Track Google Ads

Does Fathom work with Google Ads?

Yes. You don’t need a Google tag on your website for Fathom to show you paid traffic. Add UTM parameters to your ads, and Fathom will attribute those visits (and any events in the same session) to the campaign that brought them.

If Google auto-tagging is on, clicks also include a gclid parameter. Fathom treats those visits as Paid/Campaign even without UTMs. You still want UTMs if you care which campaign, keyword, or match type it was.

How attribution works

When someone lands on your site from a UTM-tagged ad, Fathom stores utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, and utm_term on that session.

Those values carry across every later pageview and event in the session, including if they convert on a different page than the one they landed on. You don’t need the UTMs to stay in the address bar after the first page.

To measure conversions, set up an event in your site’s code for the action you care about (a trial, a signup, a purchase). Filter the dashboard by the campaign UTM and look at the Events box.

Add UTMs in Google Ads

Set this once at the campaign level so every ad and sitelink inherits it. Use a utm_campaign value that matches the campaign name in Google Ads (for example, if the campaign is called Brand search, use utm_campaign=brand_search).

Settings is a tab along the top of the Campaigns page. It is not in the left-hand menu.

1. In Google Ads, click Campaigns in the left menu (the campaigns icon).
2. You should see a row of tabs at the top of the table: Campaigns, Ad groups, Ads, Keywords, and Settings. Click Settings.
3. Click the campaign you want to tag (the campaign name, not just the checkbox).
4. Scroll down and expand Additional settings.
5. Expand Campaign URL options.
6. Leave Tracking template blank unless you already use a click tracker.
7. In Final URL suffix, paste a string like this, using your Google Ads campaign name in utm_campaign:

utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=brand_search&utm_term={keyword}&utm_content={matchtype}

8. Click Save.

If you don’t see the Settings tab, you can set the same suffix on an individual ad instead:

1. In the left menu, click Campaigns, then open the Ads tab at the top.
2. Hover the ad and click the pencil to edit it.
3. Expand Ad URL options (advanced) at the bottom.
4. Paste the same suffix into Final URL suffix and save.

A suffix on the ad overrides the campaign one, so if you use both, keep them identical.

{keyword} and {matchtype} are Google ValueTrack tags. Google replaces them on each click. You don’t type the real keyword in. There is no ValueTrack tag for the campaign name, which is why you type utm_campaign yourself and match it to the name in Google Ads.

Spaces in keywords are encoded (website%20analytics). Fathom still reads them as website analytics.

If you need help building a static UTM (no ValueTrack), use our UTM builder.

Campaign suffix vs ad suffix

Google uses the most specific URL options it finds. If an ad already has a Final URL suffix, that overrides the campaign one.

If Fathom shows source, medium, and campaign, but Term and Content are empty, open the ad → Ad URL options and either:

• add {keyword} and {matchtype} to that suffix, or
• clear the ad suffix so the campaign one applies.

Don’t stack two utm_sources on the same URL.

Sitelinks pick up the campaign suffix unless they have their own Final URL with different UTMs.

Check it’s working

Fathom uses first-touch attribution for the visitor-day (it resets at 00:00 UTC). If you’ve already visited your site today from Direct, Organic, or another campaign, a test click on your ad will still be attributed to that first source. Open the landing URL in a different browser (or a private window you haven’t used on the site today) so the test gets a fresh session.

1. In Google Ads, open the ad’s URL options and use Test, or click your own ad once from a browser you haven’t used on the site today.
2. Confirm the landing URL includes utm_source=google, utm_medium=cpc, utm_campaign=…, and filled-in utm_term / utm_content (for example utm_term=website%20analytics&utm_content=p).
3. In Fathom, open the site → scroll to the UTM box at the bottom of the dashboard. You should see the campaign after a visit.

If the parameters aren’t on the landing URL, Fathom can’t invent them. Fix the suffix in Ads first.

View Google Ads in Fathom

• Sources (in the Referrers box) groups UTM or gclid visits as Paid/Campaign.
• The UTM box (bottom of the dashboard) breaks out Source, Medium, Campaign, Content, and Term. Use the Term and Content tabs in that box to see keyword and match type.
• Click a campaign (or any UTM value) to filter the whole dashboard. The Events box then shows conversions from that traffic.

Clicks in Google Ads and visits in Fathom won’t match exactly. Some people bounce before the page loads, some use blockers, and some land without the suffix if an ad-level URL overrode it. If most clicks show up as tagged visits, you’re in good shape.

Keyword vs search term

utm_term={keyword} is the keyword in your account that won the auction. It is not the words the person typed.

To see the actual search queries, use Search terms in Google Ads. Use Fathom for “did this paid traffic visit, and did they convert?” Use Ads Search terms for “what did they type, and should I add a negative?”

What not to put in a UTM

Don’t send personal data in UTMs or other URL parameters. Fathom strips names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, IP addresses, payment details, cookie IDs, and advertising IDs. Putting that data in a URL also violates our terms of service.

You also don’t need to send conversion data back to Google for Fathom to work. Measure the trial, signup, or purchase as a Fathom event and filter by the campaign UTM.

Common issues

I see paid visits but no events. The people who clicked didn’t complete the event. First-touch UTMs don’t fall off when they move to another page (or a subdomain your Fathom script is also on). Zero tagged events means those paid visitors didn’t convert, not that the tags were lost.

Term and Content are blank. The campaign suffix has {keyword} and {matchtype}, but an ad-level suffix without them is winning. Fix or clear the ad suffix.

Lots of clicks, odd queries. Phrase and broad match can trigger on searches that aren’t buyers (traffic checkers, “how many visitors does this site get,” free SEO tools). That’s an Ads matching problem. Add negative keywords and check Search terms. Fathom will faithfully report whatever landed.

I didn’t create this campaign name. Anyone can link to your site with UTMs. If you don’t recognise a campaign, someone else tagged the link. Why am I seeing UTM parameters I didn’t make?

Related

• Ad and email campaigns (UTMs)
• UTMs and campaigns
• How Fathom measures your analytics
• Events
• Traffic sources

If you still have questions or require help with anything, please reach out to us and we’ll happily get things sorted out for you.