People often ask me how I know who comes to my website from Google Search vs Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business), the knowledge panel in Google Search. It’s a great question because there’s no way to differentiate the sources in Google Analytics without making adjustments.
That’s where UTM parameters come in!
Tip: You can do this for other traffic sources too (like directories, affiliate links, etc), but we’re going to focus on Google Business Profile.
There’s a trick, but for this to work you must have Google Analytics installed on your website.
The secret is to use UTM parameters, which are just short codes appended to your URL that are sent to Google Analytics to show you where the traffic came from. You can use Google’s URL Builder tool, or my UTM template, a spreadsheet that mimics the setup and keeps your links organized. This is what my spreadsheet looks like and how it works. Below, you can see what each column represents.
URL
This is where you place the website URL you want to track. This has to be a page on your website that’s tracked with Google Analytics or it doesn’t work.
Source
Source is the most specific classification of your website traffic. Going along with the example in the spreadsheet above on row #2, your source is gbp (Google Business Profile).
You can edit this dropdown list in my spreadsheet.
Medium
This is a general category of where you’re posting your link. Think high level. For example, if you’re sharing your link on Instagram, the medium is social.
In my spreadsheet, I’ve created a dropdown for Medium to make life easier and keep naming conventions consistent. You can edit this list to fit your needs.
Campaign Name
Campaigns are a way to categorize your marketing efforts. If I’m sharing marketing tips from my blog, my Campaign Name might be marketing-tips (as you can see in my spreadsheet). For Google Business Profile, it’s “google-business-profile”.
Content
The type of content you’re sending people to. This can be a literal category. If I’m sending people to a blog post about SEO, my Content column will be “seo”. In my Google Business Profile link, it’s “contact” because I’m sending people to my contact page.
Keyword / Term
This section is optional. Use the Keyword column to describe something in your content (an article title, perhaps) or your description/comment in a post on social media/newsletter, etc. The Keyword can be helpful for you to remember what you shared.
Anatomy of a Link With UTM Parameters
This is an example of what the UTM parameters look like with the URL. You can see &utm before each section. Then you see each of the columns listed in my spreadsheet above.
https://www.example.com?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=gmb&utm_campaign=google-business-profile&utm_content=home&utm_term=book-appointment
When this data is sent to Google Analytics, it appears in a much more readable fashion. We’ll talk about that in the reporting section below.
Where to Add Your UTM Link in Google Business Profile
Add it to your Google Business Profile by going to Edit Info > Contact. Then click the pencil icon and paste your URL with the UTM parameters.
Where to Find Campaign Data in Google Analytics
In Google Analytics, you can find organic Campaign data in two different Acquisition reports: User acquisition and Traffic acquisition.
Navigate to Reports (in the sidebar) » Acquisition (under Life cycle) > User acquisition. Then you can click on First User Primary Dimension at the top of the table and swap it for First user campaign.
If you want to see the Source and Medium instead, you can choose First User Source / Medium from that same dropdown menu.
Repeat that process in Traffic acquisition, but instead of First user campaign, swap it for Session Campaign or Session Source / Medium.
In this example, you can see that my Session Campaign says google-my-business. That’s because I set these UTMs up before Google My Business became Google Business Places. Yours will be specific to your naming convention.
That’s it! Now you can track and report on clicks from your Google Business Profile links vs your Google Search (organic) links.
If you have questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll follow up soon.
Troubleshooting
My UTM parameters aren’t showing up in GA4
Typos
Double-check your UTM template and the link added in Google Business Profile for any typos in your UTM parameters. Pay close attention to the utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign values of your URL. Even a single incorrect character can prevent the data from being tracked correctly.
Using the template provided will prevent typos and provide consistency in your reporting.
Incorrect Placement
Ensure you’ve correctly appended the UTM parameters to the end of your URL. They should start with a question mark (?) for the first parameter, and ampersands (&) for subsequent parameters. A common mistake is placing them before other URL parameters or in the middle of the URL.
Again, if you’re using the template I provided, this won’t be an issue.
Google Analytics Data Delays
Remember that GA4 data isn’t always instantaneous. There is a delay of 24-48 hours before your UTM data appears in your reports. Check again in a few days.
Filters in GA4
Review your GA4 property’s filters. It’s possible (though less likely) that a filter is accidentally excluding your UTM data.
Inconsistent Data or Unexpected Results
Naming Conventions
The most common cause of inconsistent data is inconsistent naming conventions for your UTM parameters. For example, using “gmb,” “GBP,” and “google-business-profile” interchangeably for the utm_source will make it difficult to analyze your data. Stick to a consistent naming scheme (like the one in the spreadsheet template) for all available fields.
Missing UTMs
Check your Google Business Profile listings to ensure that all relevant links have the correct UTM parameters. Missing UTMs will result in some GBP clicks being tracked as regular organic traffic, skewing your data.
Testing
Click and Check
The best way to verify your UTM parameters is to click on your GBP links yourself (in incognito mode) and then check your Realtime report (Reports > Realtime overview). You should see the traffic with the corresponding UTM values in real time (it might not be immediate).
