How to Add UTM Tracking to Google Shopping Campaigns

Tracking your marketing campaign’s performance is important. Very important. After all, you want to know how well your efforts are paying off and if any campaign adjustments are needed.

You can track your product’s performance through UTM's if you are a Google Analytics user. Doing so will help you understand what campaigns, keywords, and sources are driving shoppers to your Google Shopping product listing ads.

What is UTM Tracking?

UTM tags are added to a URL that allows you to track performance. Once the URL is clicked on, the tag is sent to your Google Analytics account where you can view information about a visitor's session.

Knowing what campaigns are driving clicks will help you better target the text of your product listings to improve click-through rates.

UTM tracking can also give you insight into optimization. This can be a useful tool when you're trying to identify trends in your campaigns, like the PLA elements that are leading shoppers to your products.

But what if your campaigns are off the mark? What if your products are coming up in search queries that have nothing to do with your products? Knowing this would help you edit listings to create better targeting.

Creating UTM Tags

Simple. Visit Google’s URL Builder, complete the form, and run the app. Alternatively, you can append these values manually -- if you know what you're doing. The key here is to know what the accepted values are and how the UTM string is parsed in the URL. 

Accepted values:

• utm_source - Campaign source or the referrer (e.g. google, newsletter)
• utm_medium - Campaign medium or marketing medium (e.g. CPC, banner, email)
• utm_campaign - Campaign Name, product, promo code, or slogan (e.g. spring_sale)
• utm_term - Campaign term; used to identify the paid keywords
• utm_content - Campaign content; used to differentiate ads by content

URL string elements:

• ? - used to separate the base URL from the UTM tag; apply this only once at the beginning of the UTM tag
• & - used to separate variables in the string
• = - used to denote the value of the variable

Once you've entered this information, click ‘Generate URL.’ Below is an example of what a URL with a UTM code will look like.

https://www.mystore.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring-sale&utm_term=sun-dress&utm_content=flower-print-dresses

By appending a specific UTM code to the product URLs in your Google feed, you will know which website clicks came from those product listings, and therefore you can see how well your campaign strategy is doing.

Advanced UTM Tracking Strategies

• Segmentation by Audience Type: Implement sophisticated UTM parameters to identify how different audience segments interact with your campaigns. This involves creating distinct UTM codes for various demographics, interests, or behaviors, enabling you to tailor your marketing strategies more effectively to each group.

• Tracking Buyer Journey Stage: Use UTM parameters to track where a user is in the buyer journey (awareness, consideration, decision). This can be achieved by assigning specific UTM values to content or ads tailored to each stage, offering insights into the effectiveness of your funnel strategy.

Integration with Analytics Tools

1. Seamless Integration with Google Analytics: Utilize UTM parameters to feed rich data into Google Analytics. This allows for tracking the effectiveness of specific marketing channels and campaigns in real-time. By tagging URLs with UTMs, ecommerce marketers can see which sources drive the most traffic and conversions.

2. Custom Dashboards and Reports: In Google Analytics, create custom dashboards focusing on ecommerce-specific metrics like conversion rates, average order value, and customer acquisition costs. This tailored approach helps in visualizing the data most relevant to ecommerce goals.

3. Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking: Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce feature provides deeper insights into shopper behavior and conversion patterns. When combined with UTM parameters, it allows for a granular analysis of how different marketing efforts contribute to sales and customer journeys.

4. Segmentation and Cohort Analysis: Use UTM data to segment users based on their traffic source, campaign, or content type. Cohort analysis can further help in understanding the long-term value and behavior of customers acquired through different channels.

Applying UTM Tracking

You can manually add these codes to the individual product URLs that you are sending to Google or you can use a data feed automation software to add these codes in bulk. Here at GoDataFeed, we offer a quick, headache-free solution to add these codes with the creation of one simple rule.

If you are interested in learning more about how our software can help you measure your success with UTM codes, visit our website or give us a call. We're here to help.