I am trying to track clicks from the GBP “website” link separately from Google organic search results. The following decorated URL is an example of what I do:
Despite trying it both ways in different browsers, PP doesn’t seem to want to honor the UTM codes. Here’s an example when I used Bing with all cookies cleared and copy/paste/enter the URL:
Engagement: New visitor
Channel: Direct entry
Source / Medium: google-my-business / organic
Makes it very hard for me to determine if this is working in PP!
Even though the campaign parameter was not provided, Piwik PRO can still use parameters that are actually present in the URL (utm_source and utm_medium in your case) to overwrite ones detected by default.
The channel will be set to the channel that was originally detected.
Example: you’ve configured utm_source as campaign source. when you track URL http://facebook.com?utm_source=MySource, the detected channel is Social, but source parameter is MySource , not Referal, as it was overwritten by unnamed campaign parameter.
What is an unnamed campaign parameter? Is “campaign” a required parameter? I assumed that not having a campaign parameter would result in PP setting the campaign name for that session as “not set.” That’s what GA3 does.
Side note: looking at the source medium data suggests that my decorated url is mostly be interpreted correctly. When I got back from tracker debugger during my test gives me concerned that it’s not being 100% interpreted correctly.
This approach baffles me. In GA3, Direct means that no information is available about the origin of the session so all relevant fields (source, medium, campaign) = “not set” and the channel = Direct.
Can you clarify your comment about Direct with source/medium equaling google-my-business / organic"?
Are you referring to the assigned channel? I’m seeing these visits in the Search Engine channel.
I’ll correct/edit my original answer as it may be misleading.
Can you clarify your comment about Direct with source/medium equaling google-my-business / organic"?
What I meant here is that since the campaign parameter is empty (what we call unnamed campaign parameter) the channel will be set to the one detected when a visitor enters the website and not to campaign.
Direct was just an example if we were to directly enter the website via the link you have provided earlier.
Even though the campaign parameter was not provided, Piwik PRO can still use parameters that are actually present in the URL (utm_source and utm_medium in your case) to overwrite ones detected by default.
Despite detected channel, dimensions source, medium, referrer_keyword and keyword can be overwritten by URL defined campaign parameters. Such parameters are called unnamed campaign parameters, as they miss campaign name parameter (otherwise such event would be processed as Campaign type). Example: you’ve configured utm_source as campaign source. when you track URL http://facebook.com?utm_source=MySource, the detected channel is Social, but source parameter is MySource , not Referal, as it was overwritten by unnamed campaign parameter.
Over the past 30 days, GA got it right 100% of the time while PP was at 90%. This renders the Channels basically unusable for any comparisons with data from GA3.
In case you’re wondering: The reason for using the UTM codes this way is to track the overall impact of the Google Business Profile. To explain further for GA3:
Without UTM codes:
a. Click on website link in GBP after a search on google.com from any web browser (desktop, mobile, tablet) : source/medium = google/organic search, Channel = organic
b. Click on website link in GBP after a search in Google Maps app on mobile/tablet: source/medium = not set/not set, Channel = direct
With UTM codes:
100% of GBP clicks, regardless of where it happens (browser or app): source/medium = google/organic search, Channel = organic
A lot of U.S. based businesses use UTM codes in this manner.
