SA360-Analytics reporting: How Google Analytics 4 associates user sessions with the new Search Ads 360 visits

When you link a Search Ads 360 sub-manager with Google Analytics 4, Search Ads 360 makes sure that the following URL parameters are appended to your landing-page URLs:

• gclid: Contains a case-sensitive click ID.
  
  In Google Ads accounts, Google Ads appends this parameter to the landing page URL when a customer clicks an ad. In other types of clients, Search Ads 360 appends the parameter just before forwarding a click to the landing page.
• In accounts that use parallel tracking, Search Ads 360 adds the gclsrc parameter to a Final URL Suffix just before trafficking updates to the client. You won't see the parameter in Search Ads 360, but if you sign into the client and view the Final URL Suffix, you'll see them in the engine.
  
  In other types of clients, Search Ads 360 appends the parameter just before forwarding a click to the landing page.

Seeing other parameters in your landing-page URLs?

Other Google products may add parameters other than gclid and gclsrc to your landing page URLs. Other Engines (e.g., Yahoo! JAPAN Ads, Microsoft Advertising) may add their own parameters and customers may use third-party tracking tools that add parameters via tracking templates. If you're seeing something other than gclid and gclsrc, check with the other Google or third-party products you use to see whether they add their own IDs.

Not seeing gclid and gclsrc parameters in your landing-page URLs?

If you use a third-party tag-management system with Analytics, your landing-page URLs may not include the gclid and gclsrc parameters, and consequently Search Ads 360 will not import data from Analytics. To guarantee that your landing-page URLs include the necessary parameters, use the Google tag or Google Tag Manager with Analytics.

How the new Search Ads 360 and Google Analytics use the gclid and gclsrc parameters

When a customer lands on the advertiser’s site, Google Analytics scans the URL parameters. If it sees the gclid parameter, and if you've linked the Analytics property that's tracking data on your site to Search Ads 360, Google Analytics sends information about that visit, such as revenue and item counts, to Search Ads 360. Google Analytics uses its own logic to determine how long the user session lasts, and therefore how many events to associate with the click ID.

Google Analytics also uses the gclid parameter to import referral information from Search Ads 360.

Search Ads 360 may be unable to directly measure conversions and transactions imported from Google Analytics when website cookies that store information about your ad clicks aren't available. This may be due to factors such as browser settings or application settings, even if you use one of Google's sitewide tagging solutions.