Tracking Non-Google PPC Campaigns in Google Analytics
If you’ve ever run a PPC (pay-per-click) campaign through Google AdWords, you probably already know that Google provides seamless integration of AdWords data with Google Anlaytics, making it a piece of cake to track your PPC campaign. However, if you ever want to utilize another paid search program (like Yahoo or Bing), you will have to do some customization in order to get the same data from these PPC programs to appear in Analytics.
In order to indicate to Google Analytics that a specific visitor is a paid search visitor as opposed to an organic search visitor, you will need to create unique PPC destination URLs for all of your PPC ads. These custom URLs should all contain different parameters to help Analytics identify various details about the PPC campaigns that you are running on other search services. The table below outlines the five parameters that are either required or recommended by Google in order to track your non-Google PPC Campaign in Google Analytics.
|
Parameters |
Required? |
Explanation/Example |
|
Campaign Source (utm_source) |
Required |
Use utm_source to identify a search engine, newsletter name, or other source. Example: utm_source=bing |
|
Campaign Medium (utm_medium) |
Required |
Use utm_medium to identify a medium such as email or cost-per-click. Example: utm_medium=cpc |
|
Campaign Term (utm_term) |
Recommended |
Used for paid search. Use utm_term to note the keywords for this ad. Example: utm_term=running+shoes |
|
Campaign Content (utm_content) |
Recommended |
Used for A/B testing and content-targeted ads. Use utm_content to differentiate ads or links that point to the same URL. Examples: utm_content=logolink ir utm_content=textlink |
|
Campaign Name (utm_campaign) |
Required |
Used for keyword analysis. Use utm_campaign to identify a specific product promotion or strategic campaign. Example: utm_campaign=spring_sale |
One way to make it easier to build these URLs is to use Google’s URL Builder Tool, which simplifies the process of creating custom URLs for your PPC campaigns. Effective use of this tool will make it much easier to get lots of valuable information about traffic from non-Google paid search sources in Google Analytics, assisting you in tracking and measuring the results of all your PPC campaigns.Once you start running ads with the new destination URLs, Analytics will automatically begin collecting and displaying data on visitors and page views generated through your PPC campaigns
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Christine is the Social Media Manager at The Discovery Communications Group. She graduated with a degree in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University, where she is currently working on her Master's degree in Marketing. After spending the past few years working in various sales and marketing roles, she joined the DCG team to help them manage their social communities.
