Content revised 21 October 2026.
Campaign tags help identify where a website visit came from. Create a naming convention before building links so the reports remain understandable across campaigns.
Define the fields
Use suitable source, medium and campaign values for the promotion. Keep spelling and case consistent across the team. A short naming sheet can prevent the same campaign appearing under several nearly identical labels.
Tag the external promotion
Use the approved destination and preserve its existing parameters. Do not put personal information in tracking URLs. Avoid adding acquisition tags to ordinary internal navigation, which serves a different measurement purpose.
Test the journey
Click a safe test link, follow redirects and inspect whether the intended parameters reach the destination. Verify the appropriate acquisition evidence after processing. A URL that looks correct can still lose information during a redirect.
Read the result
Campaign attribution describes measured visits under the configured rules. Connect it with qualified actions where appropriate and document missing data. Tags cannot guarantee that every customer journey will be identified perfectly.
Official guidance: Google campaign URL guidance.