Troubleshooting ID_NOT_PRESENT

This page should be used by your IT professional.

This error indicates that Search Ads 360 can't detect Click IDs on your page. This means that you either haven’t retagged your site, or that there was a problem with how your site was retagged. To measure Floodlight activity across all browsers, your pages must be tagged using the Google tag or Floodlight tags deployed using Google Tag Manager.

Troubleshooting techniques

The content below assumes that you're using Google Chrome. If you choose to use a different browser, the steps may vary.

To mimic your customers' browsing behavior, open the problematic page in a new incognito window and clear your cookies before attempting any of these techniques. Many of these steps require the use of the Google Tag Assistant Chrome extension, and others require steps outside of Search Ads 360.

Ensure that your tags are working as intended

Custom tags regularly break tagging implementations that would otherwise be working. Run Google Tag Assistant to check the status of your tags:

1. Start Google Tag Assistant.
2. Click a tag that isn't working. From here you can either:
   1. Follow the instructions under "Where to optimize".
   2. Further examine the tag by clicking Requests, and then following the instructions under "Where to optimize".

Additionally, ensure that:

• You don't have duplicate tags running on a single page.
• You are using event snippets instead of legacy event pixels.

Verify that the Google tag is working

1. Navigate to your site's landing page.
2. Append ?gclid=Test-1234&gclsrc=aw.ds to the end of your URL and reload the page.
   If the URL already ends with ?, replace the ? symbol with a &.
3. Click View > Developer > Developer Tools.
4. Click the Application tab.
5. Click Cookies in the left navigation.
6. Search for the _gcl_aw, _gcl_dc, and _gcl_au cookies on the page.

For the _gcl_aw and _gcl_dc cookies, verify that the gclid value in your URL is contained in the value of the cookies.

Check that the _gcl_au cookie is on the page (the value doesn't matter). 

If you don't see the cookies, follow the steps in Enable auto-tagging and the conversion API below.

Enable auto-tagging and the conversion API

If a page marked as "ID_NOT_PRESENT" is a landing page, ensure that auto-tagging and/or the conversion API are enabled on the page.

Look at historical data

If you see an activity or a page where one row is marked "ok", and one or more rows marked "ID_NOT_PRESENT" or "ID_NOT_MATCHED", try segmenting by date or by device type. This will help you determine if a particular change or device is causing issues.

Enable conversion linker for all tags

If your page contains multiple Google Tag Manager provided Floodlight tags, use the Google Tag Assistant Chrome extension to inspect the page and ensure that conversion linker is enabled for all tags. To check that conversion linker is enabled for all tags:

1. Launch Google Tag Assistant.
2. Click the Google Tag Manager tag.
3. Click the URLs tab.
4. Open the link.
5. Search for vtp_enableConversionLinker. All instances of vtp_enableConversionLinker should be set to true.

If any vtp_enableConversionLinker parameters aren't set to true, enable conversion linker for the problematic tag.

Verify the Floodlight request

1. Navigate to the problematic page.
2. Launch Google Tag Assistant.
3. Click Record and reload the page.
4. Click Stop recording and then click Show full report.
5. Locate the "gtm" field in the Requests menu. 
6. Verify that the value for the "gtm" field looks like "2xxxxx".

If you can't find the GTM ID, it means that the tag isn't communicating with the right Floodlight configuration. To fix this, update the tag to match what is in your account.

Enable cross-domain tracking

If a domain that doesn't belong to you is marked as "ID_NOT_PRESENT", ensure that your outbound links to those sites enable cross-domain tracking. This can also occur if users are directed to a login subdomain before JavaScript executes on your landing page.

Examine your custom Floodlight implementation

If a page is marked as "ID_NOT_MATCHED", it's most likely due to a problem with your custom tracking implementation. To fix this, talk to the team that manages your site's tracking implementation.

Deploy the Google tag

Your next step is to deploy the Google tag across all of your pages. The correct configuration for your website depends on whether you need to track conversions across domains. Cross-domain conversions occur when your customer journey spans two or more domains. Learn more about tracking cross-domain conversions.

If your campaigns send traffic to multiple domains, including if you have a mobile version of your site, you must deploy the google tag correctly across all of your domains.

Single domain conversions

You can track conversions using either the Google tag or Floodlight tags. To track conversions correctly, you must deploy Floodlight tags using Google Tag Manager or another tag manager.

Deploy the Google tag

Using Google Tag Manager:

• Deploy the google tag using Google Tag Manager.

For this configuration to work, you must set up the conversion linker tag in Google Tag Manager. 

Manually:

• Deploy the Google tag manually. 
• Deploy the Google tag for both Floodlight activity and Google Ads conversion tracking manually.

Deploy Floodlight tags using Google Tag Manager

Follow these steps to deploy the Floodlight tags using Google Tag Manager.

Custom tagging implementations frequently break attribution. To ensure the accuracy of your data, use the default options in Google Tag Manager during setup.

Cross-domain conversions

You can track conversions across domains regardless of what tag manager (if any) you've used to deploy your sitewide tags.

If you use Google Tag Manager to manage your Google tags, follow these steps to install the global snippet.

If you don't use a tag manager, add the domain linker to your Google tags manually.

You must enable the domain linker to ensure the accuracy of your conversion data.