Step 1:
Enter the Destination URL of the page that you want your visitors to land on (e.g. http://www.google.com/pagename)
Tips for best results
Tips for best results:
Include the http:// or https:// prefixes in your destination URLs.
Try to remove any unnecessary "dynamic" or session-based query parameters from your destination URLs before using this tool.
Don't use pages that are broken, under construction, or that redirect to another page (Redirects strip the Google Analytics query parameters).
Ensure that your URLs can accept query parameters (Although rare, if your destination URL is not working after creating the query parameters, contact your IT / Webmaster and ask them to allow the website to accept query parameters).
Ensure that your URLs don't exceed 1,024 characters (Again, this rarely happens).
* Destination URL:
Step 2:
Enter the source where a visitor is originating from (e.g. bing, aol, facebook, twitter, newsletter, etc).
Tips for best results
Tips for best results:
Keep the names of sources in lowercase lettering to avoid multiple line items in your reports (Google Analytics defaults to show you source / medium combinations in lowercase lettering - we strongly advise you to follow suit. For example, "google / cpc" and "Google / CPC" will be listed separately in Google Analytics reports, which can be confusing and frustrating).
Keep your source names short and concise. The reporting tables within the Google Analytics interface are not flexible, so really long names may be cut off or truncated within the reports.
* Source:
Step 3:
Enter the means a visitor accessed your website; or, what marketing method ("medium") brought the visitor to your site (e.g. cpc, email, banner, etc).
Tips for best results
Tips for best results:
Keep the names in lowercase lettering to avoid multiple line items in your reports (Google Analytics defaults to show you source / medium combinations in lowercase lettering - we strongly advise you to follow suit. For example, "google / cpc" and "Google / CPC" will be listed separately in Google Analytics reports, which can be confusing and frustrating).
We also strongly advise you to only use a lowercase medium of "cpc" for any pay-per-click / cost-per-click marketing efforts. Using anything else other than a lowercase "cpc" will force Google Analytics to group those clicks into an "Other" category, rather than the "Paid Traffic" category, which can have far-reaching negative effects within your reports (For example, you won't see any paid keywords listed from any mis-tagged mediums in the Keywords report).
Keep your medium names short and concise. The reporting tables within the Google Analytics interface are not flexible, so really long names may be cut off or truncated within the reports.
* Medium:
Step 4:
Enter a name for the Campaign associated with this visit (e.g. Branding, Spring, March 2011, etc).
Tips for best results
Tips for best results:
Unlike either the source or medium query parameters, you should feel free to give your campaign names a full, healthy name.
You can use proper casing on your campaign names if desired (instead of following our source and medium "all lowercase" rule). Campaign names are not bound by the same restrictions as source or medium names.
Mirror the name of your pay-per-click campaign within the advertising platform with the campaign name that you use here. This makes analyzing much simpler when toggling back and forth between Google Analytics and your pay-per-click platform.
Ensure that the name of your campaign is descriptive enough so that anyone who needs to analyze the campaign in Google Analytics can clearly and easily understand what it is that the person would be looking at (e.g. AOL - Banner Ads - Branding vs. campaign #1 as your campaign name).
* Campaign:
Step 5:Optional
Enter in a term (keyword) that represents the click (e.g. black shoes, custom framing, logo bottom, etc).
Tips for best results
Tips for best results:
The term query parameter was specifically designed with the pay-per-click advertiser in mind. If you are tagging your URLs at the keyword-level, then you would want to use the keyword that you are bidding on as your term here. Use the exact same keyword (exact same words and order of the words) here as you do in your advertising platform, to avoid any possible confusion in your reports.
When the term query parameter is used, any clicks on your destination URLs will result in an entry in the Keywords report in the Traffic Sources section. To avoid confusion, be sure to only use the term query parameter for keywords that you are bidding on, not for media placements or banner buys.
You are free to use any casing (uppercase or lowercase) that you choose. However, we prefer to use lowercase here, as keywords from organic traffic sources are automatically displayed in lowercase lettering in reports.
Term:
Step 6:Optional
The content query parameter is the appropriate place to provide additional information or the link. (e.g. Branding Ad #1, Product Ad, Top Link or 300x250).
Tips for best results
The content query parameter is a multi-purpose query parameter, whose data appears in the Ad Versions report in the Traffic Sources section. As you can see from the notes above, you can use content in different ways and for different types of ads or links - just remember that the Ad Versions report is the home for all of content's query parameter data.
Also keep in mind that if you are advertising with Google AdWords, and your Google Analytics account is properly synced to your AdWords account, that Google Analytics will, by default, use the headline of your ads as the line item in the Ad Versions report. This may look odd to you, especially if you are using the "Keyword Insertion" tool, where keywords are dynamically inserted into the ad headline.
Feel free to be as descriptive as you need to be to explain your content query parameter. It will greatly help you in your analysis efforts to have as much information about the link or ad as possible, especially if you are using multiple links in an email or using multiple ads in a campaign or ad group.
Content:
New URL To Use
Compressed URL
