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If you're taking advantage of the Triple Pixel to help analyze your traffic and attribution, it's imperative that all of the traffic sent to your website is correctly mapped to the sources, campaigns, and ads that sent that traffic.
Traditionally, this has been done with UTM tracking parameters (i.e. utm_campaign, utm_source, etc.).
But, adding UTM parameters and properly supported values to all of your ads is a tedious process.
So, we simplified the process by
Creating Triple Whale-specific tracking parameters
Building a Tracking Parameter Taxi to automatically transport them to your active ads.
This saves you time while also allowing you to continue using any traditional UTMs you have set up for Google Analytics.
How To: Google Ads
Navigate to our Tracking Settings page located under the Pixel dropdown.
First, select Google from the list of channels at the top of the page
Here you will find our recommended tracking parameters for Google:
{lpurl}?tw_source=google&tw_adid={creative}&tw_campaign={campaignid}Option 1: Allow Triple Whale to automatically add them to the live campaigns and adgroups of your choice
Option 2: Copy our tracking parameters and manually paste them into the Tracking Template field under Tracking Settings
Use the following parameters for manual implementation:
{lpurl}?tw_source=google&tw_adid={creative}&tw_campaign={campaignid}Do this on the Campaign and AdGroup levels by following Google's directions, here.
Option 1: Auto-Applying Tracking Parameters to my ads
First, click the “Activate” button.
Our system will automatically scan your campaigns & adgroups for our supported tracking parameters, then display only the campaigns & adgroups that need updating. (for more on this, please review our Q&A section)
In the pop-up, you’ll see two tabs: AdGroups | Campaigns
Navigate between the two to choose which you'd like Triple Whale to automatically apply tracking to (it's important that our tracking parameters are added at both the campaign and adgroup level)
You'll have the option to “select all” campaigns/Adgroups, search for specific ads you’d like to track within Triple Whale, or scroll through the list and manually select them one by one
Once you've made your selections, click "Set UTMs for selected AdGroups and Campaigns"
Triple Whale we will automatically add our tracking parameters to the "Tracking Template" field within your Google Ads account to the campaigns and adgroups you selected.
Want Triple Whale to automatically add tracking parameters to your future Adgroups and Campaigns?
Check the box next to "Automatically Update" and Triple Whale will automatically scan your campaigns and adgroups once per day (midnight UTC) and add our tracking parameters to all of the new AdGroups and Campaigns you create within Google moving forward.
*Note: The Tracking Parameter Taxi will only auto-apply tracking to campaigns and adgroups that are created after turning the Taxi on. Any existing campaigns or adgroups that were not selected in the "Activate" step will not be edited.
Uneditable Google Ads
Some ad types, such as video ads are what Google calls "immutable" or uneditable in our case (for example: Youtube ads).
Once Triple Whale scans your active campaigns and adgroups, we'll display a list of any campaigns and adgroups we're not able to update tracking for automatically.
To manually update these campaigns and adgroups, please add our tracking parameters to the Final URL Suffix field using these directions from Google.
Warning
If you have previously used a third-party tracking software or have traditionally added tracking parameters at the Ad level, please ensure our tracking parameters are also added at the ad level. You can review ads that will be problematic by clicking on the "ads" tab in the pop-up shown above.
If the Tracking Template field is blank at the ad level, Google will automatically use the Tracking Template from the AdGroup and Campaign level.
As the customer, you will have the option to automatically update your ads with our tracking parameters, but we do not auto-update the Ad level, as doing so will send your ads back into review phase.
Q&A
What channels are supported?
Google
Can I keep my existing utms (such as utm_source=google+agency_name) that are already on my ads?
Yes, Triple Whale has its own tracking parameters (tw_source) that we use in conjunction with our customer’s preferred tracking parameters
Can I use different utms as well as Triple Whale tracking parameters?
Yes, you can use any additional tracking parameters you wish. However, any additional tracking parameters not related to Triple Whale will need to be added manually upon the creation of your ads.
Will this auto-tracking feature erase the utms I’m currently using?
No. We simply append our tracking parameters to the end of your current tracking parameters
What tracking parameters do support? Some of my ads don't have Triple Tracking, but aren't populating in the pop-up?
In addition, the following must be true:
The Tracking Template on your Campaign and Adgroup level settings should include the following:
{lpurl}
At least one of the following recognized and approved Source parameter + value
utm_source=google
tw_source=google
At least one of the following Recognized and approved adid parameter and value
gadid={creative}
tw_adid={creative}
At least one of the following Recognized and approved campaign parameter and value
utm_campaign={campaignid}
tw_campaign={campaignid}