Linked Google ads showing "google ads unknown'

Reports and working with data
1

I have recently linked up my Google Ads account into piwik pro and it successfully displays all the current ad campaign names that are running under the Google Ads section in reports.

However, when clicking on one of my ads testing to see if the campaign name is shown within the tracker debugger, all it shows is ‘Google Ads unknown’… (see screenshot)

I have checked to see that the campaign registers as being clicked on in the previous week, so I’m unsure as to why it hasn’t linked up the ad even though the Google Ads account is connected?

Thanks!

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2

Hi Tom, It seems that in this particular case, the campaign parameters have not been collected. Please check the raw request. What you are looking for is information about the sent campaign parameters in section “query_params”.
To open the raw request, visit Tracker Debugger and hover on any event and click </>:

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3

Hi Bartosz,

Thank you very much for your reply.

When you refer to campaign parameters, is that the parameter applied using the UTM?

If I have my Google Ads account linked within Piwik Pro with each campaign showing in the Google Ads section, will that accomplish the same as UTM parameter so that I can identify each of the individual’s referring campaign name and the specific cpc ad that they clicked on when entering the site?

I have looked into the raw request, however there is nothing relating to the cpc campaign or ad that was clicked on - is it possible to see the campaign ID/ad name (like the ones shown in the google ad section of piwik) that each user came from?

I assumed that linking the google ads account into piwik would allow me to see which cpc campaign/ad that each user visited from?

Really appreciate your help on this :slight_smile:

4

Hi @Tom,
you see google ads unknown because UTM tags aren’t used. At the moment tracker debugger and session log show campaign data that was collected by our tracker so without UTM tags, it’s not able to recognize the campaign.

In the tracker debugger, you will not see campaign names downloaded from Google Ads via integration, because the data is downloaded with latency so we don’t have the information during the session from what campaign the visitor entered the website.

You can add UTM tags automatically in the Final URL setting: https://gaconnector.com/blog/how-to-add-utm-parameters-to-google-ads-automatically/

Imported campaign data from Google Ads are visible in reporting (Reports → Google Ads) with a few hours up to a day latency.

I hope it helps,
Jarek

2 Likes
5

Hey, waking up an old topic for a clarification.

@Jarek you mentioned that “You can add UTM tags automatically in the Final URL setting”.

This much is clear.

However, Google Ads only supports utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_content={adgroupid} not campaign name and adgroup name.

Will this cause reports to display IDs under campaigns? If Google Ads - Piwik integration is enabled, will click data be reported on campaign/ad group name and session data reported on campaign id/ad group id?

I enabled UTM-tags in a Google Ads account today and I am seeing IDs in reports but will these turn into campaign names once Google Ads data is imported for the day or how does this work?

6

That’s a good catch. If campaign IDs will be tracked then they will not be turned into campaign names. To be honest I missed that there is no parameter in Google Ads that holds the name of the campaign.

There are 2 options:

  1. Configure parameters at the campaign level and provide the name of the campaign explicitly - easy but painful in case of having a lot of campaigns
  2. Use custom parameters + some additional scripting to handle them. It is well described here in the “Custom parameters” section.