infoNote
Last updated: 2025-09-24
Q: So, what’s the deal with Safari and GCLID?
A: Apple’s pulled a fast one again. Two years ago it was Mailchimp, and now it’s Google Ads’ turn. The rollout is following the same pattern: a beta feature, then general availability with opt-in, and finally general availability with opt-out. Once it hits that last stage, the impact is “tens of percent,” especially for vanity brands, though a bit less for B2B and the geek crowd. Essentially, Safari is now removing the GCLID from URLs, which complicates your tracking.
Q: Should we panic now?
A: It’s relatively simple. On your end, we need to create a tag that reads the new variable and returns it as gclid. On the online marketer’s side, they have to add the new parameter to all their campaigns. A ballpark figure would be a few hours to set it all up.
Q: How many hours does it take to set up the workaround?
A: It’s relatively simple. On your end, you just need to create a tag that reads the new variable and returns it as gclid. On the online marketer’s side, they just have to add the new parameter to all their campaigns. A ballpark figure would be a few hours to set it all up.
Q: How future-proof are these workarounds?
A: It’s tough to predict the future, but Apple’s motivation here seems pretty clear. While they frame it as protecting customer privacy—which is a good thing—it’s also very convenient for them that marketers become less reliant on personalized ads. With their influence on hardware and software, they can weaken the power of companies like Google, which makes their own advertising model look a lot more attractive in the long run.
Q: What’s the average share of traffic from Safari?
A: This Wikipedia article on browser market share presents this data in a table, showing that according to the Wikimedia Foundation, Safari’s share of all traffic is approximately 24.1%. It’s important to note that other sources track these numbers differently, so you might see slightly different figures.
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