When to Use Manual Tagging in Google Analytics?

Your Google Analytics account is excellent at identifying the source of your visitors, efficiently categorizing traffic from Google search, other websites, and Google Ads. However, when it comes to traffic from an email newsletter, a PDF download, or a non-Google ad campaign, it often gets mixed into "Direct" or a broad "referral" source. This article will demonstrate how manual tagging can resolve this, providing clear insights into which specific marketing efforts drive results.

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What is Manual Tagging? A Quick Refresher on UTM Parameters

Manual tagging involves adding UTM parameters, small bits of information, to the end of your URLs. These don't change the destination page but provide Google Analytics with detailed information about how a user arrived. "UTM" stands for "Urchin Tracking Module," originating from the company Google acquired to develop Google Analytics.

There are five standard UTM parameters, of which three are required for effective tracking:

• utm_source (Required): Identifies the traffic source like a search engine or newsletter name. Example: facebook, newsletter-may, linkedin
• utm_medium (Required): Refers to the general category of the traffic source. Example: cpc, social, email, display
• utm_campaign (Required): Identifies a specific marketing campaign or promotion. Example: summer-sale-2024, new-product-launch, q2-webinar
• utm_term (Optional): Initially for paid search keywords, now used to identify keywords in any campaign. Example: data-analytics-software, running-shoes
• utm_content (Optional): Differentiates similar links within the same ad or promotion, useful for A/B testing. Example: blue-button, header-link, image-ad-v2

Combining these transforms a regular URL like https://www.yourstore.com/special-offer into something more informative:

https://www.yourstore.com/special-offer?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=summer-sale-2024&utm_content=video-ad-3

When a user clicks this link, Google Analytics records not just a visitor but identifies them as coming from your "summer-sale-2024" campaign via a "video-ad-3" on "Facebook."

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Why Google's Auto-Tagging Isn't Always Enough

Google Analytics' auto-tagging feature excels - for Google products. In the case of Google Ads, enabling auto-tagging adds a unique 'gclid' (Google Click Identifier) to your URLs, providing a rich stream of data about campaigns, keywords, and ad groups without much effort.

However, the internet extends beyond Google. Without manual tagging, traffic from other sources lacks clarity:

• An email from Mailchimp might appear as a referral from mailchimp.com or, worse, "direct" with no source information.
• A LinkedIn post link could classify as "direct" or attribute its source to lnkd.in / referral.
• Facebook ad traffic might appear as facebook.com / referral, blending with non-paid social posts.

In these scenarios, the context is lost. Was the traffic coming from your May newsletter or June promo? Was it a paid ad or a viral organic post? Manual tagging precisely answers these questions.

The Golden Rule: When to Use Manual Tagging

The principle is simple: If you place a link on a platform you own or control that points to your website, and it's not Google Ads, use manual UTM tagging.

This ensures that every campaign click you manage is tracked and measured. Here are common scenarios where manual tagging is crucial.

1. Email Marketing Campaigns

This is perhaps the most vital use case. Every link in newsletters, promotional emails, and automated sequences should be tagged. Without this, your email traffic becomes a generic group in analytics.

• Typical Tags: utm_medium=email, utm_source=spring-newsletter, utm_campaign=mothers-day-promo
• Why it matters: You can identify which emails drive revenue or engagement, allowing you to fine-tune messaging for future emails. A/B test using the utm_content tag to see the performance of a header-cta versus a footer-cta.

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2. Non-Google Advertising Campaigns

When paying for clicks outside Google, use manual tags for platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more.

• Typical Tags: utm_source=facebook, utm_medium=cpc, utm_campaign=q3-lead-gen, utm_content=video-testimonial-1
• Why it matters: Understand which platforms, campaigns, and ads provide a positive ROI. Tagging allows attribution of conversions to specific ad creatives.

3. Organic Social Media Posts

Tagging your organic social links is beneficial. This includes links in Instagram bios, Facebook posts, tweets, and more.

• Typical Tags: utm_source=instagram, utm_medium=social, utm_campaign=bio-link
• Why it matters: It helps differentiate traffic from active marketing efforts versus generic profile clicks. For a promotion, track clicks from a specific campaign post.

4. QR Codes and Offline Marketing

To track a flyer's, billboard's, or presentation slide's success, link a QR code or URL with UTM tags.

• Typical Tags: utm_source=flyer, utm_medium=offline, utm_campaign=conference-sponsorship-2024
• Why it matters: This is one of the only ways to gauge if your offline marketing is driving online actions.

5. Affiliate and Influencer Marketing

Working with affiliates or influencers necessitates providing tagged URLs. Each partner can have unique tags to track performance individually.

• Typical Tags: utm_source=[influencer-name], utm_medium=affiliate, utm_campaign=creator-collab-june
• Why it matters: Accurate attribution measures each partnership's success and, in many cases, helps calculate commissions.

A Practical Guide to Building UTM URLs

Creating tagged URLs is done without coding skills by using Google's free Campaign URL Builder. Plug in your website URL and fill out the fields for campaign parameters.

Example for a promotional banner in a May email newsletter:

1. Website URL: https://www.yourshop.com/products/new-gizmo
2. utm_source: may-newsletter
3. utm_medium: email
4. utm_campaign: new-gizmo-launch
5. utm_content: top-banner

The tool generates this link for you:

https://www.yourshop.com/products/new-gizmo?utm_source=may-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=new-gizmo-launch&utm_content=top-banner

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Best Practices for Consistent Tagging

Consistency is key. Disorganized UTMs lead to messy data. Following a few rules saves from data headaches:

• Use a Spreadsheet: Maintain a shared spreadsheet or document for UTM conventions. This avoids data splitting where one person uses facebook and another uses Facebook.
• Stick to Lowercase: UTM parameters are case-sensitive. Email and email will appear as different mediums. Standardize on lowercase to keep data unified.
• Use Dashes, Not Spaces: Spaces cause encoding issues (%20). Use dashes (-) or underscores (_) to separate words in campaign names (e.g., summer-sale instead of summer sale).
• Never Tag Internal Links: Don't use UTM parameters on links within your site, like "Learn More" buttons on your homepage. This overwrites the original traffic source and disrupts multi-session attribution.

Where to Find Your Campaign Data in Google Analytics 4

Deploying tagged links lets you view results in GA4 through the Traffic Acquisition report.

Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. By default, this report groups by "Session default channel grouping." Change the primary dimension to:

• Session source / medium: Displays utm_source and utm_medium combined (e.g., facebook / cpc).
• Session campaign: Displays your utm_campaign names.

Click the small + icon to add dimensions like Session ad content or Session term for further analysis of test results and keyword performance.

Final Thoughts

Consistent manual tagging transforms Google Analytics into a precise tool for assessing marketing effectiveness. Adding UTM parameters pays off significantly by replacing vague data with actionable insights.

Cleaning your Google Analytics data is just one aspect. We developed Graphed to provide performance insights by connecting your GA data with data from advertisement platforms, e-commerce stores, and email providers, all in one place. Instead of spending time navigating through tabs and spreadsheets to see how your summer-sale email campaign on HubSpot influenced sales on Shopify, Graphed consolidates all data sources, allowing instantaneous answers using simple, natural language.