If you're involved in multi-channel website promotion and traffic acquisition, sooner or later you'll need to assess the effectiveness of each channel. UTM tags can greatly assist you in this evaluation.
UTM tags are special parameters added to a website’s URL to label traffic sources and characteristics.
The UTM tagging system allows you to track the following:
- utm_source - the traffic source;
- utm_medium - the type of traffic;
- utm_campaign - the campaign name;
- utm_content - the ad content;
- utm_term - the keyword.
How UTM tags work?
The basic structure for UTM tags is as follows:
url/?utm_type=name&utm_type=name
Where:
- utm_type: the type of UTM tag;
- name: the specific parameter for that UTM tag.
By assigning UTM tags, you can track your campaigns in Google Analytics and tie them to performance metrics.
UTM tags in Google Ads can be set in several ways:
➊ Manual input of parameters (we provided an example above).
➋ Automatic parameter loading and data transfer via variables.
{lpurl}?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_content=gid|{adgroupid}|aid|{creative}|placement|{placement}&utm_term={keyword}
Notice that in this case, the parameters aren't manually entered but are transferred via Google Ads' internal variables:
- {campaignid} - the campaign ID;
- {adgroupid} - the ad group ID;
- {placement} - the placement location;
- {keyword} - the keyword.
You can set UTM tags at both the campaign level and the ad group level in Google Ads. We’ll discuss that further.
➌ Skip UTM tags and enable automatic tagging.
Google uses its own internal UTM tags - Gclid, which successfully passes all data to Google Analytics. You just need to set up two-way synchronization between Google Ads and Analytics and ensure that your website works with Gclid tags.
However, if you’re using a system like call tracking, we recommend using additional manual UTM tags for more detailed analytics within the call tracking system.
If creating UTM tags manually is challenging, you can use UTM tag generators. Unfortunately, we can't provide a list, as Google has discontinued its generator, and other generators are owned by private websites, which aren't always trustworthy.
Where to add UTM tags in Google Ads?
You can add UTM tags in the following locations:
- In the ad URL;
- Campaign settings ➔ "campaign URL options";
- Ad group settings ➔ "campaign URL options";
- In keywords ➔ "set final URL".
Screenshots are unnecessary here since the process is fairly straightforward.
UTM Tags for Google Shopping Campaigns
When working with UTM tags in Google Ads, you will eventually encounter challenges when applying UTM tags to Google Shopping campaigns. Specifically, you can only add tags at the campaign level—there’s no option to add them at the ad group level or use variables to pull keywords from the ad trigger. What’s the solution?
You must manually craft tags within the product URLs in the Merchant Center feed.
We understand that this may sound technical to some, but it’s a unique case worth noting.
We hope you found this material informative. Stay tuned for more blog updates.
Order a service