Google Campaign URL Builder

In order to track where traffic is coming from (for example to a Subscribe or Donate Page) use this tool to create links that track campaign sources and different campaign content: https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/


You can also find this tool in your website under Insights >> Tools. 


You can also create a short URL (for example, for a print ad), that links to a longer tracking URL created using the tool above. Learn more about using redirects to create a short URL. 



Setting up useful source / medium / campaign codes


To make it easier to track and evaluate your costs and ROI for each of your marketing campaigns and efforts, it's helpful to plan out how you will track links on at least three dimensions: Traffic Source, Medium, and Campaign.


The rule of thumb is you want one Source Code per vendor / site, as few Medium options as it takes to track the types of marketing you put out into the world, and as many Campaign codes as you need to track individual marketing deliverables and their results.

Typical Traffic Source Codes

Source tracks the specific vendor source of the traffic. For example: 

  • (direct) - traffic sent straight to your domain.
  • google
  • yahoo
  • bing
  • facebook.com (Facebook)
  • m.facebook.com (Mobile Facebook)
  • l.facebook.com (Facebook Live)
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • nytimes
  • {your local news outlets}
  • {other website URLs}


More about Source dimensions: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033173?hl=en 


Typical Traffic Medium Codes

Medium tracks the type of traffic referrer.  It can be useful to tie medium to types of expenses in your marketing department.  Some organizations use one medium "cpc" for all paid digital ads, and some break this out by product - "banner", "animatedcpc," etc if you want to track cost and results by type of ad.

  • (none) - direct traffic
  • organic - unpaid search engine result
  • referral - unsolicited link from another site
  • cpc - Cost Per Click Ad
    • banner - Paid Banner Ad
  • email - email campaign
  • social - unpaid social result
  • print - print postcard or mailing  (Use a Campaign Builder URL and a simplified redirect link to simplify the tracking URL for a print-only deal or incentive)
    • postcard
    • brochure
  • wom - word of mouth (Use a Campaign Builder URL and simplified redirect link to simplify the tracking URL for a word-of-mouth-only deal or incentive)
  • post - social media post
  • live - a Facebook Live or Instagram Live event


Typical Campaign Codes

Campaign codes are the most unique dimension to track.  Typically you want to include both the product or offering and the date range of your campaign.

  • Emma and Mailchimp automate the process of generating a unique campaign code per email campaign.
  • "Twelfth-Night-Aug-2020"
  • "Local-Business-Exchange-Aug-2020"