URL Builders in GA4: Your Path to Effective Campaign Tracking

Utilizing URL builders in GA4 enables you to incorporate utm campaign parameters into your referral links and ad campaigns’ destination URLs. This addition allows you to identify the campaigns responsible for driving traffic.

When a user clicks on a referral link, the URL parameters get transmitted to Analytics, and these parameter values become accessible in the Traffic Acquisition report

Table Of Content

1. Add utm parameters to URL
2. URL builders in GA4
3. See custom campaign data
4. Conclusion

Add utm parameters to URL

In GA4, utilizing URL builders involves adding specific utm parameters to your destination URLs. These parameters provide valuable information for tracking and analysis:

1. utm_id: This is the Campaign ID, crucial for identifying specific campaigns or promotions. It’s required for GA4 data import and should match the IDs used when uploading campaign cost data.
2. utm_source: Refers to the referrer, such as google, newsletter4, or billboard.
3. utm_medium: Represents the marketing medium, like cpc, banner, or email.
4. utm_campaign: Describes the product, slogan, or promo code associated with the campaign, for instance, spring_sale.
5. utm_source_platform: Specifies the platform responsible for directing traffic to a particular Analytics property. Examples include Search Ads 360 or Display & Video 360.
6. utm_term: Denotes the paid keyword used for the campaign.
7. utm_content: Used to differentiate between creatives. For example, if you have multiple call-to-action links within the same email, you can use utm_content with different values to identify the more effective version.
8. utm_creative_format: Indicates the type of creative used, such as display, native, video, or search.
9. utm_marketing_tactic: Represents the targeting criteria applied to a campaign, such as remarketing or prospecting.

In the context of URL builders in GA4, each parameter needs to be paired with a designated value that you assign. These parameter-value pairs contain essential campaign-related information.

For instance, consider the following parameter-value pairs for your Summer Sale campaign:

• utm_source = summer-mailer: This identifies traffic generated from your Summer Sale email campaign.
• utm_medium = email: It specifies traffic originating from the email campaign as opposed to the in-app campaign.
• utm_campaign = summer-sale: This helps identify the overarching Summer Sale campaign.

By utilizing these parameters, your custom campaign URL would appear as follows:

These parameter-value pairs enable precise tracking and analysis of your campaign’s performance within GA4.

URL builders in GA4

When working with URL builders in GA4, you have the option to add parameters and values to your URLs manually.

Alternatively, you can utilize specific URL-builder tools tailored for different platforms to create your URLs and automatically append the necessary parameters:

• For links directed to websites, employ the Campaign URL Builder.
• When dealing with Android-app ads, utilize the Play Campaign URL Builder.

It’s important to note that while using these tools, you must have the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK integrated. However, you don’t need to make any changes within the SDK for this feature to function seamlessly.

Manual set up

If you prefer to manually set up your custom campaigns, it’s important to follow these guidelines:

1. Separate Parameters: Begin by separating the parameters from the URL using a question mark.
2. Parameter-Value Pairs: List the parameters and their corresponding values as pairs, separated by an equal sign.
3. Ampersand Separation: Separate each parameter-value pair with an ampersand (&).

For instance:

Here’s additional information to consider:

• Order of Parameters: You can add parameters to the URL in any order you prefer.
• Case Sensitivity: Keep in mind that parameter values are case-sensitive. For example, utm_source=google is distinct from utm_source=Google.
• Universal Analytics Site: If you are setting up URL parameters for a Universal Analytics site, you must include at least utm_source and utm_medium .
• Google Analytics 4 Site: If you are configuring URL parameters for a Google Analytics 4 site, you must include at least one utm parameter, but you can add any relevant utm parameter as needed.

These guidelines ensure proper manual setup of URL parameters for effective tracking and analysis within your analytics platform.

See custom campaign data

You can view specific metrics

1. Session Source/Medium: This shows the source and medium of the traffic that led to sessions on your website or app. It helps you understand where your visitors are coming from in terms of both the source (like a specific website) and the medium (such as organic search or referral).
2. Session Medium: This metric focuses solely on the medium through which traffic was generated. For instance, it could be organic search, paid search, email, or social media. It provides insights into the broad categories of traffic sources.
3. Session Source: Session source indicates the specific origin of your website’s traffic. It identifies the precise website or platform from which users arrived at your site. For example, it could be a particular social media platform or a specific referral website.
4. Session Campaign: Session campaign refers to the specific marketing campaign or promotion that brought users to your website. It helps you track the performance of individual campaigns, allowing you to measure their effectiveness and ROI.

These metrics in the Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition report provide valuable insights into the sources, mediums, and campaigns driving traffic to your website or app, enabling you to make data-driven decisions for your marketing strategies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, understanding the nuances of URL builders in GA4 is essential for accurate campaign tracking. Whether utilizing manual setups or specific tools, the ability to define parameters like source, medium, and campaign provides invaluable insights into user behavior.

With the seamless integration of these parameters, businesses can effortlessly assess the performance of their marketing initiatives. GA4’s Traffic Acquisition report further enhances this process by offering detailed metrics, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions.

By leveraging these tools and insights, companies can refine their marketing strategies, optimize their campaigns, and ultimately enhance their online presence for better engagement and results.