Campaign Tracking

Track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns using UTM parameters.

What Are UTM Parameters?

UTM parameters are tags you add to the URLs you share in ads, emails, and posts. When someone clicks a tagged link, Ghost Metrics reads those tags and attributes the visit — and any conversions that follow — to your campaign.

They’re the universal standard for campaign tracking, so the same tagged links work across the tools your team already uses.

This lets you answer questions like:

• Which email drove the most traffic?
• Are Facebook ads generating leads?
• Which version of our Google ad performs better?

Supported Parameters

Only utm_campaign is required — a URL with just utm_campaign already registers the visit as campaign traffic. Add the other parameters for richer breakdowns.

Building Campaign URLs

Basic Structure

Start with your destination URL and add UTM parameters:

https://yoursite.com/landing-page?utm_campaign=CAMPAIGN&utm_source=SOURCE&utm_medium=MEDIUM

Example: Email Newsletter

https://yoursite.com/blog/heart-health-tips?utm_campaign=february_2026&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=featured_article

Example: Google Ads

https://yoursite.com/services/cardiology?utm_campaign=cardiology_services&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=heart_doctor_near_me

Example: Facebook Ad

https://yoursite.com/schedule-appointment?utm_campaign=new_patient_acquisition&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_content=video_ad_v2

Example: Print, Billboard, or QR Code

https://yoursite.com/welcome?utm_campaign=highway_101_jan2026&utm_source=billboard&utm_medium=print

URL Builder Tools

Manually building URLs is error-prone. Use a URL builder to keep things consistent — Google’s free Campaign URL Builder  works well, or maintain a shared spreadsheet template your team fills in (destination, campaign, source, medium → generated URL).

Viewing Campaign Data

Find your campaign data in Acquisition → Campaigns.

The Campaigns page shows a table for each parameter you tag: campaign names, sources, mediums, keywords, content, and a combined source ⋅ medium view. Campaign names can be expanded to see their keywords, and every table shows visits and attributed goal conversions.

Attribution

Conversions are credited to the last non-direct referrer or campaign, remembered for up to 6 months — so a visitor who clicks your ad today and converts on a direct visit next week still counts for the campaign. Arriving with new campaign parameters starts a new visit, which keeps campaign comparisons clean.

Naming Conventions

Consistent naming is critical. Campaign values are stored lowercase (Facebook and facebook are the same campaign), but consistent conventions still keep reports readable:

Use lowercase for everything:

• ✅ utm_source=facebook
• ❌ utm_source=Facebook

Use underscores instead of spaces:

• ✅ utm_campaign=spring_promo_2026
• ❌ utm_campaign=spring promo 2026

Be specific but concise:

• ✅ utm_campaign=cardiology_awareness_q1
• ❌ utm_campaign=campaign1

Use consistent source names:

• ✅ Always use google for Google Ads
• ❌ Sometimes google, sometimes adwords, sometimes google_ads

Note that the parameter keys themselves must be lowercase: utm_campaign works, UTM_CAMPAIGN doesn’t.

Suggested Source/Medium Combinations

Campaign Tracking Tips

Don’t Use UTM Parameters on Internal Links

Only tag external links pointing to your site. Tagging internal links overwrites the visitor’s original traffic source, corrupts your data, and splits one visit into two.

<!-- DON'T do this on internal navigation -->
<a href="/services?utm_campaign=homepage_banner">Our Services</a>

Shorten URLs When Needed

UTM parameters make URLs long. For print, social, and other public-facing links, use a URL shortener or a QR code that encodes the full tagged URL.

Track All Paid Campaigns

Every paid click should carry UTM parameters. This includes:

• Search ads (Google, Bing)
• Social ads (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn)
• Display ads
• Sponsored content

Document Your Campaigns

Maintain a campaign tracking spreadsheet with:

• Campaign name
• Full URL with parameters
• Launch date
• Owner
• Notes

This prevents duplicate or inconsistent naming across your team.

A Note on Ad Platform Auto-Tagging

Google Ads auto-tagging (gclid) identifies the click for conversion export, but it does not populate your campaign reports — an auto-tagged-only click shows up as a Google search visit, not a campaign. Keep auto-tagging on for Advertising Conversion Export, and add UTM parameters (in Google Ads, use tracking templates or final URL suffixes) so campaign reports get the campaign name, source, and medium too.

Next Steps

• View acquisition reports — Analyze traffic sources and campaign performance
• Set up goals — Measure campaign conversions
• Multi Channel Attribution — Credit campaigns across the whole journey