ReferenceTracking error
Website redirects are losing click data
A redirect on the website is removing the GCLID, the click identifier Google Ads adds to every ad click, before the landing page loads. Conversions from those clicks cannot be tied back to the ad. Add ?gclid=TesTER-123 to each landing page address, load it, and fix every redirect where the parameter changes or disappears.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- In the Google tag section of Google Ads or Google Analytics: under Your Google tag, in Tag quality, select View diagnostics.
- What stops
- No ad stops. Conversions from clicks that pass through the redirect lose their link to the ad, in Google Ads and in Analytics.
- How serious
- No policy risk. Every lost click is a lead Google cannot credit, so reports and bidding work from fewer results than happened.
What it means
Google's Tag Diagnostics shows this when redirects on the website are dropping GCLIDs. Auto-tagging adds the GCLID to the address of every ad click, and Google asks that it is passed to the final landing page, because that is how a conversion is matched to the click that produced it.
The conversion linker reads the click information from the landing page address and stores it in first-party cookies on the site. A redirect that rebuilds the address without the parameter runs before any of that, so by the time the tag loads there is nothing to store.
What actually triggers it
A redirect between versions of the same address
Not on Google's help page
Sending visitors from http to https, from the bare domain to www or the reverse, or adding a trailing slash are routine rules. Written carelessly, the rule sends visitors to the new address and leaves everything after the question mark behind.
Old addresses redirected after a new website
Not on Google's help page
After a rebuild, the ads and sitelinks often still point at the old page addresses, and a redirect plugin or hosting rule carries visitors to the new pages. A rule that forwards only the page drops the parameters with it. Pointing the ad straight at the new address removes the redirect from the path.
The parameter arrives changed
Google's test checks that the GCLID stays in its original form with all symbols and capitalization unchanged. A site that lowercases addresses, or re-encodes characters on the way, breaks the identifier as surely as removing it.
A redirect service in the path
Not on Google's help page
A link shortener, a booking or landing page tool on another address, or a tracking redirect in the final URL adds a hop the site owner does not control. Each hop is another chance to lose the parameter.
The page refuses unknown parameters
Google notes that a small share of websites serve an error page when auto-tagging is on, because they do not allow arbitrary URL parameters. The click then never reaches a working page at all.
Fix it in this order
- In Google Ads, open Landing pages and copy a landing page address. Do the same for every final URL used by sitelinks and other assets.
- Without loading it first, add ?gclid=TesTER-123 to the end of the address (use & in place of ? if the address already contains a question mark) and press Enter.
- Check the address bar after the page loads. The parameter has to remain exactly as typed, with the same symbols and capitalization. If it is gone or changed, that page passes through a redirect that needs fixing.
- Fix the redirect so it keeps the query string, or point the ad's final URL at the address the redirect ends on so no redirect runs. Google's own wording is to fix the server-side code so it carries the GCLID.
- If a page errors once the parameter is added, ask whoever manages the site to allow arbitrary URL parameters. Google's advice is to turn auto-tagging off only while that is done, then on again.
- Confirm the Google tag or the conversion linker runs on every landing page. Google recommends the All Pages trigger for the conversion linker in Tag Manager.
- Run the test again on every address until each one keeps the parameter.
Google says some diagnostics roll out gradually and may not be in every account yet. A clean test on every landing page is the proof, not the absence of the message.
Often confused with
An ad disapproval about where the final URL or tracking template leads. It stops the ad; this message never does.
Another Tag Diagnostics message: the Tag Manager container has Google Ads tags but no conversion linker, so the click id arrives and is not stored.
Auto-tagging turned off
No GCLID is added to clicks at all, so there is nothing for a redirect to lose. Ads keep serving and forms keep arriving without one, and nothing errors.
If every page passes the test, why do some leads still arrive without a click id?
Not every missing click id is a redirect. Some browsers strip the GCLID or shorten how long the site's cookies last, and a lead who returns days later from another source arrives without one. A call to the number shown in an ad, dialed by hand instead of tapped, arrives without one too.
The test above proves the site keeps the parameter. It cannot bring back what a browser or a manual dial never sent. Count those leads in your own records rather than reading them as a redirect fault.