Question
I want to use Auto-Tagging in Adwords because it passes a lot more data automatically to Analytics.
The problem is that I need to also use utm_source, utm_campaign, etc. and some of them with ValueTrack so when a lead signs up I can $GET that data from the URL and append it to the lead/client record.
So my URLs end up looking like this:
www.domain.com/page&utm_source=adwords&utm_campaign=[camp-name]&utm_content=[something]&utm_term=[keyword]&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CNfm29qkpb0CFewRMwodXEIAFg
As you may notice, the URL has utm parameters AND gclid.
Will this create any tracking problems in Analytics?
I know I could use another variable names instead of utm_source, utm_content, etc. for adwords, but then when the traffic comes from let's say "facebook" or "bing"... I do want that tagged and passed to my lead and the form logic + having a double standard for URL becomes complex.
Thanks so much for your help!
Answer
As @Michael said, when you have your Adwords & Analytics linked, the initial data is set by the UTM parameters.
Then, a couple of minutes later, Google will import all of the data related to the GCLID stored in the session, and that will overwrite all of the data you originally had.
We've used this to our advantage with a client who the utm_campaign variable in their own custom tracking platform. We let them know they would be fine, as their platform would properly record the campaign variable, and then a couple of minutes later, the GCLID variable in analytics would overwrite it.
We haven't seen any data duplication, except for when (for some reason) the GCLID doesn't get stored properly, which has happened occasionally. Otherwise, it works out fairly well.
Hope this helps.
