UTM tags are a common approach to tracking where your traffic is originating from. However, now there is a more efficient way to track your web activities; which is through Google Ads' auto-tagging. Auto-tagging is a function that automatically adds a parameter to your URLs, which is effective in passing information from Google Ads to Google Analytics instantaneously. With this easy step-by-step guide, you will quickly learn how to enable auto-tagging in Google Ads.
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Looking for help or support on Google Ads?
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In case you'd like to watch a video tutorial instead, you can find our quick 2-minute tutorial from XYZ Lab's Youtube Channel!
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Step 1: Navigate to Google Ads and access Account Settings
Step 2: Under "Auto-tagging", check "Tag the URL that people click through from my ad"
Step 3: Save
Once you've enabled auto-tagging, it will be marked as a "Yes".
Inside your Google Analytics, under the Traffic Acquisition: Session source/medium report, the traffic will be labeled as "google / cpc".
If you check the Session default channel group report, the Google Ads traffic will be grouped under "Cross-Network" if you are running Performance Max campaigns and "Paid Search" if you are running Search campaigns.
How to create your own source / medium logic
If you want to apply your own source / medium logic, navigate to this Campaign URL Builder and create your own UTM Tag logic. You need to input your website URL, campaign source, and campaign medium, and then copy the generated campaign URL with UTM tags. If you're unsure of how to build the UTM tags, you can navigate to this article: How to Create UTM Tags.
You also need to be mindful of how Google Analytics 4 is grouping traffic under the Session default channel group dimension: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9756891?hl=en. If you label the traffic in a way Google Analytics cannot understand, then your traffic could be labeled as "Unassigned'. If you happen to have this "Unassigned" problem in your Google Analytics 4 and want to learn how to fix it, then you can navigate to this article: How to Solve Unassigned Traffic in Google Analytics 4.
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