Google Ads (Adwords)

1. Make sure auto-tagging is turned on

Attribution app requires Google Ads auto-tagging to be turned on. Normally Auto-tagging is turned on by default in Google Ads, so the integration should not require you to make any changes to your ad account. If you think auto-tagging may be turned off, follow these Google instructions how to enable auto-tagging and how it works.

You will know it is turned on if you see the gclid parameter in your ad clicks.

2. Connect Google Ads and follow instructions

Connect Google Ads to Attribution app by clicking the Settings icon in your Attribution app account in the top right corner. From there you can select Ad Integrations in the left hand panel. Next, you can click the button to Connect Google Ads. Follow instruction on the screen to complete the connection.

Attribution app will pull Campaigns, Ad Groups and Keywords (where applicable) along with spend data for each entity, keeping track of visitors on your site that came from each campaign/ag group/keyword. Attribution uses gclid to resolve to each ad-click to a corresponding Campaign.

Notes

Time zones

When you connect Google Ads, Attribution will use the time zone set in your Google Ads account. This keeps the spend amounts and visitor amounts more consistent with your Google Ads dashboard.

We recommend you use the same time zone for all your advertising and analytics services. If you connect both Google Ads and Facebook Ads and each use different time zones, Attribution will default to the first connected ad integration time zone. This will not affect the accuracy of reporting but it will affect how the same data is broken by day periods.

Unresolved GCLIDs

Google Ads work by tracking each individual gclid parameter and resolving each against specific campaign/ad group/keyword, however this information it not immediately available in Google Ads API and could take up to 48 hours to fully resolve in Google itself. As Attribution relies on this information it's also affected by this delay as well. While GCLIDs are pending resolution they are assigned to Unresolved GCLIDs filter. Once gclid information is available the gclid visit is assigned to a corresponding campaign/ad group/keyword.

Web/App and App/Web clicks

Not all Google Ads clicks are resolvable due to Apple policies and mostly affects iOS 14+ users (but could happen to other types visitors as well) as result these clicks are not assigned a gclid but instead gbraid or wbraid tags are used. These tags are not resolvable by Google Ads itself, neither by Attribution. This means we can't identify to which exact campaign or ad group exact click belongs, but we know it's and Ad click likely from iOS device. Such visits are placed under Google Ads Web/App & App/Web clicks filter. For more information check Google Ads help article Updates to iOS 14+ campaign measurement.