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URL Parameters for Google Ads

Adjusting your UTM parameters for Google Ads to achieve the best tracking results.

Maximilian Rast avatar
Written by Maximilian Rast
Updated over 2 months ago

Google Ads

Editing UTM Parameters on the campaign or ad group level does NOT start another ad review process and does NOT affect your optimization score. It’s best to make these changes as soon as possible.

Different campaign types need to be treated differently. Please implement the below changes carefully, so that all of your campaigns are tracked accurately.

Make sure Auto-tagging is activated

If you are migrating from other attribution solutions, you can look at the specific section for other providers at the bottom of this document.

Standard Google Campaigns

Parameters

These are the UTM Parameters every ad needs to use for our tracking pixel to work for Standard Google Campaign Ads:

{lpurl}?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&klar_source=google&klar_cpid={campaignid}&klar_adid={creative}

If you are already using UTM Parameters for your Standard Google Campaigns you need to add our klar_source, klar_cpid and klar_adid parameters at the end of your existing ones. In that case, make sure to change the “?” at the beginning of our parameters to an “&” symbol. And put the {lpurl} at the beginning.

Implementation

You can bulk edit all of your Standard Google Campaigns at once using the "Tracking Template" column on the ad group level:

  • Go to "Ad groups"

  • Filter by "Campaign Type" to filter out all of your Performance Max, Shopping, and Smart Campaigns

  • Select all remaining ad groups (If you have a lot of ad groups, Google only selects the first page. However, you can select all pages by clicking "Select all xx")

  • Click "Edit" and then "Change tracking templates"

  • Paste the above parameters in the tracking template and click "APPLY"

Best-Practices

  • Add the “Tracking template” column to your ad group column preset and always check if the correct parameters are applied.

  • You can check if the tracking template works by clicking on the tracking template's edit icon and choosing "Test". If the URL looks exactly like the tracking template suggests, Klar's tracking will work as expected.

  • In case you're using multiple tracking templates at different levels, the most specific tracking template is used. Specificity is defined in this order: ad > ad group > campaign > account. So, if you're using "Tracking templates" or "Final URL suffixes" to add URL parameters on the ad level, this will override Klar's parameters set on the level above and cause our script to not track these ads.

Google Performance Max

Parameters

These are the UTM Parameters every ad needs to use for our tracking pixel to work for Performance Max Campaign Ads:

{lpurl}?klar_source=google&klar_cpid={campaignid}

If you are already using UTM Parameters for your Performance Max Campaigns you need to add our parameters at the end of your existing ones. In that case, make sure to change the “?” at the beginning of our parameters to an “&” symbol. And put the {lpurl} at the beginning.

{lpurl}?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&klar_source=google&klar_cpid={campaignid}

Implementation

You can bulk edit all of your Performance Max Campaigns at once using the "Tracking Template" column on the campaign settings level:

  • Select "Performance Max campaigns" as a workspace filter

  • Go to "Settings" > "Campaign settings"

  • Select all campaigns (If you have a lot of campaigns, Google only selects the first page. However, you can select all pages by clicking "Select all xx")

  • Click "Edit" and then "Change tracking templates"

  • Paste the above parameters in the tracking template and click "APPLY"

Best-Practices

  • Add the “Tracking template” column to your Performance Max Campaign settings column preset and always check if the parameters are applied.

Google Shopping & Smart Shopping

Parameters

These are the UTM Parameters every product group needs to use for our tracking pixel to work for Google Shopping and Smart Shopping Campaign Ads:

{lpurl}?klar_source=google&klar_cpid={campaignid}&klar_adid={creative}

If you are already using UTM Parameters for your Google Shopping and Smart Shopping Campaigns you need to add our parameters at the end of your existing ones. In that case, make sure to change the “?” at the beginning of our parameters to an “&” symbol. And put the {lpurl} at the beginning.

{lpurl}?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&klar_source=google&klar_cpid={campaignid}&klar_adid={creative}

Implementation

Currently, there is no easy bulk editing feature.

So, if you have less than 100 product groups, make sure to follow the process below:

  • Select "Shopping campaigns" as a workspace filter

  • Go to "Product groups"

  • Edit your column layout and add the "Tracking template" column to it

  • Select each Product group individually and edit the "Tracking template" column

  • Paste the above parameters in the tracking template and click "Save"

If you have more than 100 product groups, make sure to follow the process below:

  • Use the Import/Export Feature (HERE)

Best-Practices

  • Add the “Tracking template” column to your Performance Max Campaign settings column preset and always check if the parameters are applied.

Google Smart Campaigns

Parameters

These are the UTM Parameters every smart campaign landing page URL needs to use for our tracking pixel to work for Google Smart Campaigns:

?klar_source=google&klar_cpid={campaignid}

If you are already using UTM Parameters for your Google Smart Campaigns you need to add our parameters at the end of your existing ones. In that case, make sure to change the “?” at the beginning of our parameters to an “&” symbol.

?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&klar_source=google&klar_cpid={campaignid}

Implementation

IMPORTANT: Google Smart Campaigns do NOT allow the use of dynamic parameters, which is why you need to add the specific Campaign Ids after the &klar_campaign= yourself.

The below process is only meant for "Smart Campaigns" this does NOT include "Smart Shopping Campaigns". For "Smart Shopping Campaigns" please use the "Google Shopping & Smart Shopping" instructions above.

Currently, there is no easy bulk editing feature. So, make sure to follow the process below:

  • Go to "Settings" > "Campaign settings"

  • Filter for the Campaign type "Smart"

  • Edit the column layout, add the "Campaign Id" column, and press "Apply"

  • Copy the campaign Id and paste it at the end of the above URL parameter

  • Select "Smart campaigns" as a workspace filter

  • Go into the same campaign you just copied and pasted the campaign Id from

  • Edit the "Ad text, images & landing page" section

  • Choose the "Landing page" header at the top

  • Edit the Landing page URL and append the edited URL parameter at the end of it

  • Repeat the process for all of your Smart Campaigns

Migrating From Other Solutions

If you are migrating from Tracify or Triple Whale and your Google Ads are currently using their URL parameters:

Tracify:

Performance Max: {lpurl}?trc_gcmp_id={campaignid}

Other: {lpurl}?trc_gcmp_id={campaignid}&trc_gag_id={adgroupid}&trc_gad_id={creative}

Triple Whale:

{lpurl}?tw_source=google&tw_adid={creative}&tw_campaign={campaignid}

There is no need to adjust your existing ads. Klar attribution is compatible with their logic.

However, we still recommend only using Klar's URL parameters going forward for the highest accuracy.

PLEASE NOTE:

In case you're using multiple tracking templates at different levels, the most specific tracking template is used. Specificity is defined in this order: ad > ad group > campaign > account. So, if you're using "Tracking templates" or "Final URL suffixes" to add URL parameters on the ad level, this will override Klar's parameters set on the level above and cause our script to not track these ads.

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