Google Analytics Campaign Tracking Pt. 2: The EpikOne Link Tagging Tool
November 10, 2006 by Justin CutroniIn Part 1 of this series I explained that Google Analytics campaign tracking is based on a technology called link tagging. Link tagging is the process of adding business information to the URLs that we use in our on-line ads. But how do we actually tag these links? Some marketing campaigns can have hundreds, or thousands, of destination URLs. Google has provided a tool for us called the URL Builder. It’s great if you only have one or two links to tag, but it can’t handle hundreds of links.
To manage our link tagging effort we’ve created a tool in Google Spreadsheets that automatically generates tagged destination URLs. All you need to do is fill in the values for the Google Analytics tracking variables and a built in formula does the rest. Here’s a link to the file. Please help yourself :)
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p7c_HKcmspSUfEYSO0gskKw&hl=en
How to Use The Tool
1. Click on the above link to open the Google Spreadsheet. Once open, use the menu in the top left corner (File > Export >xls) to export the file to your hard drive.
2. Once you have the file on your machine, open it using MS Excel.
3. Delete all the demo data in the file EXCEPT the equation in cell G8. Cell G8 contains the equation that does all the work.
4. Enter your campaign information into the corresponding columns. Enter a dash (-) for all variables that you are not using. You should always use the campaign, medium and source variables.
5. Add the destination URL to the destination URL cell. Don’t worry if your destination URL already contains query string variables, the tool is smart enough to handle them.
6. Cell G8 will automatically build your destination URL.
7. Continue entering your campaign data in new rows.
8. Copy the formula in cell G8 to other rows. The tagged destination URL will be created automatically.
After you have your destination URLs you can paste them into your on-line ads.
Let me know if you find this tool useful or a complete pain in the as*. Got a better tool and feel like sharing? Post a comment below!
*** Note: EpikOne assumes no liability for those that choose to use this file. ***
11 Responses to “Google Analytics Campaign Tracking Pt. 2: The EpikOne Link Tagging Tool”
If the Campaign Term or Name have spaces in them. It seems like yahoo search marketing doesnt accept the url that the link tagging tool generates. I just thought I would let you know.
By Art on Jun 26, 2007
Hi Art,
Thanks for sharing that information. I’m sure someone will find it useful.
Justin
By Justin on Jun 26, 2007
WOW! Awesome tool guys, I was searching for some good infos about analytics and I think I found the perfect site for that… Thanks again for this tool! It will save me TONS!!!!! of work :D :D :D :D
By Marc on Jun 28, 2007
Hi Justin,
I just finished your GA book and I wanted to thank you for all your insights. Pretty useful stuff!
On another note, I wanted your 2 cents on a tracking issue: I always manually tag my links to get better control, but one types of report (The position report for Adwords which seems very useful) isen’t accessible when you tag links manually. Is there a way we can still use that types of report?
Thank you for your time,
Julien
By Julien Raby on Sep 13, 2007
Hi Julien,
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed the book.
Great question. I’m not 100% sure of the answer. I believe that the manually tagging should not break the keyword position report. However, I believe that the values you use in the query string parameters must match the values in AdWords (campaign name, keyword value, etc.).
Let me know how it works.
By Justin on Sep 13, 2007
Do I need to be a subscriber to access the spreadsheet you have created? I get an access denied error.
Thanks, Stephen
BTW, I sure appreciate your articles. I’m just getting into the whole world of GA and am finding it much easier than I expected as a result of helps such as yours.
By Stephen on Oct 18, 2007