UTM link in Google My Business: why this is an absolute must

But first, let's go back to basics.

What is a UTM?

I'm not going to tell you what the abbreviation UTM stands for. Because that won't be of any use to you and you'll immediately forget about it. What I am going to tell you is that a UTM is nothing but an addition to a URL so that Google Analytics can assess exactly where it came from.

After all, Google can't always do that very well.

Have you ever visited a Web site with an incredibly long URL in the browser? If so, that was probably a URL with UTM.

This an example of a UTM: https://www.socialdeal.nl/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=test.

You'll see the following information here (these are also called parameters, but you can forget those right away, too):

• Source (or source, this can be Google, or a reference).
• Medium (the medium used, For example, e-mail or a banner)
• Campaign (the campaign the link was used for, e.g. black Friday).

Why do you want UTM in your Google My Business?

Your Google My Business page may contain multiple links. For example, the regular website link, but also an appointment link.

If people click on it, you can't exactly see that in Analytics. It won't say, for example, "5 clicks through Google My Company. Analytics is not that good.

By adding a UTM to the links, you do know exactly how many people clicked through via Google My Company. Even better, you also know exactly which link they clicked on.

And that, as a marketer, is golden.

How do you create a link with UTM?

Of course, you can modify the aforementioned URL I used and use your own. But Google wouldn't be Google if they had already created their own tool for this.

That's the Google Campaign URL Builder. You can find it at https://ga-dev-tools.web.app/campaign-url-builder/.

By clicking on the URL and then filling in all the appropriate fields, Google will give you a ready-to-use URL. You can then use that in your Google My Business (or anywhere else, because UTMs can be used anywhere, of course).

Here's how to add a UTM to links in Google My Business

I'm assuming for now that you've already created a UTM. Make sure you've copied this link.

Next, go to your Google My Business page, right click on "information," and then paste the UTM link in the appropriate place.

For example, this could look like this:

Next, go to Google and search for your company name. Hover your mouse over the link (do not click) and check that you see the UTM at the bottom left.

If that is the case, then you have done well.