Tracking Google Places Referral Traffic in Google Analytics

My last post that documented the value of Google Places Click traffic stirred up a few questions from the automotive community.  

One question posted to me by Ryan Leslier, was: How can you track Google Places clicks on Google Analytics?

First, let's understand that Google Analytics currently does not break out Google Places referral traffic by default.

Google Places shows when a consumer searches using a keyword that Google thinks best matches a dealership name or if a consumer is shopping for a business.  So, there are dozens of keywords that will pop up a dealer's Google Places page each month in organic search results.  

So, how do we distinguish these Goggle Places clicks?  The answer I found on Google Help Forum using the URL Builder Tool.  If you want to isolate specific referral clicks to your website from ANY source, Google suggests that you use the URL Builder Tool to create a special code that Google will pass to Analytics.

This is not just useful for Google Maps, but this can be used to traffic specific offers on microsites, Facebook, Twitter, etc. where you have a URL pointing to your website. I'll show you how to use this tool for Google Places, but it applies to all websites that you have a link.   

Create A Unique URL Code For Google Places

In the screen shot below, I am creating a special tracking URL for Prestige Volvo's Google Places page.  In the blue boxed area you will put your normal main website address, and don't forget the "http://".  Then I named the source, medium, and campaign to identify that this traffic was from Google Places.  You can pick any naming convention you like or use what I created.

Then click on the "Generate URL" button under the text "Step 3" and in the green area, your new tracking URL will be created.  

Log Into Google Places

Log into your Google Places account, by visiting www.google.com/places.   Click on Edit to update your places listing. 

Go to the Basic Information section of your Places Page as shown below. Copy this new URL into your Google Places page, as shown in the green box, and save your changes.  This long URL will not show on your Google Places page for consumers.  It's completely behind the scenes tracking.

Once this is completed, you will start to see data attributed to Google Places in Google Analytics reports within 72  hours.  Keep in mind that it may take 24 hours for Google Places to be updated and another 24 hours for data to be reflected in Google Analytics.

I'll be sharing some additional tracking data on Google Places for this community in the weeks ahead.  Since Google Places is dealers #1 free source of referral traffic, it is important that we can track, measure, and analyze this website properly.

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(Note:  Here is Part II To This Article) 

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

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Brian Pasch