What are Google UTM parameters? A guide to improving traffic attribution
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 4:47 am
Do you know Google's UTM parameters ? Although marketers are still few and far between, these codes are the key to correctly attributing traffic to your website once and for all.
With UTM parameters , you can know exactly where your visitors are coming from and accurately measure the results of each campaign. But in order to apply them to our marketing, we first need to know how Google recognizes traffic sources . In this guide, we'll tell you all the details so that you too can take advantage of the power of UTMs.
Do you want to know how to make portugal email list Google Ads campaigns a success this year ? Click here and watch the related course. Discover the trends and news of the Google advertising platform.
What are UTM parameters? Guide to improving traffic attribution
How traffic is attributed in Google Analytics: HTTP Referrer and UTM Parameters
In order to know which marketing actions are effective and which are not, marketers need to be able to attribute conversions to the correct source. Let's find out what Business2Community has to say .
This is especially important when you consider that a single conversion may require multiple touchpoints and devices. If you can’t clearly identify the traffic sources that contribute to each action, you won’t be able to calculate the cost per acquisition and return on ad spend for different channels.
Google Analytics divides all website traffic into sessions (formerly known as visits). A session in Google Analytics is defined as a set of interactions that take place on a website over a given period of time. A single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions, and e-commerce transactions.
Google identifies a unique traffic source for each session using two resources: HTTP Referrers and UTM parameters .
HTTP Referrer
When a user clicks on a link to navigate from page A (source) to page B (destination), the browser sends the source URL to the destination page through the browser in a field called "HTTP Referrer". This field can be read by any script running on the destination page.
Google Analytics uses the HTTP Referrer to understand which page sent the user to log in, and identifies the originating page as the traffic source . But there are quite a few cases where we can't access this parameter, for example:
If the user has moved from a secure page (HTTPS) to a non-secure page (HTTP).
If the user comes from a link that does not pass the HTTP Referrer, for example, links in PDF documents, emails, mobile applications or instant messages.
Whether the user has entered the page address directly or accessed it from their favorites.
If the user has scanned a QR code.
UTM parameters
As we have just seen, the HTTP Referrer is not always available, which prevents us from knowing where a good part of our traffic is coming from. In addition, the information it provides us is limited.
And to solve this, we have UTM parameters .
UTM parameters ("Urchin Tracking Modules", after the company that invented them) are 5 parameters that we can add to the links that lead to our website :
With UTM parameters , you can know exactly where your visitors are coming from and accurately measure the results of each campaign. But in order to apply them to our marketing, we first need to know how Google recognizes traffic sources . In this guide, we'll tell you all the details so that you too can take advantage of the power of UTMs.
Do you want to know how to make portugal email list Google Ads campaigns a success this year ? Click here and watch the related course. Discover the trends and news of the Google advertising platform.
What are UTM parameters? Guide to improving traffic attribution
How traffic is attributed in Google Analytics: HTTP Referrer and UTM Parameters
In order to know which marketing actions are effective and which are not, marketers need to be able to attribute conversions to the correct source. Let's find out what Business2Community has to say .
This is especially important when you consider that a single conversion may require multiple touchpoints and devices. If you can’t clearly identify the traffic sources that contribute to each action, you won’t be able to calculate the cost per acquisition and return on ad spend for different channels.
Google Analytics divides all website traffic into sessions (formerly known as visits). A session in Google Analytics is defined as a set of interactions that take place on a website over a given period of time. A single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions, and e-commerce transactions.
Google identifies a unique traffic source for each session using two resources: HTTP Referrers and UTM parameters .
HTTP Referrer
When a user clicks on a link to navigate from page A (source) to page B (destination), the browser sends the source URL to the destination page through the browser in a field called "HTTP Referrer". This field can be read by any script running on the destination page.
Google Analytics uses the HTTP Referrer to understand which page sent the user to log in, and identifies the originating page as the traffic source . But there are quite a few cases where we can't access this parameter, for example:
If the user has moved from a secure page (HTTPS) to a non-secure page (HTTP).
If the user comes from a link that does not pass the HTTP Referrer, for example, links in PDF documents, emails, mobile applications or instant messages.
Whether the user has entered the page address directly or accessed it from their favorites.
If the user has scanned a QR code.
UTM parameters
As we have just seen, the HTTP Referrer is not always available, which prevents us from knowing where a good part of our traffic is coming from. In addition, the information it provides us is limited.
And to solve this, we have UTM parameters .
UTM parameters ("Urchin Tracking Modules", after the company that invented them) are 5 parameters that we can add to the links that lead to our website :