The Importance Of UTM Tracking Codes

UTM tracking codes are an excellent way to track all of your marketing campaigns. If you aren’t currently using them in your marketing efforts, you really should be. Learn what UTM tracking codes are, what exactly they are used for, why your marketing team should be using them, and how to set them up correctly.

What Are UTM Tracking Codes?

UTM tracking codes, also known as Urchin Tracking Monitor codes, UTM parameters, or just, UTM codes, are simple snippets of code that you can attach to a custom URL in order to track a source, medium, and campaign name.

According to the inbound marketing experts over at Hubspot, UTM codes are a vital tool for marketers because they “help you track the success of your content on the web.”

What Do UTM Tracking Codes Tell You?

When you create URLs using UTM codes, they allow whatever website analytics program your company is using to determine how a visitor came to the different pages you are tracking.

Essentially, UTM parameters are quite beneficial for your marketing efforts because they allow you to monitor your traffic and conversions as well as see the exact sources that are getting people to your pages. UTM codes also allow you to get an “understanding of how visitors interact with your content.”

For instance, if you posted a blog post and advertised it on your different social media channels using links with UTM codes, you will be able to see which platform is directing the most traffic to the post. So, in addition to tracking the sources of your page visitors, you can also see where you are having the most and least success. This knowledge allows you and your team to make a plan to refine your marketing efforts.

What Can You Track With UTM Codes?

There are 5 things you can track with a UTM code:

Source – According to Google, the source is the “origin of your traffic.” This could be a search engine, like Google or even another website.
Medium – This is the marketing medium that “referred the traffic.” The medium differs from the source because “it tracks the type of traffic, such as a banner ad, an email, or a Facebook post.”
Campaign – You can assign a specific campaign to your UTM code, which allows you to group everything from that campaign together in your analytics platform. This is very helpful for reporting purposes and allows you to see how the campaign is performing overall.
Term – This is actually an optional section of your UTM code, but it allows you to track the “paid keywords of an ad or even the keyword of the link in a blog post.”
Content – This is optional as well. It allows you to track “the different types of content that point to the same URL from the same campaign, source, and medium codes.”

Where Do You Use UTM Codes?

Since UTM tracking codes are attached to URLs, they can be used for any online content, including:

Social Media
Blog Posts
Landing pages
Online newsletters
Banner ads

How Do You Set Up UTM Codes?

It’s actually quite easy. You can set up UTM parameters right in Google using the their URL Builder. All you have to do is fill in the required fields, and it will generate your URL complete with your UTM tracking codes.

Let EmoryDay Set Up And Manage Your UTM Codes

EmoryDay can take the confusion out of UTM tracking codes for you! Our team of marketing specialists can set up all of your online content with UTM parameters as well as monitor the results. Let us set your business up for success!

Sources:

https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/

https://www.launchdigitalmarketing.com/what-are-utm-codes/

https://effinamazing.com/tools/utm-tracking-code-builder/

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6099206?hl=en

https://neilpatel.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-using-utm-parameters/

https://agencyanalytics.com/blog/utm-tracking

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-are-utm-tracking-codes-ht