Campaign recognition in Google Analytics works similarly to Mapp Intelligence, however, there are some differences that partly influence the data logic.

In contrast to the media code used by Mapp Intelligence, Google Analytics uses individual utm-parameters that are appended to the URL. Necessary parameters are:

  • utm_source (source of the campaign, e.g. utm_source=Bing / utm_source=Mailing Mai / utm_source=Comparison shopping portal)
  • utm_medium (marketing media of the campaign, e.g. utm_medium=cpc / utm_medium=banner / utm_medium=email / utm=medium=print_qr / utm_medium=post_url)
  • utm_campaign (name of the campaign, e.g. utm_campaign=brand / utm_campaign=worldcup+sale)

Other optional parameters are:

  • utm_term (keywords of the campaign, e.g. utm_term=red+shoes / utm_term=sneakers)
  • utm_content (advertisement content, e.g. for differentiation in A/B test, utm_content=text+option und utm_content=html+option)

Therefore, it is recommended to create at least five category levels in Mapp Intelligence to ensure comparability. Also, a campaign type and subtype is required when setting up a campaign in Google Analytics. If these (sub-)types are to be transferred to Mapp Intelligence, seven hierarchical categories are recommended. Here are some examples of different campaign types:

  • Search network with display select
  • Search network
  • Display network
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Universal App

Similar to Mapp Intelligence, the media code is appended to the URL with "?", all other parameters with "&". So the transmission of a campaign could look like:

http://www.exampleurl.com/?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ssv&utm_content=toplink

Campaigns are automatically terminated after six months by default. Still, this period can be extended up to two years in the settings. If no end date is specified, the campaign will not be terminated at all.

As with Mapp Intelligence, the own domain and domains of third-party providers, such as payment gateways, must be excluded as reference URLs, so they are not tracked as referrers. There is also a standard list for search engines, which must be maintained by yourself and for each property (property = similar to an account in Mapp Intelligence). In Mapp Intelligence, this is done centrally and uniformly for all accounts, so the metrics from different accounts can be compared.


However, the two main differences in campaign recognition between Google and Mapp Intelligence are the following:

Only one campaign per session: In Google Analytics, only one campaign or visitor source (e.g. referrer) is assigned to each session. If a new campaign or entry is tracked using a referrer, a new session will be automatically opened regardless of how long the current session has been running. If the same campaign or visitor source is tracked again, no new session is opened.

In Mapp Intelligence, a session is not terminated until the user is inactive for 30 minutes or closes the web browser (browser-dependent). The tracking of another campaign is nevertheless attributed to the current session.

This may result in higher values for the number of visits of a website in Google Analytics relative to Mapp Intelligence.


Source Priority: A paid campaign, e.g. from Adwords, always takes precedence over an unpaid campaign, such as direct access, even if the paid campaign contact is older.

In Mapp Intelligence, on the other hand, a conversion is always assigned to a campaign (corresponding to the attribution) regardless of whether it originates from a paid source.

As a result, the metrics for certain sources may differ in Google Analytics and Mapp Intelligence. Above all, fewer unpaid campaigns and direct access are to be expected in Google Analytics.

If you plan to record campaigns in both Google Analytics and Mapp Intelligence and use Google’s utm parameters to transfer campaign information, you can use the URL campaign mapper in Mapp Intelligence to transfer a media code to Mapp Intelligence.

You can find more information about campaign recognition in Google Analytics here:

Session and campaign timeout handling

Custom campaigns

About Ads campaign types