UTM Tags: Measure Effectiveness of your Website Marketing Campaigns
In today’s digital age, having a website for your business is essential. But just having a website is not enough. You need to be able to measure the performance of your website and your marketing campaigns to know if they are generating the desired results. This is where UTM tags come in.
UTM tags, also known as Urchin Tracking Modules, are small snippets of code that you can add to the end of a URL to track the source, medium, and campaign name of the traffic coming to your website. With UTM tags, you can track which marketing campaigns are driving the most traffic to your website, which campaigns are generating the most leads, and which ones are resulting in the most conversions.
The websites we build at LAUNCH805 come equipped with a unique UTM tagging system. In other words, when a visitor fills out a form on your website, they will be tagged in the admin area of your website, indicating from where they originated. For example, if they came from a Google Ad, or a Facebook Ad, etc, it will show you exactly which website they came from prior to filling out your form.
Below are examples of the UTM tags we can track:
Here are the UTM parameters you can collect with your website forms:
| UTM Name | Parameters | Values (Example) |
|---|---|---|
| UTM Source (Describes the ad platform, social media site, or content source of the visit. Examples include “Google” “Facebook” or “Newsletter”) | &utm_source=(your-value) | google, facebook, email |
| UTM Medium (Tracks the type of traffic. For Google Ads campaigns, this is often “ad” or “cpc”) | &utm_medium=(your-value) | social, email, blog |
| UTM Campaign (The ads campaign name or ads identifier) | &utm_campaign=(your-value) | april-2023, best-deal-2023, email-marketing-2023 |
| UTM Ad Group ID (Use this when you’ve set up your tracking info at the account or campaign level and want to know which ad group served your ad) | &utm_agid=(your-value) | adgroup321, group54321 |
| UTM Term (Use this to captures paid keywords) | &utm_term=(your-value) | bestsite, topranksite |
| GCLID (The Google click identifier (GCLID) is a unique identifier assigned to a click that originates from a Google Ads campaign. It is automatically added by Google and is functional only if you’re running a Google Ads campaign for your website.) | &gclid=(your-value) | JBZBNBNWxBsPnzVzjnXhrtzrzW (Random Code) |
| Ad Position (The position on the page that your ad appeared in, with a value like ‘topbannerad’ (this means your ad is in the top header) or any) | &adposition=(your-value) | top-banner-ad, footer-ad |
| Creative (A unique ID for your ad, which is automatically added by Google.) | &creative=(your-value) | 987654321 |
| Placement (The content site where your ad was clicked, or the matching placement targeting criteria for the site where your ad was clicked) | &placement=(your-value) | footer, sidebar |
| Matchtype (The match type of the keyword that triggered your ad: “e” for exact, “p” for phrase, or “b” for “broad”) | &matchtype=(your-value) | b, e |
| Keyword (For the Search Network, the keyword from your account that matches the search query, unless you are using a Dynamic Search ad, which returns a blank value) | &keyword=(your-value) | best-site, top-content |
| Network (Where the click came from: “g” for Google search, “s” for a search partner, “d” for the Display Network, “u” for a Smart Shopping Campaign, “ytv” for YouTube videos, “yts” for YouTube search, or “vp” for Google video partners) | &network=(your-value) | g, ytv |
| Device (What device the click came from: “m” for mobile (including WAP), “t” for tablet, and “c” for computer) | &device=(your-value) | c, m |
| Source (Describes the ad platform, social media site, or content source of the visit. Examples include “google” “facebook” or “newsletter”) | &source=(your-value) | googleads, google, facebookads, facebook, email |
Why are UTM tags important?
- They help you track your marketing efforts: UTM tags allow you to track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. By using UTM tags, you can identify which campaigns are working and which ones are not. You can then adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
- They help you measure ROI: UTM tags allow you to track the ROI of your marketing campaigns. You can see which campaigns are generating the most revenue and which ones are not. This allows you to focus your marketing efforts on the campaigns that are most effective.
- They help you make data-driven decisions: UTM tags provide you with valuable data that you can use to make informed decisions. By analyzing the data from your UTM tags, you can identify trends and patterns that can help you optimize your marketing campaigns.
How to use UTM tags?
To use UTM tags, you need to create a URL with the appropriate parameters.
There are many UTM tagging tools on the web, but we think our UTM tagging tool is the best.
Here are the parameters that you can use:
- Source: This parameter identifies the source of your traffic. For example, if you are running a Facebook campaign, the source would be “Facebook.”
- Medium: This parameter identifies the medium through which your traffic is coming. For example, if you are running a banner ad campaign, the medium would be “banner.”
- Campaign: This parameter identifies the name of your campaign. For example, if you are running a holiday promotion, the campaign would be “holiday.”
- Content: This parameter identifies the specific content that is being clicked on. For example, if you are running a banner ad campaign with multiple banners, the content parameter would identify which banner was clicked on.
- Term: This parameter identifies the keywords that were used to trigger your ad. This is mainly used for paid search campaigns.
Once you have created your URL with the appropriate parameters, you can use it in your marketing campaigns. When someone clicks on the link, the UTM tags will be sent to your website admin area, as well as Google Analytics (or another analytics tool you might be using), and this will enable you to track the performance of your campaigns.
In conclusion, UTM tags are essential for measuring the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. By using UTM tags, you can track the source, medium, and campaign name of your traffic, and use this data to make informed decisions about your marketing strategy. So if you haven’t already, start using UTM tags today and take your marketing ROI to the next level!
