Auto-tagging is a feature that is needed to:
- Track conversions on your website on all browsers
- Import conversion data into Google Ads from Google Analytics, as well as other external sources, such as your Customer Relation Management (CRM) system
- Import Google Ads campaign and cost data into Google Analytics reports
- Import Google Analytics site engagement metrics, such as bounce rate and average session duration, into Google Ads reporting
Auto-tagging is now on by default for new accounts. This article explains how auto-tagging works and how to turn it on or turn it off.
Why use it
Auto-tagging is a required feature, which when used with Google Ads conversion tracking or Google Analytics, allows you to check how effectively your ad clicks lead to valuable customer activity, such as website purchases, phone calls, app downloads, newsletter sign-ups, and more. Depending on the type of conversion you’re tracking, the setup process is different, so the first step in setting up conversion tracking is choosing a conversion source, or where your conversions come from.
Auto-tagging is also required for businesses that want to track offline conversions, such as sales that happened at your physical shop because of your online advertising.
How it works
After someone clicks your ad, auto-tagging adds a bit of additional information—a parameter called GCLID, short for "Google Click Identifier"—to the URLs people click through. For example, if someone clicks on your ad for www.example.com, the final URL will look like www.example.com/?gclid=123xyz. If you have auto-tagging turned on and have a Google Analytics tag on your website, the GCLID is stored in a new Google Analytics cookie on your site’s domain (learn more about how Google Ads tracks website conversions).
Sometimes the GCLID is created at the time of an impression, rather than a click. In those cases, if a user clicks the same ad again, the same GCLID will be used. In the click view report, multiple clicks on the same ad by the same user are counted as multiple clicks in the same GCLID row.
A small percentage of websites don't allow arbitrary URL parameters and serve an error page when auto-tagging is turned on. Check with your web developer to check if this applies to you, or do a test by clicking on your ad. If the link to your site works, then you can use auto-tagging. If you get an error, you'll need to turn auto-tagging off from your Google Ads account. Then, ask your web developer to allow arbitrary URL parameters before turning it back on.
If your website uses redirects, it’s also important to make sure the GCLID is passed to the final landing page in order to track conversions.
Turn auto-tagging on or off
Auto-tagging is turned on by default for new accounts. To check the current status of auto-tagging in your account and turn it on or off, follow the steps below. If you’re unable to use auto-tagging, you can use manual tagging to import Google Ads data in Google Analytics.
- In your Google Ads account, click the Admin icon
.
- Click Account settings.
- Click the Auto-tagging section.
- You'll be able to check the current status of auto-tagging for your account. To turn auto-tagging on or off, click to check or uncheck the box next to “Tag the URL that people click through from my ad”.
- Click Save.
Having trouble?
If you need more help with Google Analytics in Google Ads, contact us.