UTM

Analytics provides a report to see the sources and mediem in acquistion report by default.

However, it uses a channel to group sources. So if you are using many platforms to advertise your product and want to see which advertisement platform is doing well and which is not, you won't find the exact information you are looking for.

 

UTM is a manual URL builider to append additional information to the URL. It allows you to specify the source and medium in detail so that you can see where the users are coming from.

Implementation

First, we need to create a URL. You can add option at the end of the main URL with '?' for the first option and '&' for the rest that come after. Some of the options are as follows:

▶ utm_id

Campaign ID. This is necessary for the campaign data to flow into the GA4

 

▶ utm_source

This represents the source. E.g., google, newsletter4, billboard

▶ utm_medium

This represent the medium. E.g., banner, email

▶ utm_campaign

This represents the campaign name.

▶ utm_source_platform

This represents the platform. E.g., Google, Instagram

▶ utm_term

This represents the keywords.

▶ utm_content

This represents the the text used in call-to-action link.

 

A completed URL looks like this

https://jin-co.tistory.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=test&utm_id=1234

 

We also use what is called URL builder to build the URL.

Note!

Unlike UA, GA4 uses a feature called auto-tagging that overides manual URL. So if you want to use UTM, you have to turn this auto-tagging option first. 

 

In your Google Ads, go to 'account setting' -> 'auto-tagging' -> uncheck and 'save'

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References

https://ga-dev-tools.google/campaign-url-builder/

Campaign URL Builder

 

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11242870?hl=en 

[GA4] Traffic-source dimensions, manual tagging, and auto-tagging - Analytics Help

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10917952?hl=en#examples&zippy=%2Cin-this-article%2C%EC%9D%B4-%EB%8F%84%EC%9B%80%EB%A7%90%EC%97%90%EC%84%9C%EB%8A%94-%EB%8B%A4%EC%9D%8C-%EB%82%B4%EC%9A%A9%EC%9D%84-%EB%8B%A4%EB%A3%B9%EB%8B%88%EB%8B%A4 

[GA4] URL builders: Collect campaign data with custom URLs - Analytics Help