Safari will be intentionally removing your GCLID

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Important

Apple’s Safari browser will actively remove the Google Ads Click ID query parameters from URLs at the browser level.

How to prevent this update from impacting your tracking

What is the issue exactly?

When a user clicks on a Google ad, the Google Click ID (gclid) is appended to the final URL, providing a crucial link between the ad impression and subsequent user actions on your website. Safari’s new behavior, driven by its privacy-first stance, automatically deletes this parameter before the page loads.

The result? Your analytics and reporting tools will no longer attribute those visitors and conversions to Google Ads, leading to a significant data discrepancy between your ad platform and your on-site analytics.

The solution

The good news is that Apple cannot afford to remove all query parameters as most of them are functional. However, it can afford to target and remove those that are considered standard ad tracking parameters. This targeted approach allows us to implement a great workaround:

The core idea is to bypass the browser’s parameter-stripping logic by using a non-standard parameter to carry the essential gclid data:

1. Configure a custom parameter: Within your Google Ads account, modify the final URLs by adding a new, custom parameter. For example, you can create a parameter named definitely_not_click_id and set it to the gclid value definitely_not_click_id={gclid}.
2. Redirect the data: When a user clicks on your ad, the final URL will now contain your new, unrecognized parameter instead of the standard gclid.
3. Process the data on your site: Once the visitor lands on your site, you can use a tag management system like Google Tag Manager to process the URL before any analytics tags fire. A simple JavaScript variable or a custom event can extract the value from the definitely_not_click_id parameter and set it as the value for the gclid parameter.

By implementing this method, you effectively restore the gclid value to your data layer, allowing all subsequent tracking tags to function as they did before this Safari update. This process ensures that your critical Google Ads data remains intact, enabling accurate reporting and effective campaign optimization.

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