Google Ads

Google Ads auto-tagging versus manual UTMs: when to use each

By Isa Noorudeen 5 minute read

Google Ads can tag your ad clicks automatically. You can also add UTM parameters yourself. Many accounts end up with both, half set up, and nobody sure which one the reports are using. This guide explains what each method does, what Google says happens when a click carries both, and a simple rule for small advertisers.

What auto-tagging does

Auto-tagging is a setting in your Google Ads account. When it is on, Google adds a click identifier to the address of every ad click. You will see it as a gclid= parameter on the landing page address.

That identifier means nothing to a person, but when your Google Ads and GA4 accounts are linked, GA4 uses it to look up the full details of the click: campaign, ad group, keyword, search query and more. You get far more detail than you could fit into UTM tags, and you do not have to build a single link.

Google's own GA4 documentation recommends auto-tagging for Google Ads, and two conditions matter:

If either is missing, your Google Ads traffic can show campaign values of (not set) in GA4.

What manual UTMs do

Manual tagging is what you do everywhere else: you add utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign to the link yourself. In Google Ads this is usually done once, in the Final URL suffix at account or campaign level, so every ad gets the same parameters added. ValueTrack parameters such as {campaignid} can fill some values automatically. See the ValueTrack parameters cheat sheet.

Manual tags are readable by any tool, not just GA4. That is their main strength.

What happens when a click has both

This is the question that causes the most confusion. Google's GA4 help page on auto-tagging covers it: when both are present, GA4 uses the auto-tagged values for source, medium and the other traffic-classification dimensions. Your manual utm_content and utm_term values are still kept, in separate dimensions called Manual Ad Content and Manual Term.

In practice that means:

Check before relying on it

Google changes how its products handle tagging from time to time. Before you build reporting around this behaviour, read the current version of Google's "Benefits of Google Ads auto-tagging" help page for GA4.

So which should you use?

Your situationSuggested approach
You use GA4 and Google Ads, and that is allAuto-tagging on, accounts linked. No manual UTMs needed.
You also send ad clicks to a tool that cannot read gclid, such as some CRMs or form toolsKeep auto-tagging on, and add a consistent Final URL suffix with UTMs for that tool.
You want to label ad variations in your own wordsAuto-tagging on, plus utm_content in the Final URL suffix.
You advertise on other networks as wellUse UTMs on those networks; keep auto-tagging for Google Ads.

For most small advertisers the first row is the answer. It is the least work and gives the most detail.

A sensible set-up, step by step

  1. In Google Ads, confirm auto-tagging is switched on in the account settings.
  2. In GA4, check that Google Ads appears under your product links. If not, link it. You will need the right permissions in both accounts.
  3. Decide whether you need manual tags at all, using the table above.
  4. If you do, add them once in the Final URL suffix rather than editing every ad's final URL. Keep the values in your naming system: lower case, google as source, cpc as medium.
  5. Click a live ad (or use the ad preview tool) and check that the landing page address carries both gclid and your UTMs, and that the page still loads correctly.
  6. After a day or two, check GA4 Traffic acquisition for google / cpc and confirm campaign names appear rather than (not set).

Example Final URL suffix

utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_content={creative}

With auto-tagging on, GA4 still takes its Google Ads source, medium and campaign from the click identifier. The suffix mainly helps other tools that only understand UTMs, and keeps a consistent content label you choose yourself.

Where to find Google Ads data in GA4

Once auto-tagging is on and the accounts are linked, Google Ads clicks appear in the standard Traffic acquisition report as google / cpc, with your real campaign names in the campaign dimension. GA4 also has dimensions dedicated to Google Ads, such as the Google Ads campaign and ad group, which you can add to reports and explorations. These come from the click identifier, so they only fill in for auto-tagged clicks from a linked account.

If you add manual UTMs as well, look for your utm_content values in the Manual Ad Content dimension rather than in the standard content dimension. That is where Google says manually tagged content values are kept when auto-tagging is also present.

A useful sense check after any change: compare the clicks reported in Google Ads with the sessions GA4 shows for google / cpc over the same week. They will not match exactly, because clicks and sessions are counted differently and some visitors decline analytics cookies, but the trend should move together. If GA4 suddenly shows almost nothing while Google Ads shows normal clicks, check the link between the accounts and test a real click.

Common mistakes

The Google Ads Tools page builds a Final URL suffix for you with tidy values, and the Google Ads Tracking Guide explains the suffix and ValueTrack in more detail.

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