Traffic sources are a great way to get to know your marketing channels. With a clearly defined traffic source you will be able to see what type of customer it drives to your site and if they match your ideal customer persona.
Adding a traffic source
Start by clicking the "+" in the analytics view in the traffic sources window:
This modal window will open up:
In this view there are a few steps and a few configuration options.
1. You start by giving the traffic source a name, a name that is clear and easy to understand. Example: Traffic from X, Traffic from E-mails, Facebook campaign Fall Sale 2024.
2. Then you define the conditions, if it is broader you can use referrer as a condition, meaning that all traffic from a specific referrer (like facebook.com) will be a traffic source. Or you can define it as CONTAINS UTM_campaign = fall_sale, with this condition any click to the site containing the "fall_sale" campaign parameter will be a traffic source, or if you want to get more specific: Referrer facebook.com AND UTM_campaign="fall_sale", now you will only have clicks from Facebook with the UTM_campaign parameter "fall_sale", will be a traffic source.
3. You may then select the exactness of the condition for the parameter:
EQUALS. The most exact and narrow condition is "Equals", this means that the exact condition needs to be fulfilled in order to count as a conversion. Example: EXACT: utm_campaign=fall_campaign_2024_display_ad1, with this definition the only traffic source that would count would be this exact UTM-definition making it suitable for tracking a specific campaign or even creative.
STARTS WITH/ENDS WITH. This is a broader definition, meaning that anything that starts with or ends with what you input will count as a traffic source, but it needs to start with or end with the exact definition. Example: ENDS WITH: display_ad1. For this condition any utm-tag that ended with "display_ad1" would count as a traffic source.
CONTAINS. This is a broad definition that can be widely applied to a traffic source. It might be useful in the case that a traffic source might be a campaign in multiple channels. Example: CONTAINS: fall_campaign. For this condition a click from facebook.com that contained "fall_campaign" would count just as a click from aftonbladet.se that contained "fall_campaign".
4. Lastly you input the value that you want to track.
5. Click "Create"
Your plan might have limitations on how many traffic sources you can create. When you exceed your limit you will be required to upgrade your plan.