gad_* parameters are URL parameters that provide aggregate data about your campaigns. They offer valuable insights into campaign performance without compromising user privacy. For example, gad_source identifies the source of your ad traffic (e.g., Google Search, Display Network), and gad_campaignid identifies the specific campaign that drove the click.
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How it works
Google adds &gad_* to the end of your final URL, before any fragments (also called "name anchors" and indicated by the presence of a #).
Example
example.com/foo?a=b&gad_source=1#xyz
If your website contains redirects, it's important that you keep the gad_* URL parameter in your redirect. Google Ads and Google Analytics tags expect to observe the gad_* parameter as top-level parameter on the page where tags are loaded.
gad_source parameter
Google uses conversion metadata to measure certain conversions that can't be measured via traditional methods. To support this, the gad_source URL parameter is used to identify the source of ads URLs (e.g., Google Search, Display Network), and improve the accuracy of ads conversion measurement. Any URL coming from a Google ad now has &gad_source in its final URL. This parameter isn’t customizable and all advertisers and campaigns with the same source will have the same gad_source. Learn more About gad_source parameter.
&gad_source was formerly called &gad. The gad_source parameter will be rolled out in the coming months. Some advertisers may not find the gad_source parameter in their URLs yet.gad_campaignid parameter
gad_campaignid is a URL parameter used to identify the Google campaign that drove the conversion. Any URL coming from a Google ad now has &gad_campaignid in its final URL. All conversions from the same campaign will have the same gad_campaignid.
Why gad_* parameters are important for Offline Conversion Import (OCI)
For advertisers using a Google tag on their website, these gad_* parameters are automatically captured with conversion events. However, when using offline conversion import methods, it is necessary to capture these parameters from all landing pages, attribute them to your conversions, and import them to Google Ads. This is particularly important when individual identifiers like gclid and user-provided data are not available. By providing gad_* parameters alongside your offline conversion data, you enable Google to attribute conversions to the correct campaigns, even without individual click identifiers. See here for more information.
Special cases
A small percentage of websites don't allow arbitrary URL parameters and serve an error page with these parameters. Consult with your webmaster to find out if this is the case, or you can perform a brief test to check if your website allows arbitrary parameters. If you get an error, you may need to ask your webmaster to allow gad_source URL parameters.
To check if a &gad_* URL parameter can be added to your landing page, follow these instructions:
- In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon
.
- Click the Insights and reports drop down in the "Section" menu.
- Click Landing pages.
- Copy the landing page URL from your Google Ads landing page and paste the URL into your browser.
- Add
&gad_URL parameter manually. - Press enter to go to that URL.
- Check if the parameter you entered is still present in the URL box and the page loads successfully.
Example
Let's say your landing page is: example.com/foo
Paste this into your URL box and add a test URL parameter (for example, "bar"). Note that you need to prepend the parameter with a question mark (?) if there are no preceding question marks in the URL:
example.com/foo?gad_source=1
If there is a preceding question mark, you need to prepend the parameter with an ampersand (&):
example2.com/foo?page=123&gad_source=1
When you navigate to this URL, check and make sure you find "gad_source=1" in the URL box. Note that your gad parameter is case-sensitive and should appear the same across all pages on your site.
If you have other URL parameters, the "gad_source" should come after those parameters but before any fragments (also called "named anchors" and indicated by the presence of a #). It should look something like this:
example.com/foo?a=b&gad_source=1#xyz
