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How-to

Fix UTM tags that are missing or wrong on Google Ads clicks

Updated October 11, 2026

30 minutes

Put your UTM tags in one place, the account's Final URL suffix under Admin, Account settings. Then clear the suffix from every campaign, ad group and ad that has its own. Google uses the lowest level that has one, so a campaign's old suffix replaces the account's tags instead of adding to them.

Before you start

  • Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Read-only access can view campaigns but cannot edit them.
  • Auto-tagging turned on. Google Analytics takes source and medium from the click ID when it can, so UTM tags alone will not fix what it shows.
  • One agreed set of tags, in lower case. Analytics treats google and Google as two different sources, so write the set down before anyone types it.

Set the tags once, on the account

  1. In Google Ads, click the Admin icon, then Account settings, then Tracking Template.
  2. In Final URL suffix, enter the tags with no question mark in front, for example utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_content={creative}&utm_term={keyword}. The parts in braces are ValueTrack parameters that Google fills in on each click: the campaign ID, the ad ID and the keyword.
  3. Leave Tracking template empty unless a click measurement tool needs it. Google says a template at the account, campaign or ad group level must include {lpurl}, or the landing page breaks.
  4. Click Save.

Google says tracking changes at the account, campaign or ad group level do not send ads back for review. Changes at the ad, keyword or sitelink level do.

Remove the tags that replace the account's

Google takes the final URL suffix and the tracking template each from the lowest level that has one: keyword, ad, ad group, campaign, then account. A campaign with an old suffix of its own sends none of the account's tags, so every lower-level copy has to go.

  1. Click the Campaigns icon, open the Campaigns page, click the Columns icon, expand Attributes, tick Tracking template and click Apply.
  2. For each campaign, click the pencil icon in the Tracking template column. Delete anything in Final URL suffix, and any template that only adds UTM tags to {lpurl}, then click Save. Leave a template that sends clicks through another tool.
  3. Open the Ad groups page, add the same column, and clear each ad group the same way.
  4. Open the Ads page. For an ad with its own tags, hover over it, click the pencil icon, click Edit, expand Ad URL options (advanced) and clear Final URL suffix. Remove any ?utm_ text typed into the Final URL itself, since the account's suffix is added after it and the address would carry two sets. Saving these edits sends the ad back for review.
  5. Open Audiences, keywords, and content, then Keywords (and Dynamic ad targets if you run them), add the Tracking template column and clear any Final URL suffix the same way. Edits at the keyword level send it back for review.
  6. Sitelinks carry their own suffix too: open Assets, edit each sitelink, expand Sitelink URL Options (advanced) and clear Final URL suffix.

Check it worked

On a campaign, click its tracking template, then Test. Google combines the final URL with the tracking set up for it, so the result should show the page found, with the account's tags on the end of the landing page address.

In Google Analytics, give it a day of clicks, then open the Traffic acquisition report under Acquisition. With auto-tagging working and Google Ads linked to Analytics, ad visits show as google / cpc with the campaign from Google Ads, and your utm_content and utm_term values fill the manual ad content and manual term dimensions. Tools that read the address, such as forms and CRMs, now see the same tags.

Why Analytics ignores your utm_source on Google Ads clicks

Google says that when manual tags and auto-tagging are used together, Analytics uses the auto-tagged values for source, medium and the other traffic classification dimensions. The UTM tags still count when the click ID cannot be used: then, if any UTM parameter is on the address, Analytics takes all its traffic source values from the UTM tags, and missing ones show as (not set). That is why the account suffix should carry a full set, not just a campaign tag.

Campaign ID or campaign name in utm_campaign

Google's ValueTrack list suggests {campaignid} for tracking set at the account level, so you can tell which campaign served the ad. An ID survives a renamed campaign, which keeps one campaign on one row. That is a judgment: a name is easier to read, but it has to be typed per campaign, which brings back the lower-level suffixes this page removes.

Why utm_term is blank on some clicks

Google says {keyword} returns a blank value when an ad matches without keywords, as in Performance Max, Dynamic Search Ads and AI Max for Search.

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