UTMGuard

How to Fix UTM ID Platform Click ID Issues (Step-by-Step)

UTMGuard Team
••8 min read•attribution

Rachel Kim discovered her GA4 cost reports showed $0 for $312,000 in quarterly ad spend. Sessions were tracked. Conversions recorded. But all campaign costs were missing.

The diagnosis took 20 minutes: Her campaigns used utm_id but lacked platform click IDs (gclid, fbclid). GA4 couldn't match sessions to ad platform costs without them.

The fix took 2 hours and restored complete ROI visibility for all future campaigns.

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Diagnosing the Problem

Step 1: Confirm Cost Data Missing

GA4 → Reports → Acquisition → Traffic Acquisition

Add metric columns:

  • Advertiser ad cost
  • Advertiser ad clicks
  • Advertiser ad impressions

Look for this pattern:

SourceMediumSessionsCostDiagnosis
googlecpc45,223$0.00❌ Problem
facebookcpc23,112$0.00❌ Problem
linkedincpc8,445$0.00❌ Problem

If paid campaigns show $0 cost: Cost import is broken.

Step 2: Check Click ID Presence

GA4 → Explore → Create Free Form

Dimensions:

  • Session source
  • Session medium
  • Google Click ID (gclid)

Filter: Source = google, Medium = cpc

What to look for:

Source | Medium | Sessions | gclid     | Problem
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
google | cpc    | 45,223   | (not set) | ❌ Missing

If gclid shows (not set): Click IDs aren't being captured.

Step 3: Test Active Campaigns

Click test ad and inspect URL:

What you see:

https://site.com?utm_id=brand_search&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=brand

What you need:

https://site.com?gclid=CjwKCAiA...&utm_id=brand_search&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc

Missing: gclid parameter

😰 Is this your only tracking issue?

This is just 1 of 40+ ways UTM tracking breaks. Most marketing teams have 8-12 critical issues they don't know about.

• 94% of sites have UTM errors

• Average: $8,400/month in wasted ad spend

• Fix time: 15 minutes with our report

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Complete Fix Process

Phase 1: Enable Platform Auto-Tagging

Enable auto-tagging:

  1. Google Ads → Settings → Account settings
  2. Find "Auto-tagging"
  3. Toggle to ON
  4. ✅ "Tag the URL that people click through from my ad"
  5. Save changes

Verify setup:

  • Create test campaign
  • Click test ad
  • URL should contain ?gclid=...

Important: Auto-tagging works with manual UTMs. Both coexist:

?gclid=abc123&utm_id=brand&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc

Facebook/Meta Ads

Facebook auto-enables fbclid by default.

Verify it's working:

  1. Click test Facebook ad
  2. Check URL contains ?fbclid=...
  3. If missing, check ad account settings:
    • Business Settings → Data Sources → Pixels
    • Ensure Facebook Pixel is active

Microsoft Ads

Enable UET auto-tagging:

  1. Microsoft Ads → Campaigns
  2. Settings → Tracking
  3. Enable Auto-tagging with UET tag
  4. Save

Verify:

  • Click test ad
  • URL should contain ?msclkid=...

LinkedIn Ads

Install LinkedIn Insight Tag:

  1. LinkedIn Campaign Manager → Account Assets → Insight Tag
  2. Copy tag code
  3. Install in site <head>
  4. Verify installation

Insight Tag adds li_fat_id automatically.

TikTok Ads

Auto-enabled by default (ttclid).

Verify:

  • Click test TikTok ad
  • URL contains ?ttclid=...

Phase 2: Update Active Campaigns

For each platform with active campaigns:

Keep auto-tagging ON, add utm_id:

  1. Go to campaign settings
  2. Campaign URL options → Final URL suffix
  3. Add (without overwriting gclid):
utm_id=`{"{"}{"{"}campaignid{"}"}{"}"}}`&utm_campaign=`{"{"}{"{"}campaign{"}"}{"}"}}`&utm_content=`{"{"}{"{"}adgroupid{"}"}{"}"}}`

Result URL:

https://site.com?gclid=abc...&utm_id=12345&utm_campaign=brand&utm_content=67890

Facebook Ads Campaigns

Update URL parameters:

  1. Ads Manager → Select campaign
  2. Edit ad creative
  3. Add URL parameters (Facebook auto-adds fbclid):
utm_id={"{"}{"{"}campaign.id{"}"}{"}"}}&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={"{"}{"{"}campaign.name{"}"}{"}"}}

Result URL:

https://site.com?fbclid=IwAR...&utm_id=23456&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc

LinkedIn Ads Campaigns

Update destination URLs:

  1. Campaign Manager → Campaigns → Ads
  2. Edit ad
  3. URL parameters:
utm_id={"{"}{"{"}campaign.id{"}"}{"}"}}&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={"{"}{"{"}campaign.name{"}"}{"}"}}

Insight Tag adds li_fat_id automatically.

Phase 3: Configure GA4 Data Import

Even with click IDs working, you must link platforms:

  1. GA4 → Admin → Product Links → Google Ads links
  2. Click "Link"
  3. Choose Google Ads account
  4. Link configuration:
    • ✅ Enable personalized advertising
    • ✅ Import cost data
    • ✅ Import clicks and impressions
    • ✅ Enable auto-tagging override
  5. Save

Verify link:

  • Link status: Active ✅
  • Import enabled: Yes ✅
  1. GA4 → Admin → Product Links → Meta Ads links
  2. Click "Link"
  3. Authenticate with Meta Business Manager
  4. Select ad account
  5. Configure import:
    • ✅ Import cost data
    • ✅ Import clicks and impressions
  6. Save

Verify:

  • Connection status: Connected ✅
  • Import active: Yes ✅
  1. GA4 → Admin → Product Links
  2. Follow similar process for Microsoft Ads
  3. Enable cost data import

Phase 4: Validate Complete Setup

End-to-end validation checklist:

# Campaign: Google Ads Brand Search
 
Pre-launch checks:
- [x] Auto-tagging enabled in Google Ads
- [x] utm_id parameter added to Final URL suffix
- [x] Test ad clicked
- [x] Landing URL contains gclid ✅
- [x] Landing URL contains utm_id ✅
- [x] GA4 Realtime shows both parameters ✅
- [x] Google Ads linked to GA4 ✅
- [x] Cost import enabled ✅
 
Post-launch checks (after 48 hours):
- [ ] GA4 shows campaign cost data
- [ ] Cost matches Google Ads spend
- [ ] ROAS calculations working

Test for each platform (Google, Meta, Microsoft, etc.)

Phase 5: Fix Historical Data Gaps (Manual Import)

For campaigns that already ran without click IDs:

Historical data can't retroactively get click IDs, but you can manually import costs:

  1. GA4 → Admin → Data Import → Create data source
  2. Type: Offline event data or Cost data
  3. Download template CSV
  4. Fill with historical campaign costs:
Date,Campaign,Source,Medium,Cost,Clicks,Impressions
2024-10-01,brand_search,google,cpc,1234.56,890,12340
2024-10-02,brand_search,google,cpc,1456.78,921,13200
  1. Upload CSV to GA4
  2. Match on: Date + Campaign + Source + Medium

Limitations:

  • Manual process (not automatic)
  • Must repeat monthly
  • Less granular than click ID matching

Prevention: Maintain Click ID Health

1. Pre-Launch Campaign Checklist

Before launching ANY paid campaign:

## Click ID Validation
 
Platform: ___________
 
- [ ] Auto-tagging enabled on platform
- [ ] utm_id parameter configured
- [ ] Test ad clicked
- [ ] URL contains platform click ID
- [ ] URL contains utm_id
- [ ] Both captured in GA4 Realtime
- [ ] Platform linked to GA4
- [ ] Cost import enabled
- [ ] Documented in campaign tracking sheet

2. Monthly Click ID Audit

Check these monthly:

# Click ID Health Audit
 
## Google Ads
- [ ] Auto-tagging: ON
- [ ] gclid capture rate: >95%
- [ ] Cost import: Working
- [ ] Cost data delay: &lt;48 hours
 
## Meta Ads
- [ ] fbclid auto-appended: Yes
- [ ] fbclid capture rate: >95%
- [ ] Cost import: Working
 
## Microsoft Ads
- [ ] UET auto-tagging: ON
- [ ] msclkid capture rate: >95%

3. Alert on Cost Import Failures

GA4 custom alert:

Condition:

  • Metric: Advertiser ad cost
  • Condition: Decreases more than 80%
  • Comparison: Previous day

Action: Email marketing team

Why: Catches auto-tagging failures or link breaks immediately.

4. Redirect Testing

Ensure redirects preserve click IDs:

Test script:

# Test if gclid preserved through redirect
curl -I "https://site.com?gclid=test123" | grep -i location
 
# Expected: Location header contains gclid=test123
# If not: Redirect strips parameters (fix needed)

Common redirect fixes:

Apache .htaccess:

# Preserve query parameters through redirect
RewriteCond %{"{"}{"{"}QUERY_STRING{"}"}{"}"}} .
RewriteRule ^old-page$ /new-page?%{"{"}{"{"}QUERY_STRING{"}"}{"}"}} [R=301,L]

Nginx:

# Preserve query string
rewrite ^/old-page$ /new-page permanent;

5. Documentation

Maintain platform-specific docs:

# Click ID Requirements by Platform
 
| Platform | Click ID | Parameter | Auto-Tagging Setting |
|----------|----------|-----------|---------------------|
| Google Ads | gclid | ?gclid=... | Account Settings → Auto-tagging |
| Meta Ads | fbclid | ?fbclid=... | Auto-enabled (verify in test) |
| Microsoft Ads | msclkid | ?msclkid=... | Settings → UET Auto-tagging |
| LinkedIn Ads | li_fat_id | ?li_fat_id=... | Insight Tag installation |
| TikTok Ads | ttclid | ?ttclid=... | Auto-enabled |
| Twitter Ads | twclid | ?twclid=... | Auto-enabled |

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FAQ

Do I need to add utm_id manually if I have gclid?

For basic tracking: No. gclid alone provides cost import.

For advanced cases: Yes.

  • Campaign grouping across platforms
  • Custom cost reporting
  • Multi-campaign aggregation

What if I can't enable auto-tagging?

You can't get automatic cost import without platform click IDs.

Alternative: Manual cost data upload via GA4 Data Import (tedious).

Can I add gclid manually instead of auto-tagging?

No. gclid values are unique per click, generated by Google. You can't create valid gclid values manually.

Must use: Auto-tagging to get real gclid values.

How long until cost data appears after enabling?

Typical timeline:

  • Enable auto-tagging: Immediate effect on new clicks
  • Link GA4 to platform: Immediate
  • Cost data import: 24-48 hours
  • First data in reports: 48-72 hours total

What if cost shows in Google Ads but not GA4?

Check:

  1. GA4-Google Ads link active
  2. Cost import enabled in link settings
  3. Auto-tagging enabled (gclid present)
  4. Wait full 48 hours

If still missing: Re-link accounts.

Can I use utm_id to track offline campaigns?

Yes, but it won't auto-import costs.

For offline (QR codes, print ads):

  • Use utm_id for campaign identification
  • Manually upload costs via GA4 Data Import
  • Match on utm_id or campaign name

Related: UTM ID Without Platform Rule