Introduction

Dimension tags can be used to insert specific dimension values into your URLs. By tagging dimensions at the campaign or group level, you can insert the dimension name as part of the URL Builder parameters, which will then populate dimension values in loaded URLs.

Dimension tags can therefore be used as a tracking parameter for building URLs in much the same way that keyword IDs can. MarinOne will insert the tag for the specified dimension when the URLs are loaded into MarinOne so that the revenue tracking system will detect the dimension within the URL and attribute conversions appropriately.

How to insert dimensions into destination URLs

Setting up your destination URLs so they include the relevant dimension is easy.
 

1. First create a new Dimension. For more information on creating dimensions please see this help article.
    
2. Next, tag your objects with a value for this new dimension at the campaign, group, keyword, or ad level. For example, tag your category dimension with the value 'Skiing' for campaigns.
    
3. Update the URL Builder to include this new dimension. To do so, you will need to create a new Custom Parameter, assign it to the appropriate level, and add the name of the dimension in brackets, for example [Category]. 
   
   Consult the URL Builder article for additional details on how to set up Custom Parameters in the URL Builder. 
    
4. Upload a file with your objects and their corresponding URLs. URL Builder will then add on the tracking as well as the dimension value.
   
   For example, you could create a keyword using the following bulk upload fields:
    

   Keyword	Category	Destination URL
   Wide Skis	Skiing	http://www.example.com/[Category]?mkwid=ABC123

   The keyword would be created with the following destination URL:

   http://www.example.com/Skiing?mkwid=ABC123

   This can greatly simplify the creation of bulk sheets and eliminate creating complex concatenations in Excel before importing into MarinOne. For more details on managing and building URLs, see the article The MarinOne URL Builder.

How to update dimensions within destination URLs (without redirects)

If you change the dimension value that is tagged and want this value to update for existing URLs, this will not update automatically. To update the URLs to contain the new dimension value, you have two options:
 

1. Run a report of those objects (make sure to include the Destination URL column), strip off all tracking parameters, and reload this file back into MarinOne. The URL Builder will then add back the tracking with the new dimension value.
    
2. Run a report of these objects (make sure to include the Destination URL column) and update the dimension value in the URL to the dimension name with brackets. For example, replace 'Skiing' with [Category]. Then reload this file back into MarinOne. URL Builder will then update the dimension name with the new dimension value.

How to update dimensions within destination URLs (Using Redirects)

If you are using redirects and using a dimension within those redirected URLs, it is possible for MarinOne to update the dimension value in the URLs. Marin will update dimension values in URLs when a dimension is edited at the keyword level using a single edit or a bulk upload.

For example, a typical setup using URL redirects might have the URL Builder set up as follows:

tracker.example.com/rd?cid=[tracker_id]&mkwid=[distribution][uniq_id]&pcrid=[creative_id]&pkw=[keyword_text]&pmt=[matchtype]&lp=[ClickCommand][click_through_url]

This redirect is for Google Ads 360, where the Click Command is being populated by a dimension named [ClickCommand]. Imagine that this dimension is at the account level, but that new Click Commands have to become campaign-specific. MarinOne can update dimensions through the process below:
 

1. Tag the campaigns with the new [ClickCommand] dimension or any other necessary dimension value. We recommend that you do this via a multi-edit or a bulk upload.
    
2. Download all of your keywords with the following columns selected in the Column Selector: Account, Campaign, Group, Keyword, Match Type, and Click Through URL. Also, apply a filter on all but deleted.
    
3. Download the file containing your keywords, then upload to MarinOne in Held status.
    
4. Review your URLs to ensure that the relevant change has been made.
    

Important note: If you update a dimension value that is not part of a redirected URL, it will not be updated within the relevant destination URLs.

How to insert a dimension unencoded

When using dimension values in the URL builder, the default behavior is to encode characters in the URL. This replaces 'unsafe' ASCII characters with a % followed by two hexadecimal digits. There may be occasions when there is a character in your dimension that you don't want URL encoded. For example: { } ; :

In order to properly insert the dimension value into the URL without having it URL encoded, you must reference the dimension with the phrase unencoded_ before it. For example:

http://www.example.com/Skiing?utm_campaign=[unencoded_campaign]

In this case, if the campaign name is test;example, the resulting URL would appear as follows:

http://www.example.com/Skiing?utm_campaign=test;example

Without an unencoded dimension as above, the end of this URL would like this: utm_campaign=test%3Bexample which may not be preferable.

information about dimensions in URLs

Remember that tagging dimensions at a higher level will 'trickle down' to the keyword level or creative level when building URLs. It is important to remember whether or not a keyword is tagged with a dimension value.

Dimensions have a parent-child relationship, whereby the child will inherit the parent's value if the child object is not explicitly tagged. For example, if a keyword does not have a dimension value, but a dimension is set at the group level, the keyword will inherit the group's value. This can be overwritten by tagging a dimension at either the group or keyword level.

If a keyword does not have a dimension value, and the dimension is set at the campaign level, the group and keyword will inherit the dimension at the campaign level when URLs are built. The hierarchy of dimensions is: Client Account - Campaign - Group - Keyword /Creatives with Client Accounts at the top.

Frequently Asked Questions about dimensions in URLs

Here are some common questions and issues you may encounter.