Identifiers or iOS URL parameters are too old
Google Ads says Identifiers or iOS URL parameters are too old when the click ID is more than 90 days old or the conversion falls outside the window. Upload more often so each row lands inside 90 days. For a sale that closes later, upload an earlier stage that happens inside the window. Rows past 90 days cannot be credited by their click ID.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- The offline data diagnostics page in Google Ads, and the Uploads page for file imports.
- What stops
- The row is not credited. The ad itself keeps serving, and the conversion stays unmatched to its click.
- How serious
- No policy risk. The cost is conversions missing from bidding for long sales cycles.
What it means
Google keeps a GCLID for 90 days. A row whose click is older than that cannot be matched, and Google says a conversion older than the action's conversion window gets the same error. The two causes look identical in the error list.
For ordinary lead cycles the fix is cadence. For sales that close over months, the fix is which event is uploaded and when.
What actually triggers it
A sale closing months after the first click
A job or contract that closes after 90 days cannot carry its click into the import. Google's page says to upload a different event inside the window, and the row for the late sale alone is refused.
Uploads held in a queue for weeks
A CRM export that runs once a month can send rows whose clicks are already past 90 days by the time the file runs.
A conversion older than the action's conversion window
Google's page says the same error appears when the conversion is older than the conversion window set on the action. A click inside 90 days can still be refused when the action's window is shorter than the time the sale took.
Fix it in this order
- Open the conversion action's error list and find the rows that cite the identifier. Sort them by click date.
- For rows whose click is within 90 days, send them on a shorter cycle, weekly or sooner, so the next run lands inside the window.
- For rows older than 90 days, upload a different event that happened within 90 days if there is one, such as a qualified stage in place of the closed sale.
- If a refused row's click is inside 90 days, compare the gap from click to conversion with the action's conversion window, and lengthen the window if sales routinely take longer.
A row past 90 days cannot be recovered by resending it. Plan the stage upload before the window closes, not after it.
Often confused with
This conversion can't be imported
The phone import's window message. The click and the call must be within the window, and the fix is on the conversion action.
Invalid conversion times
The conversion is dated before the click. A time zone or a day-and-month slip, not a time that is too old.