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My Google Ads account has auto-tagging on. Do I still need to add UTM parameters by hand?

Often not. Auto-tagging adds its own click identifier to your landing page URL, and Google's tools use it to tie the visit to the campaign. Manual UTM tags still help if you also read your reports in a non-Google analytics tool or your store dashboard, or want campaign names in your own wording. Check Google's current guidance on combining the two, and if you add manual tags, build them so the ad's URL stays intact.

Published · 3 min read

What each one does

  • Auto-tagging: the ads platform adds a unique identifier to the URL on each click, and the Google tools linked to your account use it to look up the campaign, keyword and ad. The identifier itself does not spell out the campaign name.
  • UTM tags: names you write yourself, such as google, cpc and oud_search. Any analytics tool that reads this convention can understand them, with no account link needed.

The practical difference: auto-tagging depends on the link between your ads account and your analytics tool; UTM tags depend only on the URL.

When manual tags help alongside auto-tagging

  • Your Salla, Zid or Shopify dashboard shows order sources from UTM tags, if your plan offers that, and it cannot see your ads account. Check your store's reports first.
  • You run a second analytics tool next to Google's and want the campaign to appear there by name.
  • You want one naming scheme across every platform, google, snapchat and tiktok in the same style, to compare them in one report.

If all your reporting lives inside Google tools linked to your account, auto-tagging may be all you need. We cannot tell you how your particular tool will display the two together, so try it on one campaign and check your reports before rolling it out.

Building the link without breaking the ad URL

Your ad's final URL may already carry a parameter, such as ref=ads. Adding tags by hand, it is easy to forget an & or put the tags after a #fragment. In the UTM campaign link builder we entered https://example.com/oud?ref=ads with source google, medium cpc and campaign oud_search:

https://example.com/oud?ref=ads&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=oud_search

ref=ads stayed where it was and the tags followed it, 88 characters in all. Had the URL ended in a #fragment, that part would have stayed at the end, unchanged.

  1. Copy the ad's current final URL exactly as it is.
  2. Paste it into the builder and enter source google, medium cpc and the campaign name as you want to see it in your reports.
  3. If the ad group has several ads, add a content value for each.
  4. Put the result in the final URL field and use the ads platform's preview, if it has one, to check the page opens.

Working out the return afterwards

Whichever tagging you use, the question in the end is whether sales cover the ad cost. Take the revenue credited to the campaign and the spend, and enter them with your margin in the ROAS calculator to see whether the campaign is above break-even. Do not be surprised if revenue differs between the ads platform and your analytics tool; each has its own way of crediting sales.

Common questions

Does one cancel the other out?

That depends on how your tools are set up. Check Google's current guidance and your analytics settings before combining them, then look at the report for a test campaign.

Does the tool add the click identifier?

No. The ads platform adds that on each click. The tool only writes the UTM tags you enter.