What is UTM in Google analytics?
Google Analytics tools can be used to accurately track your site, but UTM codes are used to track and manage inbound site traffic. If you want to know how to monitor and control incoming site traffic using UTM codes, follow this article.
What are UTM codes?
UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module . In fact, these codes and tools belong to Urchin Company, which was purchased by Google in 2005. Interestingly, this software later analyzed the emergence of a tool called Google.
UTM codes are text strings that are placed at the end of site URLs, and webmasters and site owners can use UTM code links to track incoming traffic to their site and see where the source of that traffic is. And how it has been added to the site, or they can check the amount and impact of incoming traffic and take steps to improve their performance. If site owners use UTM code, they can make sure that the data in Google Analytics is placed in the Preview section, then they can analyze and analyze site traffic from the data they receive from the Google Analytics tool. In other words, UTM codes are codes that are used to examine and analyze the source, amount and impact of incoming site traffic.
Why use UTM codes?
The reason for using UTM codes to check and analyze incoming site traffic is that you can easily check all incoming site traffic to know where the source of this traffic is and if necessary to increase traffic or improve incoming traffic. Take the necessary measures. By attending social networks and creating links there, you may direct users from social network pages to sites, in which case you need to analyze incoming traffic to ensure their quantity and quality. Become. Or if you have done an ad to increase traffic and site visitors and you want to know the amount of incoming traffic from the ad to your site, you can use UTM codes and analyze them to achieve your desire. Or in other cases you may have placed backlinks on the sites and want to know the amount of traffic transferred from these backlinks , in this case you check the incoming traffic from the backlinks and if the amount of incoming traffic It is desirable for you to do more external linking to that site, and if the incoming traffic from a site is low, refrain from referring backlinks to those sites next time.
The reason for using UTM codes is to know the amount and quality of incoming traffic from different sources.
UTM code parameters
In UTM codes , there are some parameters through which the operation of reviewing and analyzing resources, amount and quality of incoming traffic is done. In other words, parameters play an important role in examining and analyzing the details of incoming traffic.
There are two types of UTM code parameters:
- Necessary parameters
- Specific parameters
Essential parameters of UTM codes
Essential parameters of UTM codes are used to specify the source, media and campaign.
- Source:
Using these parameters, the source of traffic input can be specified and checked. In this part of this parameter, the name of the social network that was used to receive traffic is displayed. The names of social networks such as Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram , etc. are shown as sources of incoming traffic, and you can find out which social network generated the most traffic. For example, if you used Instagram to receive inbound traffic, it will give you the name of Instagram in response to reviews. utm_source = Instagram
- Media:
In this section of the essential parameters for checking incoming traffic, you can identify the type of media and the tool that has the most traffic. For example, you have used various media and tools such as banner ads, videos or ... to advertise and attract users, and in this section you can find out which media and tools will get more traffic to your site . Has entered. In other words, you can find out which media are effective to use and which media users have been influenced by and entered your site, to use those media more. By recognizing which media have not been considered by users and have not been able to transfer more traffic to the site , you can take the necessary steps to improve their performance so that they can also be effective in transferring traffic to the site.
- Campaign:
If you use campaigns to increase your site traffic and you want to understand the amount and quality of their traffic, you can use the campaign parameter. In this parameter, you can find out which campaign has brought more traffic to your site and has performed better than the others. In this section, you can identify effective campaigns or weak campaigns and use the statistics of this parameter to improve your performance and your next decisions.
Specific parameters of UTM codes
Specific parameters of UTM codes are used to specify content and keyword.
- Content:
This parameter can be used to identify which of your types of content has been effective in attracting and persuading the user and transferring traffic to the site. You may have created different types of content to attract users and increase site traffic and want to check which types of content have attracted the attention of users, in which case using this parameter is a good option.
- Keyword:
In some cases, you may want to get more traffic from a keyword or do a lot of advertising and actions to make a keyword successful, in which case you can use this parameter to get detailed information and to improve Perform your informed decisions and actions.
What are the benefits of using UTM codes?
There are some cookies that can be used to analyze incoming traffic sources, but in using UTM codes you can customize the analysis and with more and more detailed sources, amount and quality of traffic. Check the input.
- Get acquainted with the sources of incoming traffic
- Find out which campaign or ad has brought the most traffic to your site
- Get information about the route users enter and traffic to your site
- Find out which keywords have been most effective in attracting users and driving more traffic to the site - Be aware of a popular page through which more users have entered the site
- Find out which anchor text and text on the link has been effective in attracting the user
How can we use UTM code?
To use UTM code, you must first get acquainted with the tips so that you can use them to analyze and analyze incoming traffic to your site . There are two ways to use UTM code:
1- Manual method of making UTM codes
2- Automatic method of making UTM codes
In the automated method of making UTM codes, some online and ready-made tools can be used to create UTM code by entering a little information and pressing a button, and use it to check and analyze the details of incoming traffic.
- Campaign URL Builder tool
- URL Builder
Here are the things to look for when selecting your UTM code manually:
- Pay attention to uppercase and lowercase letters when creating UTM code.
- Put a question mark after the main link and before inserting the UTM code.
- You must use the = sign when setting UTM code parameters.
- It is possible to use several parameters simultaneously and they must be separated using the & sign.
- When entering campaign names or keywords, you can put a dash between them.
- You must use the + sign to insert multiple keywords at the same time.
Build code automatically using the Online Campaign URL Builder tool
1- In the first field, enter the URL of the site.
2- In the second field, you must enter the sources of incoming traffic. Such as social networks Instagram , LinkedIn and ...
3- In the next section, you must enter your media and the type of tools you have used to direct and bring traffic to the site. Such as media banner ads, video and ...
4- In the next option, enter the name of the company that you have participated in to increase the amount of traffic to your site.
5- In the next field, you must enter the keywords of your generated content. Note that if you have used a lot of keywords, you must use commas to separate them in the UTM code generation method.
6- Finally, fill in the content parameter, which is the last option.
Check the results of UTM codes
Once you have created the UTM codes , you should use the information obtained from them to analyze the details of incoming traffic. To do this, you need to have an account in the Google Analytics online tool and log in to your account in the Google Analytics tool. Google Analytics is the best tool that shows the results of UTM code in the best and simplest way, and you can use the information obtained from these tools and codes to determine the amount and quality of incoming traffic and improve your performance .
Some advertising campaigns, which also have high costs, fail to increase site traffic and cannot have a good effect, which is one of the reasons for this failure is the lack of review and analysis of results. If you analyze the results, you can understand the reason for the failure and prevent it. UTM codes are one of the tools used to analyze the results of traffic increase measures. If you use this tool, you can get the details and information you need to finally achieve the desired results.
Source: https://www.dotnek.com/Blog/Web/what-is-utm-in-google-analytics