UTM parameters
Also called UTM tags, utm_source.
Labels added to a link, such as utm_source=google and utm_campaign=spring, that tell your analytics where a visit came from. You write them yourself, and they describe a campaign, not a single click.
Why it matters
They are often mistaken for click tracking. A lead can arrive with perfect UTMs and still be impossible for Google to match, because UTMs say which campaign sent the visit and nothing about which click it was.
What goes wrong
The common failure is an account tagged by hand with UTMs and auto-tagging switched off, sometimes on purpose to keep reports tidy. Every report looks fine, and no lead carries a click identifier, so no value can ever be tied back to a click. The two work side by side: keep your UTMs for analytics and leave auto-tagging on so the click identifier arrives next to them.
The other failure runs the other way. A redirect or a form tool keeps the UTMs on the address and drops the click identifier, which is longer and less familiar, so nobody notices it is gone.
How to check it on your own account
Open a recent lead from Google Ads in your CRM. If it has UTM fields filled but no gclid, gbraid or wbraid, auto-tagging is off or the identifier is lost on the way to the form.
Next to this
- Auto-taggingGoogle AdsThe Google Ads account setting that appends the click identifier to your landing page URLs.
- GCLIDGoogle AdsThe identifier Google appends to your landing page URL when someone arrives from an ad and auto-tagging is on.
- Hidden form fieldA field in a web form that the visitor never sees, filled in by the page itself.
How it applies in your trade
The same method, worked through for each kind of business: what a lead is worth, what is known on arrival and what to prepare.
The rest of this step
Measure this on your own data
The diagnostic reads a CRM export in your browser and reports your volume, your match rate and the spread between your leads against the thresholds in this glossary. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.