Advertising

How do you track which ads are generating traffic to your site, and which ads are getting passed over? The secret is to add UTM codes to your URL.

UTM codes are special characters added to the end of the URL. This doesn’t change the page it goes to, but it will tell Google Analytics where the link came from and allows you to build reports based on where the user came from. So, the following two links go to the same place:

  • https://publish.illinois.edu/analytics/advertising
  • https://publish.illinois.edu/analytics/advertising?source=adwords&utm_source=search&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=ay2023

…but the second link tells Google Analytics that this link came from a Google Adwords Search advertisement, and it is part of the Annual Year 2023 campaign.

How do I create these links?

Fortunately, we have two spreadsheets that will help. What is the difference?

  • The spreadsheet with slate data is for student campaigns and enrollment
  • The spreadsheet without slate data is for any other campaign

Download the Excel spreadsheet that you need and fill out the UTM Campaign and the Campaign Landing Page. Both of these items should not have any spaces.

This will generate the URLs in the Final UTM URL column. You can copy these and place them in your advertisements, and these URLs will track everything you need.

Spreadsheet with Slate Data
Spreadsheet without Slate Data

What’s the difference between UTM codes and ad pixels? Which should I use? 

UTMs allow you to track advertisement information through Google Analytics, and pixels allow you to track advertisement information through the ad platform. Pixels give you better clarity on:

  • What people are doing on the ad platform (before they click the link) 
  • Information about that user from the platform’s perspective (for example, are they regular users of Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
  • How to optimize the campaign and target more people from the perspective of that ad platform

UTM codes give you better clarity on:

  • What people are doing on your site (after they click the ad link) 
  • Information about that user from your site’s perspective (for example, have they visited your site before)
  • An overview of how your different advertisement strategies are doing relative to each other

To make decisions on how ads are doing, you need both pieces of information, so you should use both when possible. 

How do I report on UTM codes?

Google Analytics has helpful information on UTM codes. We are also working on a quick-start guide on how to create custom reports.