Link Tracking: The Ultimate Guide

Tracking links helps you to know if your content and marketing are working. Without knowing the engagement of URLs, you are effectively flying blind. When sharing a link on social media, email, or even printed materials, knowing how often it is clicked is essential. With T.LY, you can shorten links and track how often they get clicked with detailed analytics.

What Is Link Tracking?

Link tracking often adds specific parameters to a URL called UTM tags. These parameters allow you to gather data about how, when, and where your links are clicked, often tracked in tools like Google Analytics. UTM parameters are great but frequently make the URL long and difficult for a user to type. That is where T.LY comes into play. You can track clicks in T.LY and add the UTM parameters to the long URL to get the best of both worlds. You can track the click,s, or QR code scans in T.LY and your other analytics tool using UTM parameters.

How to Start Tracking Links

1. Create a T.LY Account
   With an account, you unlock additional analytics and the ability to manage your short links.
2. Add UTM Parameters: Add UTM parameters to your long URLs. Common parameters include:
   • utm_source: Identifies where the traffic is coming from (e.g., Facebook, Google).
   • utm_medium: Specifies the marketing medium (e.g., email, CPC).
   • utm_campaign: Tracks the specific campaign (e.g., Spring_Sale).
3. Shorten Your Links
   Within your T.LY account, shorten your long URLs with UTM parameters added to the URLs. This will allow you to share short links with UTM parameters.
4. Analytics Platforms
   Setup campaign goals with the UTM parameters within Google Analytics
5. Monitor and Optimize
   Review the data collected from your tracked links regularly. Look for patterns, trends, and areas for improvement.

Link Tracking in Action

Imagine you’re running a holiday sale campaign with links shared across social media, email newsletters, and paid ads. The paid ads are running on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. By tracking your links, you discover that:

• 70% of clicks come from Instagram.
• Emails have a high click-through rate but fewer conversions.
• Paid ads drive conversions during the late afternoon.

With this information, you can increase Instagram ad spending in the afternoon for maximum ROI in current or future campaigns.