Correlate your calls and form submissions with the campaigns and keywords you're bidding on in Google Ads. To see this information in your reports and lead timelines in CallRail, add a tracking template to your Google ads.
Getting started
If you're using our JavaScript snippet for visitor tracking and form tracking, add this optimized tracking template to your ads to see specific campaign information about the people who call or submit a form to your business:
?campaignid={campaignid}&adgroupid={adgroupid}&creative={creative}&matchtype={matchtype}&network={network}&device={device}&keyword={keyword}
Note: You'll keep the word “{keyword}” etc. within the brackets. Google automatically substitutes what's in the bracket with the visitor's actual session information once they click your ad.
If you only want to see keyword data for your calls and form submissions, add this parameter instead:
?keyword={keyword}
While we recommend adding these parameters as a tracking template, these same instructions apply if you'd like to add your tracking parameters as a final URL suffix as well. In either setup, the tracking templates won't have a negative impact on parallel tracking.
Read this article for additional details on why we recommend this tracking template.
Adding tracking templates at the campaign level
We recommend setting your tracking template at the campaign level in your Google Ads account. Use this set of instructions to add your tracking template to all ads within a specific campaign.
- Once you've logged into Google Ads, select the account you'd like to update, then choose All Campaigns.
- Click Settings on the lefthand side of the page.
- Choose Campaign Settings at the top of the page.
- Click the checkbox next to any campaign where you’d like to add your tracking template.
- Select the Edit drop-down, then click Change tracking templates.
- Keep the first option selected for Set tracking template. Then, type {lpurl} and add your tracking template. In this case, {lpurl} represents your final URL, so you won't have to manually enter your ad URLs.
- Copy and paste this into your tracking template field if you'd like to use CallRail's optimized tracking formula:
{lpurl}?campaignid={campaignid}&adgroupid={adgroupid}&creative={creative}&matchtype={matchtype}&network={network}&device={device}&keyword={keyword}
- Click Apply to create and save your tracking template.
Testing your tracking templates
To ensure your leads land on the right page after clicking one of your ads, Google offers a way to test your templates. Use these instructions to test your landing page at the campaign level in Google Ads.
- In your Google Ads account, click Settings on the lefthand side of the page.
- Find the tracking template you'd like to test for any active or paused campaign. If you don't see your template, be sure "Tracking template" is selected as a column for this table.
- Click on the template in the column and select TEST.
- A window will pop-up that shows your test. If you see a green checkmark next in the "Status" column, your test is successful. Click Close when finished.
FAQs
Why do you recommend adding this tracking template at the campaign level?
We recommend setting your template at the campaign level since these ValueTrack parameters can vary across different types of campaigns (like video ads vs. search or shopping ads).
If you aren't running different kinds of campaigns, or if you don't want to use campaign specific parameters, you can use this tracking template at the account level for the same level of session data for your customers. Setting your tracking template at the account level allows you to track every campaign the same exact way.
If I set my tracking template at the account, ad group, ad, or visitor level, how does that impact my tracking template?
If you set different tracking templates at different levels, the most specific template is used. For more information on how Google prioritizes which tracking template to use, read their help article on tracking templates.
Is Google's parallel tracking impacted by using tracking templates?
If you’ve set up URL parameters as instructed in this article, you’ll continue to receive the same data about your callers just as you did before Google released parallel tracking. If you’re using a different, third-party service outside of CallRail that adds URL parameters as a redirect for additional tracking, we recommend checking with that provider to ensure their redirects don’t impact CallRail or parallel tracking.
If I've turned on auto-tagging in Google Ads, do I still need to add a tracking template to our final URLs?
Yes. Auto-tagging only allows us to track the Google click ID (GCLID) so we can report conversions to Google Ads. You still need to add a tracking template to your Google Ads account in order to receive campaign and keyword data in your CallRail reports.
Does updating a final URL cause a loss of ad history?
The only instance where changing your tracking parameters will trigger a review and a loss of ad history is at the ad level.
Updating your tracking parameters at the account, campaign, or ad group level won’t trigger a review. This means your stats will remain intact, and your campaigns will continue to run without going to review.
Can CallRail determine exact match, phrase match, broad match, modified broad match for each keyword?
If your ValueTrack parameters are appended to the final URL in Google Ads, we can determine the match type. Typically, when a user inputs keywords, we get the user’s actual query via the “referrer,” but for extended data like match type, matched keyword, etc., we need the data from Google, which is provided to CallRail via tracking templates in Google Ads.
Do I need to change anything about my campaign IDs in Google Ads to make sure my data reports properly in CallRail?
Nope! We've got you covered. The changes that Google made don't have any impact on the way your data reports to and from Google Ads for CallRail users.
Can I use ClickCease with my tracking template?
Yes, if it’s set up correctly, click-fraud detection software like ClickCease should not cause any issues. If you're having trouble with the tracking template you've configured with ClickCease, Make sure the tracking template is set up correctly, according to the instructions from ClickCease. If you're still having trouble, we recommend contacting ClickCease for further troubleshooting.