domain you use. On the other hand, the parameter which concerns the campaign should include the date and the specific name of this advertising activity.http://delante.pl/?utm_source=database_name&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=[dateandnameofthecampaign]&utm_content=banner- you may also add a content parameter to determine which link in the message was selected by recipient - was it text or maybe a banner?
http://delante.pl/?utm_source=billboard[name]&utm_medium=offline&utm_campaign=[blackf]
Thanks to it, the recipient will be able to check your offer by typing in an approachable address such as http://delante.pl/campaign. It’s undoubtedly more beneficial than using long, hard-to-remember links filled with UTM tags.
