Have you been seeing weird URL strings in your Google Analytics landing page data? Do they look something like this?
These are and Google Click IDs. Most Google and Facebook advertisers understand that these IDs can help Power smart bidding when they are captured and uploaded back into Facebook and Google.However, these are starting to disappear within the wake of Apple’s IOS14.5 software update. If a click is coming from an IOS device, you will see the GCLIC replaced either a GBRAID or WBRAID, depending on certain criteria.The first thing you should do….it is recommended that you use Google Tag (OGT) or Google Tag Manager. A small percentage of advertisers may need to ensure their site is able to accept these parameters as well. You can follow the directions here.
Why is this new parameter being used instead of GCLID?
This new parameter is being used to protect the identity of the user and to ensure that it cannot be tied back to any one individual user.
What is the Difference between GBRAID and WBRAID parameters?
Is GCLID going away?
No. GCLID will continue to serve as the event identifier used in surfaces that are not impacted by ATT for web measurement, such as events in browsers and non-iOS surfaces. This new parameter will only be used when GCLID is not available on impacted iOS surfaces. Again, when Apple’s ATT policies take effect, we will no longer send the Google Click Identifier (GCLID) for ads on iOS 14 traffic coming from a handful of Google apps.
Can I just remove these from my Google Analytics?
Yes. You can exclude them by doing the following in GA.
