You may only need to use it once in a while, or you may be using it for the first time — it doesn’t matter. This helpful guide breaks down for you how UTM tracking works, when to use it and how.   What is UTM Tracking? UTM tracking allows an advertiser to better track traffic from an advert or link to a website. It allows campaign managers to see how many clicks, visits, sales or users a specific link or advert generated directly in Google Analytics.   When to use UTM tracking If you are in a position where you need to know how effective your campaigns are, you should consider running UTM tracking. We ourselves often use it when tracking performance from Google Ads, Social media, EDM’s, content listing and so on.   How to use UTM Tracking UTM tracking works when an existing URL is appended with specific text. This text can then be read by Google Analytics and other reporting platforms and the data presented accurately. Depending on what an advertiser wants to track, you will need to use different Identifiers in the URL:

Source The source can be seen as the channel type. These might be things like Social Media, Email, Referral, Paid Search, Display, and others. To track the traffic by its Source type, an advertiser will need to append the following text to the URL of the link:

?UTM_source=google

Medium The medium is one level down from source in the hierarchy. If the source is Google the medium might any of the following; search, display, shopping or remarketing etc…

 To track the traffic by its Medium type, an advertiser will need to append the following text to the URL of the link:

&UTM_Medium=Shopping

Campaign The campaign can be anything an advertiser or client wants. I personally have recently used EOFY, Winter_break, GWP (gift with purchase) and others.

To track the traffic by its Campaign type, an advertiser will need to append the following text to the URL of the link:

&UTM_campaign=EOFY

 Keyword or Term

Again, the Term can be anything. I personally use this perimeter more than any other as I am mostly focused on Google Ads campaigns, however, this is only my personal preference.

Advertisers using the keyword [size 14 blue dress] would use the following UTM code:

&UTM_Term=Size_14_blue_dress

Content The content UTM tracking tag is used most often with site-to-site traffic, not from paid campaigns.

For example, if we wanted to link to one of our customers and have them know that we were sending them the traffic, we might use the following UTM tracking code:

&UTM_content=Traffic_from_Direct_Clicks

  Full Example of a UTM Tracking Tag Below is a link to a website I have worked with in the past. As I know a few of the people over there (and because it amuses me), I have put together a UTM tracking tag that demonstrates all the above-mentioned components in one, simple URL. It will also show up in their Google Analytics.

www.beme.com.au/?UTM_source=Hello_Nicollete&UTM_Medium=Traffic_From_Gary_Devine&UTM_campaign=Waves_Hello&UTM_Term=Sorry_About_This&UTM_content=Traffic_From_Direct_Clicks_Blog

Click on this link to send this UTM data to their analytics team!