Why are utm parameters removed and gad_source=1 added instead

hi
We have Google Adwords campaigns with our utm parameters. UTM paramters are somehow passed, because I can see campaign names and keywords in the menu “acquisition/campaigns”.
however, when I check the visitor log, then I never see the complere URL. All UTM paramters are removed and insted it shows /mypage/gad_source=1
I searched help and forum, but could not find anything.
Does anybody know why this happens?
And is there a way somehow to retrieve the full URL? Because even in the database in matomo_log_visit is not the full URL
thanks!

hi Matomo team, maybe somebody could answer this question?

Hi @regardtrack
gad_source=1 should not come form Matomo, but from something else… When you browse the page, try to check the HTTP tracking query to see the URL that is sent to Matomo…
Regarding the visitor log, the campaign should appear on the visit level instead of the page level, as utm params should not vary during the visit:

hi @heurteph-ei thanks for your feedback.
I am not sure I understand what you mean.
I can say 100% sure that the URLS have UTM Parameters and sometimes other parameters, we process these URLS too.
Furthermore we can see, as you write, that campaign information is recognized
see here

and when I hove-over the url I get this popup also with gad_source=1
grafik

But this is not the url.
Our url is: mydomain.com?utm_source=testsource&utm_medium=testmedium&utm_campaign=testcampaign&utm_term=testterm

And my expectation is to see this instead gad_source=1

I read somewhere that google converts/adds gad_source. Nevertheless, on our website we can read it and matomo obviously too, the question is: Why is gad_source=1 shown.
Would be great when somebody from the Matomo team can explain this?
@karthik

Hi @regardtrack
As utm parameters are already “digested” by Matomo into campaign information, then they are not kept in the page URL. And that’s a good point.
Indeed, if you need to know the global metric on page site.com/folder/page, then you don’t want to be polluted by campaign info. You don’t want to differentiate site.com/folder/page?utm_campaign=campaign1, site.com/folder/page?utm_campaign=campaign2, site.com/folder/page?utm_campaign=campaign3 and so on.

If you need the segmentation, then… use segments! :wink:

And you can also compare page performance between different campaigns, thanks to the image icon. If you keep this fragment, then comparison is no more possible (because page URL is different).
Ex:

On the other point, I don’t understand why you have a gad_source=1. Something adds it to your tracking, but what is it?!? On your sample link you provided previously (1 or 2 hours ago), I did not see such tracking in the request.
If you want to remove this param from analysis: :gear: > Measurables > Manage > (your selected measurable) image then add the param to Excluded Parameters.

Hi,
same here. Campaign, and Keyword has been extracted and will be shown separately (red $words). But the entryurl is always with the parameter “?gad_source=1”. Any ideas to prevent this? Is this a bug? Feature? :wink:

Edit: and yes, google adwords is adding this param: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13327296?hl=en they say “it will be rolled out the next months” but they didn’t add a date to their post…

so maybe it’s an matomo think, that they didn’t recognize the “gad_source” param, because it has been named as “gad” in the past.

Hi @treffer
Maybe you can exclude this param thank to site configuration: :gear: > Measurables > Settings page then Global list of Query URL parameters to exclude.