What is utm? utm_

UTM stands for Urchin Traffic Monitor and is originally part of Urchin 4, and was specifically designed to provide the most accurate measurements of unique website visitors. For businesses looking to get a deeper understanding of their online visitor behavior.

http://www.google.com/support/urchin45/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=28710

This extra information appears in the Google Analytics reports under Traffic Sources.

Campaign Source (utm_source)	Required. Use utm_source to identify a search engine, newsletter name or other source. Example: utm_source=google
Campaign Medium (utm_medium)	Required. Use utm_medium to identify a medium such as email or cost-per- click. Example: utm_medium=cpc
Campaign Term (utm_term)	Used for paid search. Use utm_term to note the keywords for this ad. Example: utm_term=running+shoes
Campaign Content (utm_content)	Used for A/B testing and content-targeted ads. Use utm_content to differentiate between ads or links that point to the same URL. Examples: utm_content=logolink or utm_content=textlink
Campaign Name (utm_campaign)	Used for keyword analysis. Use utm_campaign to identify a specific product promotion or strategic campaign. Example: utm_campaign=spring_sale

Following is a ColdFusion CFC to get the values passed in the URM variables.

<cfcomponent
 displayname="UrchinTrafficMonitor"
 hint=""
 output="false"
 author="Taco Fleur (taco.fleur@clickfind.com.au)"
 version="1">

 <!--- Set instance variables --->
 <cfscript>
 variables.instance.referrer = "";
 variables.instance.campaignSource = ""; // referrer: google, citysearch, newsletter4
 variables.instance.campaignMedium = ""; // marketing medium: cpc, banner, email
 variables.instance.campaignTerm = ""; // identify the paid keywords
 variables.instance.campaignContent = ""; // use to differentiate ads
 variables.instance.campaignName = ""; // product, promo code or slogan
 </cfscript>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="init"
 output="false"
 returntype="UrchinTrafficMonitor">

 <cfargument
 name="referrer"
 type="string"
 required="yes">

 <cfscript>
 setReferrer( arguments.referrer );
 doInitialize();
 return this;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="setReferrer"
 output="false"
 returntype="void">

 <cfargument
 name="referrer"
 required="yes"
 type="string">

 <cfscript>
 variables.instance.referrer = arguments.referrer;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="getReferrer"
 output="false"
 returntype="string">

 <cfscript>
 return variables.instance.referrer;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="setCampaignSource"
 output="false"
 returntype="void">

 <cfargument
 name="campaignSource"
 required="yes"
 type="string">

 <cfscript>
 variables.instance.campaignSource = arguments.campaignSource;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="getCampaignSource"
 output="false"
 returntype="string">

 <cfscript>
 return variables.instance.campaignSource;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="setCampaignMedium"
 output="false"
 returntype="void">

 <cfargument
 name="campaignMedium"
 required="yes"
 type="string">

 <cfscript>
 variables.instance.campaignMedium = arguments.campaignMedium;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="getCampaignMedium"
 output="false"
 returntype="string">

 <cfscript>
 return variables.instance.campaignMedium;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="setCampaignTerm"
 output="false"
 returntype="void">

 <cfargument
 name="campaignTerm"
 required="yes"
 type="string">

 <cfscript>
 variables.instance.campaignTerm = arguments.campaignTerm;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="getCampaignTerm"
 output="false"
 returntype="string">

 <cfscript>
 return variables.instance.campaignTerm;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="setCampaignContent"
 output="false"
 returntype="void">

 <cfargument
 name="campaignContent"
 required="yes"
 type="string">

 <cfscript>
 variables.instance.campaignContent = arguments.campaignContent;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="getCampaignContent"
 output="false"
 returntype="string">

 <cfscript>
 return variables.instance.campaignContent;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="setCampaignName"
 output="false"
 returntype="void">

 <cfargument
 name="campaignName"
 required="yes"
 type="string">

 <cfscript>
 variables.instance.campaignName = arguments.campaignName;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="public"
 name="getCampaignName"
 output="false"
 returntype="string">

 <cfscript>
 return variables.instance.campaignName;
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

 <cffunction
 access="private"
 name="doInitialize"
 output="false"
 returntype="void">

 <cfscript>
 variables.queryString = listLast( getReferrer(), "?" );
 variables.url = structNew();
 </cfscript>
 <cfloop
 index="item"
 list="#variables.queryString#"
 delimiters="&">
 <cfscript>
 variables.key = listFirst( item, "=" );
 variables.value = listLast( item, "=" );
 if ( not structKeyExists( variables.url, variables.key ) ) {
 structInsert( variables.url, variables.key, urlDecode( variables.value ) );
 }
 else {
 listAppend( variables.url[ variables.key], urlDecode( variables.value ) );
 }
 </cfscript>
 </cfloop>

 <cfscript>
 if ( structKeyExists( variables.url, "utm_source" ) ) {
 setCampaignSource( variables.url[ "utm_source" ] );
 }
 if ( structKeyExists( variables.url, "utm_medium" ) ) {
 setCampaignMedium( variables.url[ "utm_medium" ] );
 }
 if ( structKeyExists( variables.url, "utm_term" ) ) {
 setCampaignTerm( variables.url[ "utm_term" ] );
 }
 if ( structKeyExists( variables.url, "utm_content" ) ) {
 setCampaignContent( variables.url[ "utm_content" ] );
 }
 if ( structKeyExists( variables.url, "utm_campaign" ) ) {
 setCampaignName( variables.url[ "utm_campaign" ] );
 }
 </cfscript>

 </cffunction>

</cfcomponent>

Code to call the CFC.

<cfscript>
 variables.UrchinTrafficMonitor = createObject( "component", "UrchinTrafficMonitor" ).init( referrer = "http://www.clickfind.com.au/?utm_source=clickfind&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=advertising&utm_content=ad1&utm_campaign=online+promo");
</cfscript>
<cfdump var="#variables.UrchinTrafficMonitor.getCampaignMedium()#">
<cfabort>

Source
Every referral to a web site has an origin, or source. Examples of sources are the Google search engine, the AOL search engine, the name of a newsletter, or the name of a referring web site.

Medium
The medium helps to qualify the source; together, the source and medium provide specific information about the origin of a referral. For example, in the case of a Google search engine source, the medium might be “cost-per-click”, indicating a sponsored link for which the advertiser paid, or “organic”, indicating a link in the unpaid search engine results. In the case of a newsletter source, examples of medium include “email” and “print”.

Term
The term or keyword is the word or phrase that a user types into a search engine.

Content
The content dimension describes the version of an advertisement on which a visitor clicked. It is used in content-targeted advertising and Content (A/B) Testing to determine which version of an advertisement is most effective at attracting profitable leads.

Campaign
The campaign dimension differentiates product promotions such as “Spring Ski Sale” or slogan campaigns such as “Get Fit For Summer”.

Advertisements

Google Analytics Custom Settings

Why are custom Google Analytics settings defined in the client-side code?

I would think the most obvious place for these settings would be through the Google Analytics admin interface or an XML file that only needed to be downloaded once, not upon every page visit.

Would love to know more about the thinking behind this.

Google Analytics Qualification (Certification)

I passed my Google Analytics Qualification today and am now Google Analytics Qualified (yeah, if only it would make me more money~!).

You can take the certification at https://www.starttest.com/8.0.0.0/starttest.aspx?cmd=home

Google Analytics with JavaScript disabled

Why does Google Analytics not track a browser with JavaScript disabled? Surely a simple 1px transparent image would do the trick where JavaScript can’t?