The right way to make dynamic UTMs on Google Ads, Facebook (META), and Taboola

What are Dynamic UTMs and why do you need them

Like Regular UTMs (Urchin… the long name that tracks the source), Dynamic UTMs also track the effectiveness of online campaigns. They differ significantly in their implementation and functionality. Regular UTMs are static, requiring manual entry of specific parameters such as the campaign source, medium, name, content, and term. These parameters do not change unless manually edited, making them ideal for smaller, more controlled campaigns where customization and specific tracking are needed.

In contrast, Dynamic UTMs are automated and flexible. They are configured to automatically fill in parameters based on the conditions of each ad impression. This automation benefits large-scale or complex advertising campaigns across platforms like Facebook or Google Ads, where ad variations and volumes make manual tracking inefficient. Dynamic UTMs adapt in real-time, providing more accurate and detailed tracking data, such as which specific ad version or campaign variation led to a conversion or site visit, without requiring manual entry or adjustment of UTM parameters.

Let’s start with Facebook (META)

Creating Dynamic UTMs in Facebook advertising is a powerful way to track your ads’ performance precisely. Facebook (Meta) allows you to use dynamic URL parameters. These parameters are automatically populated based on the information you provide when setting up your ads and the specific details of how the ads are displayed.

Meta provides a variety of parameters that can be added to your ads to utilize dynamic UTMs. These include:

It’s crucial to understand that name-based parameters, like {{campaign.name}} or {{ad.name}}, are defined by the names given to the campaign, ad set, or ad at the time of their initial publication. If you change these names later, the parameters will still reference the original ones.

For a practical example, suppose you are running a campaign named “ABC Summit 2023” targeting executives of companies that you assume would participate in the event. The ad is called “Schedule meetings”. To track these in your URLs, you would use the parameters utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_content={{ad.name}}. This would dynamically generate a URL like utm_campaign=ABC%20Summit%202023&utm_content=Schedule%20meetings.

These dynamic parameters are invaluable for analytics purposes, especially when integrated with tools like Google Analytics or CRM platforms such as Hubspot or Zoho, They allow you to see exactly which campaign and ad names are driving traffic or conversions to your site. Remember, once these parameters are set and the campaign is live, their values are locked in as long as the campaign or ad is active. If you need to change these values, you would have to create a new campaign or ad.

So, in short, if you lack time, this is the UTM code you can use that will give you the names of the campaign, ad set, and ad:

https://www.cmovate.com?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_content={{adset.name}}&utm_term={{ad.name}}

And there is also a faster way…

Now that you understand the logic behind UTM parameters for Facebook (META), I am confident enough to share the quickest method. There is a shortcut for doing this task. At the bottom of the “AD” section, you’ll find a section called “URL Parameters”. Here’s how it looks:

Click on “Build a URL Parameter”, and then you will see the following popup:

Each field opens a list of custom-made options that cover all the possibilities presented in the previous sections. Here is how I suggest filling in the fields:

• Campaign Source -> Manually add the term “Facebook_Ads” here. This will ensure that you aren’t confused by other Facebook-related sources, such as company page referrals.
• Campaign Medium -> Choose from the droplist the option “​{{adset.name}}”.
• Campaign Name -> Choose from the droplist the option “​{{campaign.name}}”.
• Campaign Content -> Choose from the droplist the option “​{{ad.name}}”.

It only takes a minute to complete the process. However, once you understand the logic behind the UTMs, you can proceed to the next step, which is testing a few parameters under the same code name. But that is for a more advanced article.

Let’s continue with Google Ads.

Regarding tracking information from your campaigns, Google is excellent, as usual. It is possible, for instance, to track the keywords that triggered a prospect to act. By monitoring the keywords, you can find the terms that convert the best or analyze prospects along the sales pipeline based on the keyword that prompted them to contact you.

Creating dynamic UTM parameters in Google Ads can be highly effective for tracking the performance of campaigns. Google Ads offers ValueTrack parameters, which are dynamically used to insert campaign information into your URLs.

Understanding ValueTrack Parameters: These parameters allow you to track various aspects of your ad’s performance by appending them to your URLs. You can track the campaign ID, ad group ID, keyword, type of device, and more.

How to Use Them?

You can add ValueTrack parameters to your tracking templates at different levels – campaign, ad group, or ad. To combine multiple parameters, you use an ampersand (&) to append them. Here are some of the most common UTM codes:

Let’s build a real UTM with ValueTrack parameters: Imagine you’re running a campaign targeting keywords in the cybersecurity domain. Your base URL might be something like: https://www.cybersecuritycompany.com

You want to track the campaign ID, the keyword, and the type of device used to understand whether your leads are more active on desktop or mobile. Why is that important? Since they come from a Desktop, they are searching for your solution at work and during working hours. That will enable us to play with the messaging creative (if it is Google Display) or even consider promoting on other platforms such as LinkedIn and Taboola. If they come from their mobile phone, we can assume they are searching for solutions in their spare time and adjust our messaging accordingly. A Facebook or Instagram ad could also be promoted, where people spend time in their spare time.

In summary, your final URL with ValueTrack parameters may look like this

https://www.cybersecuritycompany.com/?utm_source=googleads&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_term={keyword}&utm_device={device}

And also, here there is a faster way…!

Well… It’s not as comfortable as Meta, but you can still do it, which saves you a lot of time. Google Ads allows you to define a dynamic UTM template on the Account Level that will be used for all your campaigns automatically. This nice trick can save a lot of time. This is how you do it –

On the left side of the navigation bar, click “Account Settings”. Then click “Tracking”.

That will open a window enabling you to create the UTM template on the account level. In that box, you’ll be asked to paste your tracking template.

Here, all you have to do is paste the following URL and click “Save”:

{lpurl}?utm_campaign={campaignid}&adgroupid={adgroupid}&utm_content={creative}&utm_term={keyword}

Let’s dive into Taboola

Taboola is a platform that consistently surprises me. Although I have been using Taboola daily for many years, I still haven’t fully formed my opinion. On one hand, it has revolutionized our understanding of media buying. On the other hand, I wish its user interface and experience were more similar to that of other familiar platforms such as Google and Facebook. For instance, unlike the typical campaign’s “Campaign -> Ad group/ad set -> Ad” structure, Taboola requires a new campaign for each audience. This makes managing campaigns and optimizing the platform’s use, particularly for many marketers like myself, more challenging and less efficient.

This cumbersome process highlights the importance of using dynamic UTM parameters effectively. This ” uniqueness ” aspect is also evident in how Taboola handles UTM Parameters. While most platforms emphasize the campaign’s name, Taboola places greater importance on the website delivering the ad. Below is a table with the primary dynamic parameters:

As you can observe, Taboola places significant emphasis on identifying the specific website from which each lead originates. This is particularly useful for optimizing campaigns because Taboola publishes across thousands of websites. To set up the tracking parameters, navigate to your campaign’s settings and scroll down to the “Tracking” section:

As you can observe, Taboola has already laid the groundwork by setting up the UTM Source and UTM Medium for you. And just to clarify, it’s not an error – there’s no need to start the UTM template with a question mark (?) to function correctly. Taboola handles that aspect on your behalf.

Much like in Google Ads, your next step is creating your URL and copying and pasting it into the designated section. I suggest using the following structure:

• Campaign source -> Taboola
• Campaign medium -> {site_domain}
• Campaign name -> {campaign_name}
• Campaign term -> ${GDPR}

Ultimately, you should receive something like this (which you can copy and paste).

https://www.cmovate.com/?utm_source=Taboola&utm_medium=%7Bsite_domain%7D&utm_campaign=%7Bcampaign_name%7D&utm_term=%24%7BGDPR%7D

Conclusion

I delved deeply into using dynamic UTMs on Taboola, Google Ads, and Facebook (META) in this article. I’ve provided detailed explanations of the fundamentals and URLs that you can directly copy and paste into your campaign for immediate functionality.

However, I recommend investing time in understanding how UTMs work rather than solely depending on URLs found online. This knowledge will grant you complete independence, allowing you to independently experiment with different strategies and develop custom tracking solutions.

I hope you found this helpful information. Take care, and feel free to share this knowledge with others.

Best,

Elad