Verify No Tracking Below the Account Level with Google Ads

When integrating Google Ads with Wicked, follow these steps to ensure that there is no tracking below the account level.

Overview

When setting up & troubleshooting your Google Ads data, one of the most important things to look for is that you don't have tracking below the Account level - tracking below the account level means at the Campaign, Ad Group, or Ad level.  Any tracking at these lower levels, will overwrite the Account level settings and drastically affect your Adwords reporting.

How does this impact my data quality? 
Typically, if you have tracking below the account level, you will see a "split" in the data. Meaning, you will both of these effects:

1. 0 Sales and Leads attributed to their campaigns/adsets/ads with more than $0 in cost
   AND
2. Multiple Sales and Leads attributed to their campaigns/adsets/ads with  $0 cost

Steps

1. Tracking Template

2. Campaign Settings

3. Ad Groups

4. Ads

5. Landing Pages

What do I do if I have tracking below the Account Level?

How do I do remove tracking below the Account Level?

 

1. Tracking Template

Validate that you have the correct tracking template in your Google Ads Account Settings.

To locate this, go to Account Settings > Tracking:

Your tracking template should appear in your account similar to this:

2. Campaign Settings

Validate that you have no tracking on the campaign level that might overrule the tracking template you have set up on the account level:

1. 1. In Campaign Settings, select the columns icon:
      
   2. Add three columns to your reports: Tracking Template, Custom Parameters, and Final URL Suffix. Then, save these changes.
      
   3. Scroll and/or sort through your campaigns, look at these newly added columns, and ensure the cells are blank!
      
   4. If the cells are blank, continue to Step 3.
   5. If the cells aren't blank, continue to What do I do if I have tracking below the Account Level?

3. Ad Groups

Validate that you have no tracking on the ad group level that might overrule the tracking template you have set up on the account level:

1. 1. In Ad Groups Settings, select the columns icon:
      
   2. Add three columns (under Attributes): Tracking Template, Custom Parameters, and Final URL Suffix. Save these changes.
      
   3. Scroll and/or sort through your ad groups, looking at these newly added columns, and ensure that these cells are blank.
      
   4. If the cells are blank, continue to Step 4.
   5. If the cells aren't blank, continue to What do I do if I have tracking below the Account Level?
      
      

4. Ads

Validate that you have no tracking on the ad level that might overrule the tracking template you have set up on the account level:

1. 1. In Ad Settings, add three columns (under Attributes): Tracking Template, Custom Parameters, and Final URL Suffix. Save these changes.
      
      
   2. Scroll through your ad, look at these newly added columns, and ensure that these cells are blank
       
      1. If the cells are blank, move on step 5.
      2. If the cells aren't blank, continue to What do I do if I have tracking below the Account Level?

5. Landing Pages

Access your landing pages in Google Ads and ensure that you do not see UTMs at the end of your URLs or question marks within the URLs:

1. 1. If there are no UTMs or question marks, then you are good to go! You have no tracking below the account level, so your Wicked tracking template should track properly.
   2. If there are UTMs or question marks, continue to What do I do if I have tracking below the Account Level?

 

What do I do if I have tracking below the Account Level?

You have two options, choose one:

1. Wicked Recommended: Remove the tracking below the account level (aka in the ad/ad group/campaign level)
2. Place the Wicked Tracking Code in the Final URL Suffix. To do this:
   1. Go to Account Settings and open the Tracking Template
      
   2. Copy & Paste this code into the Final URL Suffix field: wickedsource=google&wickedid={gclid}&wickedid={creative}&wcid={campaignid}&wv=4
      
      
      
   3. Click Save.

How do I remove the tracking below the Account Level?

Ad Group Level

To remove tracking from the AD GROUP level, click Ad Groups 

Check the box next to the Ad Group you want to edit and click Edit.

 

Select Change Tracking Templates to remove the tracking template and click Apply.

 

Select Change Custom Parameters and select Remove parameters to remove the custom parameters and click Apply.

 

Ad & Landing Page Level

To remove tracking at the AD level and LANDING PAGE level, navigate to Ads and click Edit on the ad you want to edit:

 

To edit the LANDING PAGE, remove the UTM from the Final URL field:

To remove tracking from the AD level, scroll down and expand Ad URL options:

Delete anything in the Tracking Template, Final URL Suffix, and Custom Parameter fields.