Google Ads vs. Direct vs. Organic Traffic

  • Resolved hitchster

    (@hitchster)


    5 years, 8 months ago

    Hey,

    I have a couple of questions please:

    1) I tried testing the plugin with Google Ads’ auto-tagging to see if the parameters show up in the message and only GLCID does. Is there any way the plugin could pick up other UTM parameters such as campaign, keyword, etc. without actually setting up UTM parameters in the URLs, as is possible in Google Analytics, or not?

    2) Using the above method, I tested a form submission from both organic and direct sources and all fields were blank in both cases. Do you know if the source/medium parameters would show up if I do implement actual UTMs in the links or if there’s another issue I need to address here? (Wouldn’t this only work be for paid traffic sources though?)

    I’d just like to make sure I’d be able to differentiate organic, direct traffic and other paid channels before moving from Google Ads’ auto-tagging to implementing UTMs in the links.

    Thanks a lot

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
  • Plugin Author Haktan Suren

    (@haktansuren)

    1) UTM params is set by user. It is not something appended by Google. Google only sends gclid for the paid traffic.

    2) If you append utm values to the URL, you should be able to collect them for both organic/paid.

    You can differentiate the traffic using several methods, but here is my suggestions:

    paid traffic: always gclid is attached (for Google), for other paid traffic you can always create your own UTM values. e.g. utm_campaign=camapaign_name

    direct traffic/organic: this is tricky because Google does not append any UTM values for organic and direct traffic.

    Long story short: as long as you can define your own UTM variables, you will be fine.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
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