Learn more about:
How Yelp Ad tracking URLs work
Using a tracking URL fully replaces the Yelp business page URLs for users who clicked on your ad. This is best for more complex URLs, such as URLs that redirect to another URL. Tracking URLs overwrite location specific URLs, which limits you to sending users to one landing page per Yelp ads campaign. (Top of Page)
How Yelp Ad URL tracking parameters work
To attach parameters to URLs, we interpret a ? as the relevant separator. This is how we know where in the URL we will attach URL tracking parameters.Example website URL:
http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver
Ad driven website tracking parameter:
campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
Website URL after adding tracking parameter: http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver?campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver
Ad driven website tracking parameter:
campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
Website URL after adding tracking parameter: http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver?campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
If a URL contains multiple ? characters, URL tracking is likely to fail. If the URL does not contain a ? we will attach tracking parameters with a ? as a separator, e.g.:
http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver?campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
If you already have tracking parameters in place, parameters with the same parameter name will be replaced.
Example website URL:
http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver?campaign_code=CO-Denver
Ad driven website tracking parameter:
campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
Website URL after overwriting conflicting parameters:
http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver?campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver?campaign_code=CO-Denver
Ad driven website tracking parameter:
campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
Website URL after overwriting conflicting parameters:
http://www.testURL.com/location/Colorado/Denver?campaign_code=CO-Denver-yelp_ad
In all other cases, tracking parameters will be attached as an additional parameter_name=value set.
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Troubleshooting link tracking
If you are having trouble with your links, the most common reasons are:- A redirect on your server side prevents your tracking system from interpreting the attached parameters correctly
Recommendations:
- Whenever you set up new link tracking parameters, test the generated URL on the set-up page
- Adjust redirect logic on your server side
- Using tracking parameters on redirect URLs can break your URL structure.
Example: https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/clk/1234567;9876543;q?https://testURL.com?utm_source=yelp&utm_medium=list&utm_campaign=website
For tracking more complex URL structures, like redirect URLs, we recommend using tracking URLs instead of tracking parameters.
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