[GA4] Benefits of Google Ads auto-tagging

Why you should use Google Ads auto-tagging whenever possible.

Using Google Ads auto-tagging exclusively provides several benefits over manual tagging. It:

  • Allows you to import Analytics key events into Google Ads Key Event Tracking
  • Saves you the work of manually tagging every final URL
  • Eliminates the errors you can introduce when you attempt to manually tag each URL. For example, utm_source=Google is different from utm_source=google
  • Enables you to build more detailed audiences based on Google Ads dimensions (for example, ad group)
  • Offers more detailed Analytics reporting

Auto-tagging vs. manual tagging reporting

Manual tagging can provide data for a basic set of traffic-source dimensions. When you use auto-tagging, however, you can see data for several additional dimensions, including:

  • Google Ads account name
  • Google Ads ad group ID
  • Google Ads ad group name
  • Google Ads ad network type
  • Google Ads customer ID
  • Google Ads keyword text
  • Google Ads query

You'll have access to these new dimensions across reporting and explorations, as well as a dedicated Google Ads report accessible from the Acquisition overview report.

In addition, any reporting features that become available in the future will only be available if you use auto-tagging.

UTM overriding

If you use manual tagging and auto tagging together, then the source, medium, and other traffic-classification dimensions use the auto-tagged values. The manually tagged values for utm_content and utm_term are used for the Manual Ad Content and Manual Term dimensions.

How to tell if you're using manual tagging

  1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
  2. Click Settings on the left page menu.
  3. Click Account settings at the top of the page.
  4. Click the Auto-tagging section. If the box next to “Tag the URL that people click through from my ad” is checked, auto-tagging is on. To turn if off, uncheck the box and click Save.

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