How to Keep Track of UTM Campaigns

If you are using Google Analytics UTM Campaign tags to track your advertising and marketing efforts, congratulations! You are following one of the standard conventions of modern online marketing, and likely driving better results and ROI for your organization as a result.

Google Analytics UTM parameters are pretty easy to generate if you are familiar with the conventions:

• utm_source: The source web site or advertising campaign that is sending traffic to your web site
  • Examples: Google, Facebook, PartnerSiteXYZ, Monthly Newsletter.
• utm_medium: The advertising or marketing category.
  • Examples: PPC, Retargeting, Display, email.
• utm_campaign: The marketing or advertising campaign name.
  • Emaples: SpringCampaign, CompetitorKeywords, Brand Search.
• utm_term: Paid search keywords.Normally this is not manually tagged.
  • REQUIRED: use utm_term={keyword} in Google or Bing to have the Search Keyword inserted automatically.
• Utm_content: Optional, use to differentiate similar content, such as Adgroup or specific links.
  • ProTip:  You can use utm_content={device} to have Google automatically insert whether the visitor came from Computer (c), Mobile (m), or Tablet (t)

These parameters go on the end of your web site URL. They do not change the destination when a visitor clicks, but they simply add tracking information.

The exact way you add them together is as follows:

• ? after your web site URL
• Parameter (utm_source, utm_campaign, etc.)
• = sign, then your value
• & between each parameter / value pair (&utm_campaign=campaignname&…)

Which ends up producing a URL such as

https://www.YourSite.com?utm_campaign=YourCampaign&utm_medium=PPC&utm_source=GoogleAds&utm_content=Optional&utm_term={keyword}

There are lots of online URL builders, if you don’t feel comfortable creating them by hand. No need to do that, until you become very familiar with UTM parameters.

And of course like every link anywhere in your marketing, BE SURE TO CLICK ON IT before using it. It only takes a second and can save you from a lot of pain later on. 🙂

How do you keep track?

So that is how to build Google Analytics UTM Campaign tags. But more importantly, how do you keep track of all the different ones?

And make sure you are being consistent so you don’t mix up different mediums like PPC, CPC, or capitalization?

Consistency is key to being able to make the most of reports and analytics going forward. Plus once someone clicks on a URL, those Campaign, Source, and Medium values are registered in Google Analytics. You can always change them later, but then you end up with multiple values tracking to a single campaign. Messy.

So without further ado, here is CloudAmp’s FREE Google Sheet, which you can use to generate your URLs with UTM parameters, as well as keep track of which values you have used for which campaigns.

FREE Download:
CloudAmp UTM Campaign Spreadsheet

You can make a copy of the Google Spreadsheet in your own Google Drive, or download an Excel copy (File > Download…), for use tracking your own campaigns.

And if you want to get UTM parameters into Salesforce, to see the UTM data and more right in your Salesforce Leads and Contacts, check out the CloudAmp Campaign Tracker. It is an affordable way to track the success of your marketing into Salesforce, and we even provide setup assistance during the 15 day trial. Check it out, or contact us if you have questions.