We all know that when you run an ads campaign, it is not always clear how many people will actually convert on your website based on the ads they saw before clicking through to your site. This is where auto tagging comes in. Auto tagging is a Google Ads feature that allows you to automatically communicate campaign cost and tracking information to Google Analytics using a Google Click Identifier (gclid).
What Exactly is Autotagging, and Why Should I Care?
The autotagging feature of Google Ads is an automatic way to help you track what Google Ads campaigns, ad groups and keywords site visitors and converters are coming from in Google Analytics.
Autotagging can reduce the amount of time it takes you to manage campaigns, ad groups and autogenerated keywords by automatically capturing information about who visits your site from Google Ads ads. This is great because you have to manually add UTM parameters to tracking for Facebook Ads and other platforms outside of Google Ads if you want to improve tracking of your marketing efforts in Google Analytics.
What is an Autotagging Parameter?
The autotagging parameter in the destination URL is a query string (code in the URL) that can be used to track visitors from Google Ads in Google Analytics.
What Autotagging Parameters Are Included in Google Ads Destination URL?
After someone clicks on an ad, the Google Ad’s Autotagging feature adds a Google Click Identifier (gclid) autotagging parameter to the destination URL to enable Google Analytics to ingest all of the Google Ads data via the GCLID cookie. The GCLID allows Google Analytics to track which ads campaigns, ad groups, and keywords drove traffic to your site.
Benefits of Autotagging
- Track conversions on your website on all browsers
- Import conversion data into Google Ads from Google Analytics, as well as other external sources
Conclusion
With the power of auto-tagging, you’ll be able to effectively track your Google Ads campaigns in Google Analytics and make optimizations based off of data. If you’re interested in finding out how to use this tool for your own Google Ads account or need help with anything else related to advertising online, feel free to send me a message or text me at 332-877-9018! I’m always happy to answer any questions.
