Troubleshooting

This guide covers common issues with marketing attribution tracking, click ID capture, and UTM parameter handling.

Click ID Issues

gclid not appearing on leads

Symptoms:

  • Leads created from Google Ads clicks have an empty Google Click ID field

  • Attribution data is missing even though the ad was clicked

Causes:

  1. Auto-tagging is disabled in Google Ads

  2. The website form is not capturing the gclid URL parameter

  3. The form submission does not pass the gclid to Progrid CRM

  4. The visitor’s browser or ad blocker stripped the gclid parameter

Solutions:

  1. Verify auto-tagging is enabled in Google Ads: Settings ‣ Account Settings ‣ Auto-tagging. Ensure the checkbox is enabled.

  2. Test the capture by visiting your landing page with a test gclid:

    https://yoursite.com/contact?gclid=test_click_id_123

    Submit the form and check whether test_click_id_123 appears on the resulting CRM lead.

  3. Inspect your form’s hidden fields. Ensure there is an input for x_gclid and that JavaScript is populating it from the URL parameter.

  4. Some ad blockers and privacy extensions strip Google tracking parameters. Test with a clean browser profile (no extensions) to confirm.

Tip

Use your browser’s Developer Tools (F12) to inspect the form data being submitted. Look for the x_gclid field in the form payload.

gbraid or wbraid not capturing

Symptoms:

  • Leads from iOS users have no click ID data

  • gbraid or wbraid fields are always empty

Causes:

  1. The website form only captures gclid but not gbraid/wbraid

  2. The visitor did not come from a Google Ad (these parameters are Google-specific)

  3. Apple’s privacy settings prevented the parameter from being appended

Solutions:

  1. Ensure your form capture JavaScript handles all three parameters: gclid, gbraid, and wbraid. See the code example in Tracking Setup.

  2. Verify the traffic source. gbraid and wbraid only appear on clicks from Google Ads, specifically when Apple privacy restrictions apply.

  3. Accept that some iOS traffic will not carry click IDs due to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency. This is expected behavior and not a bug.

UTM Issues

UTM parameters not captured

Symptoms:

  • Lead’s source, medium, or campaign fields are empty

  • UTM parameters are in the URL but not on the lead

Causes:

  1. The utm module is not installed

  2. UTM parameters have incorrect names (e.g., source instead of utm_source)

  3. Website form does not pass UTM data to CRM

Solutions:

  1. Verify the utm module is installed: Apps and search for “UTM”. Install if missing.

  2. Check your marketing URLs use the correct parameter names: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content. Names are case-sensitive.

  3. If using Progrid website forms, UTM tracking should work automatically. For external forms or landing pages, ensure your integration passes UTM values to the appropriate CRM fields.

UTM values inconsistent across leads

Symptoms:

  • Same campaign appears with different names (e.g., “Spring_Roofing” vs “spring-roofing” vs “Spring Roofing”)

  • Reports show fragmented data

Causes:

Different team members using different naming conventions when building campaign URLs.

Solutions:

  1. Standardize UTM naming conventions:

    • Use lowercase only

    • Use hyphens instead of spaces or underscores

    • Document standard values for source and medium

  2. Use a shared URL builder tool (e.g., Google Campaign URL Builder) with pre-defined dropdown values.

  3. Periodically audit UTM values in CRM: CRM ‣ Reporting ‣ Pipeline Analysis grouped by source or campaign.

Attribution Reporting Issues

Cannot identify which ad generated a lead

Symptoms:

  • Lead has a gclid but you cannot determine which specific ad or keyword generated it

Causes:

The gclid alone is an opaque identifier. It maps to a click in Google Ads but is not human-readable.

Solutions:

  1. Use UTM parameters in addition to auto-tagging to capture readable campaign and keyword data directly on the lead.

  2. Cross-reference the gclid in Google Ads reporting to find the specific click details.

  3. For keyword-level tracking, ensure utm_term is set in your ad URLs.

Offline conversion upload fails

Symptoms:

  • Google Ads rejects the uploaded conversion data

  • Conversions not matching to clicks

Causes:

  1. gclid values are malformed or truncated

  2. Conversion timestamp is outside the allowed window (90 days from click)

  3. Upload format does not match Google’s requirements

Solutions:

  1. Verify gclid values are stored in full. They can be 100+ characters. Ensure your database field and export process do not truncate them.

  2. Upload conversions within 90 days of the original click. Older click IDs will not be accepted by Google.

  3. Follow Google’s offline conversion import format exactly. Use the template provided in Google Ads.

Getting Help

If your issue isn’t covered here:

  1. Check the lead form for attribution fields – enable Developer Mode (Settings ‣ Activate Developer Mode) to see technical field names

  2. Inspect your website’s form submission using browser Developer Tools

  3. Contact your system administrator with:

    • The URL the visitor used (with parameters)

    • The resulting CRM lead ID

    • Which attribution fields are missing

    • Your website form integration method