UTM Tagging: It's Important!

UTM parameters, when implemented correctly, allow you to pull clear insights into how your marketing efforts are impacting traffic, conversions, and ROI. The use of UTM parameters in your marketing links lets you expand on or override any information (or lack thereof) passed from one of your marketing channels to a hosted web platform. UTMs are easy to use, require no updates to page code, and do not impact page elements. UTM parameters can be leveraged to greatly improve your campaign data, however if used incorrectly, they also have the potential to negatively impact data accuracy within analytics platforms.

NOTE: Because UTMs override referral data, they should NOT be used in internal links. This will cause a new user session and inflate traffic data.

Know Your UTMs: What They Look Like and What They Do

UTM, stands for Urchin Tracking Module. What’s Urchin? Urchin is what Google Analytics was before Google purchased the platform. UTMs are simply custom query strings that we can manually add to the end of a URL. UTMs can be used in other Analytics platforms, but this article will focus on their use within Google Analytics.

A fully UTM tagged URL looks like this: https://www.hzdg.com/?utm_source=UTMintro&utm_medium=internalblogpost&utm_content=usedforads&utm_campaign=empoweremployees&utm_term=marketing+software

Wow, crazy long URL, right? Pretty intimidating, right? Nah, you got this. It’s simple, you just need to know what you are looking at.

The first part of the URL string (everything that comes before the “?”) is the page URL that you will be directing users towards. In this case it is the HZDG homepage, but it can be any page based URL.

NOTE: The URL you are directing users towards must have Google Analytics tracking for any tracking information to be passed. For example, UTM parameters will not work if you are linking directly to a hosted document, such as a .pdf, or an email address.

Everything beginning at the “?” is part of the UTM tagging. For the UTM to pass properly, there must be a “?” after the page URL, which let’s Google Analytics know that it should look for a query string. Lack of or multiple “?” can cause the UTM tagging to break. So, be careful!

The rest of the tagged URL contains the parameters that we want to associate with Google Analytics standard UTM variables. There are five different standard variables that UTM parameters can track. Each of these parameters are visible in the constructed URL and each parameter must be separated by an “&” to tell Google Analytics where another parameter begins. Pretty much any text string can be set as a UTM parameter, however we will want to try to conform to Google Analytic’s formatting and your own established variables as closely as possible. The five standard variables and their associated UTM tagging are:

1. Source: utm_source=

Which website is directing traffic to your property. (i.e., facebook, twitter, Buzzfeed, zillow.com, google) **REQUIRED**

2. Medium: utm_medium=

The type of traffic, or marketing medium. (i.e., direct, social, organic, cpc) **RECOMMENDED**

3. Content: utm_content=

Used to differentiate between links pointing toward the same URL from the same page, or to identify ad content.

4. Term: utm_term=

Traditionally used to identify the keywords you've paid for in a PPC ad, but can be used for additional applications. If you have linked your Adwords account with Google Analytics, this information will feed in automatically for all of your Google CPC efforts. (Ask your resident SEO/SEM analyst if this has been done.) For social channels this parameter to differentiate paid/organic content.

5. Campaign: utm_campaign=

Allows you to group all of the content across multiple channels under a single campaign. (january2015sale) **RECOMMENDED**

NOTE: The order of these parameters does not matter, but the parameter format is essential for proper tracking.

NOTE #2: Source is the only UTM that is required, but it is recommended that Source, Medium, and Campaign be used.

Again, the ideal output is going to look something like this: https://www.hzdg.com/?utm_source=utmintro&utm_medium=internalblogpost&utm_content=usedforads&utm_campaign=empoweremployees&utm_term=marketing+software

It is very possible to build this full URL by hand, however that could be rather tedious if you are creating multiple links at the same time. You can find Google's own UTM link builder here. Much easier and cleaner than building each URL manually.

Consistency in Tagging

Consistency in tagging, both in the naming of of your variables and the formatting of them, will lessen occurrences of data fragmentation and make sure that all of our efforts are allocated correctly.

NOTE: UTM parameters are case sensitive! For example, "utm_campaign=JanSale", will count as a separate campaign from "utm_campaign=jansale"

Formatting for your UTM parameters should be decided well before a campaign begins. It is a collaborative effort across teams and between client and agency. A consistent format and naming convention should be communicated not only within the agency but also to those clients managing content externally.

NOTE: Avoid using special characters in your UTMs. Some are acceptable, but many special characters are going to either break or unintentionally alter the parameters. If you can, stay away from them. 

When Can UTM Tagging Go Wrong

UTM tagging is great for helping you track those inbound links associated with your marketing efforts, but there are instances where using them is a detriment to data.

1. UTM parameters should not be used for internal links. If an internal link is tagged with UTM parameters, every time a user clicks that link, Google Analytics will think that a user has just entered the site and will trigger a new session. If you want to track how many people click on an internal link, reach out to your analytics manager to implement Google Analytics event tracking.
2. Avoid using UTM parameters on generic outbound site links. Referral data is automatically passed through outbound site links, so UTM tagging is redundant. Unless you want to pass specific campaign information between different affiliate sites, you will never really need to tag those links. If you want to track how many people are clicking on your outbound links, have your analytics manager setup outbound link tracking. 
3. Do not put UTM tagging within non-site links, such as a link to a PDF or a Mailto link. This will break the link! Instead you should ask your analytics manager to track clicks to this document through Google Analytics event tracking.
4. Problems may arise when directing users from an HTTPS site to a HTTP site. HTTPS protocol prevents data being passed to an non-secure site, this includes all referral data. To eliminate this possible data loss your site, should establish an HTTPS domain. 
5. Be wary of using UTM tags on links that already have a query string (links that already have a "?" in them). If you try to add another "?" to begin your UTM tags, this will break UTMs and no data will be passed. Instead you should just continue the string by using an ampersand ("&"). For example, this link already uses a query parameter to determine what product variant should be displayed, so we use an ampersand to continue the query string and add UTM tags: https://www.dormify.com/products/faux-mongolian-pillow-square?variant=39514276682&utm_source=UTMintro&utm_medium=internalblogpost&utm_campaign=empoweremployees
6. Hashed (fragmented) URLs can be a little tricky with UTM tags. This link has a "#" in the URL, which tells the page to display specific content that would otherwise be hidden. If you add UTM parameters to the end of the URL like you would with non-fragments URLs, the page will not actually display the content associated with the fragment. To avoid this, you will actually want to move the URL fragment (in this case "#product-architecture") to the end, after your UTM parameters. Like so: https://www.3pillarglobal.com/what-we-do?utm_source=ddm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=utmdoc#product-architecture

How to Debug Your UTM Tags with Google Analytics

To test your UTMs, you will need your fully tagged URL, which you have created using that handy template provided above, and access to the destination site’s Google Analytics account. Google has already done some of the work for you as all Google Analytics accounts come with pre-made real-time dashboards. We will use these real-time dashboards to see what information is digested into the Google Analytics platform.

First open up your the Google Analytics profile associated with the destination URL. Navigate to the Real-Time section on the left panel of the interface, then select Traffic Sources. Open up a new browser window and drop your created UTM tagged URL into the address bar and hit enter. Now, switch back to your Google Analytics interface and soon enough (assuming you created your URL correctly) you will see your source and medium popup within the Real-Time report.

This report is will only show Source/Medium, but if you also want to see Campaign and Keyword, you can use this very simple dashboard template.

Looking at UTM Performance

Now that you have built and tested your UTM tagged links, it is time to use hyperlinking and link shorteners to clean up their appearance, then add them to your digital marketing material. Once your campaign has run long enough to attract a decent volume of sessions, let’s take a look at how your different campaigns are doing.

Open the Google Analytics profile associated with your destination URLs and navigate to Acquisition on the left hand panel. From there select Campaigns, then All Campaigns. This view shows you informations for all sessions that were tagged with a Campaign UTM. You can also view your Source, Medium, Keyword, and Content data by changing your primary dimension (located immediately under the trend chart).

The metrics you rely on are totally dependent on your established KPIs, so refer to your measurement plan to make sure you are looking at the right metrics for your reporting.

That about sums it up! Your UTM powers have improved as has your ability to attribute your marketing efforts to conversions! Go forth!