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Tracking Source Traffic Using UTMs

Add parameters to URLs to identify the third-party websites and campaigns referring traffic

Mariel Tavakoli avatar
Written by Mariel Tavakoli
Updated over 2 years ago

UTMs, or Urchin Tracking Modules, provide specific data about the origins of your website traffic. By adding special codes to your URLs, you can track which sources are bringing you the most traffic. Think of it as a GPS for your website traffic.

When someone clicks on one of these links, the extra info you added is sent to Google Analytics and you can see this data in your Circuit Analytics Dashboard report.

Required Parameters

There are 3 parameters you must always use:

  • utm_source: Helps you track which platform the traffic is coming from (e.g., School Finder, Instagram, etc.)

  • utm_medium: Helps you understand what type of traffic it is (e.g., paid, organic, referral, etc.)

  • utm_campaign: Helps you track the specific campaign that resulted in the traffic.(e.g., Apply for Residence, Free Trial, etc.)

Examples

Example #1: Referring visitors from SchoolFinder

  • utm_source = school-finder to identify traffic that results from School Finder button/embed

  • utm_medium = referral to identify traffic from a referral source

  • utm_campaign = virtual-tour to identify the overall campaign

Your custom URL would be:

https://virtualtour.explorercollege.com/?utm_school-finder&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=virtual-tour

Example #2: Using your VT to remind applicants to apply to residence

  • utm_source = admitted-newsletter to identify traffic that results from your Admitted Student Newsletter email campaign

  • utm_medium = email to identify traffic from an email campaign vs. social media

  • utm_campaign = apply-to-residence to identify the overall campaign

Your custom URL would be:

https://virtualtour.explorercollege.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=apply_to_residence

Example #3: Promoting your VT on social media via paid ads

  • utm_source = instagram to identify traffic that results from your paid Instagram ad campaign

  • utm_medium = paid to identify traffic from paid ad vs. organic post

  • utm_campaign = virtual-tour to identify the overall campaign

Your custom URL would be:

https://virtualtour.explorercollege.com/?utm_instagram&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=virtual-tour

How to build UTMs

You can add parameters and values to your URLs manually, or you can use GA Campaign URL Builder to create your URLs and append the parameters.

Manual set up tip

If you want to set up your custom campaigns manually, make sure you separate the parameters from the URL with a question mark. List the parameters and values as pairs separated by an equal sign. Separate each parameter-value pair with an ampersand.

For example:

https://virtualtour.explorercollege.com/?utm_prospect-mailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=prospect-newsletter

You can add parameters to a URL in any order. Note that Analytics is case sensitive, so utm_source=google is different from utm_source=Google. Case sensitivity applies for each value you define.

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