How to Track Banner Ads in Google Analytics (GA4)

How do you track banner ads in Google Analytics?

To track banner ads in Google Analytics 4, link Google Ads and keep auto-tagging on for Display Network banners. For banners on other sites, add utm_source, utm_medium=banner and utm_campaign to the click URL. Both appear under Reports, Acquisition, Traffic acquisition. Tools like Trakt build the tagged banner links and record each form submission's source.

Quick start: Start free with Trakt to build consistent banner UTM links and record each form submission with the banner campaign that brought it. Or follow the manual steps below.

Google's custom-URL guide says a tagged link sends those parameters to Analytics, and the values show in the Traffic acquisition report. The guide is Collect campaign data with custom URLs.

Banner click → gclid, or UTMs on the landing page → GA4 session → key event on the site → UTMs on the deal → closed revenue.

GA4 can show the session and a key event. The closed amount is the CRM column. Google Ads ROI, past the click, is that second number.

Track Google Display banners with auto-tagging

A banner that runs inside Google Ads is classified from the Google Ads link, not from a hand-typed medium. Google's default channel group puts traffic in Display when the source platform is Google Ads and the ad network type is Google Display Network or Google TV, or the campaign type is Display. That classification needs the link. Auto-tagging supplies the click ID the link uses.

Google documents the link in Link Google Analytics and Google Ads. You need Editor access on the GA4 property and admin access on the Google Ads account.

1. In GA4, open Admin. Under Product links, click Google Ads links.
2. Click Link.
3. Click Choose Google Ads accounts and select the account. If you lack admin on that account, use Send request and enter the Google Ads account ID.
4. Click Confirm, then Next.
5. Expand Enable Auto-Tagging. Turn auto-tagging on, or leave it on if it already is. Turning it on for a manager account turns it on for the Google Ads accounts directly under that manager.
6. Click Next, review, and click Submit.

Google says Ads data appears in Analytics reports within 48 hours of the link.

Auto-tagging adds gclid to the landing URL. Google's auto-tagging article describes that parameter. With the link in place, Traffic acquisition can show the Display channel and the Google Ads campaign. Google also says that if the accounts are later unlinked, auto-tagged traffic still appears, by default as source/medium google / cpc, or from UTMs when those are on the URL. The Display channel, which depends on ad network type, is the reason to keep the link.

When you also add UTMs to a Google Ads banner

Google's manual tagging and auto-tagging note says that when both are present and the click ID works, Analytics uses the auto-tagged values for source, medium, and the other traffic-classification dimensions. You can still add utm_content and utm_term. Those fill Manual ad content and Manual term.

If the click ID cannot be used and any UTM is on the URL, Analytics builds the source dimensions from the UTMs only. A missing utm_source, utm_medium, or utm_campaign shows up as (not set). When you add one UTM to a Google Ads final URL, add the set: utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign. The final-URL suffix that stamps those on every click is in how to set up Google Ads UTM parameters.

Track banners on other sites with UTMs

A banner on a publisher site, a newsletter, or another network has no gclid. The click URL has to carry the campaign. Google's guide says to always set utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign.

Use banner or display as the medium. In the same default-channel document, manual traffic is Display when the medium is one of display, banner, expandable, interstitial, or cpm. A medium of cpc does not match that list. Channel rules are not case sensitive. The parameter values themselves are case sensitive, so Banner and banner become two rows in the source/medium report. Use lowercase.

utm_content is how two creatives in one campaign stay apart. Google's guide describes it as the parameter for differentiating creatives. utm_id matters when you import cost: Google's campaign-import article says the imported file has to match utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, and the date exactly, and that utm_id is how the cost file joins the session.

utm_creative_format and utm_marketing_tactic are real parameters, and Google's guide says they are not currently reported in GA4 properties. Skip them.

Build the URL with a ? before the first parameter and & between the rest. Order does not matter. This one would land in Display, because the medium is banner:

https://example.com/demo?utm_source=industry-news&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=q4-pipeline&utm_content=728x90-blue

The site name, campaign, and creative are illustrative.

Google's Campaign URL Builder will assemble the same string. Open the finished URL in a private window and confirm the page loads with every parameter still in the address bar. A redirect that drops the query string removes the campaign before Analytics sees it.

UTM values are omitted from the Landing page + query string and Page path + query string dimensions. Google says they are stored on the Page location dimension, and the campaign dimensions are where you read source, medium, and campaign. Looking for the banner on the landing-page report will look like the tag failed.

If you want every banner link tagged the same way instead of typed by hand, pre-register for Trakt.

Where to read banner ads in GA4

Open Reports, then Acquisition, then Traffic acquisition.

• Session default channel group, set to Display, for the channel rollup. Google Display Network traffic is in that channel when the Ads link and the campaign type say Display. Other sites are in it when the medium is banner or display.
• Session source / medium, for industry-news / banner or google / cpc.
• Session campaign, for q4-pipeline.

Add Session manual ad content when you tagged utm_content and you need the creative. A key event on that session is an on-site action you marked, such as a form submit. It is the conversion inside GA4. Google Ads conversion tracking is the difference between that key event and the deal.

From a GA4 session to closed revenue

Traffic acquisition answers which banner was clicked. It stops at the session and the key event. The deal is created later, usually in a CRM GA4 does not update.

1. Keep the same utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign on the form submission. Hidden fields that read the URL are the manual version. Why UTM data disappears at form submission is the usual miss.
2. Copy those fields from the contact to the deal. Why leads show up as Direct is what the CRM shows when the copy never happens.
3. Report closed-won value by utm_campaign, and by utm_content when you need the creative. Use the closed date. A banner clicked this week may close next quarter.

Two creatives can share a campaign and earn very different revenue. The numbers below are made up.

Illustrative numbers, not Trakt customer data.

The session count ranks the blue leaderboard first. Closed revenue ranks the customer creative first. GA4 will show the sessions as soon as the clicks arrive. The revenue column waits for the deals to close.

What Trakt stores on a banner click

Trakt stores the UTMs from the latest tagged visit in a first-party cookie for 90 days. A return in the same browser, with no new tags, keeps that banner's campaign. A later visit with its own UTMs replaces them.

On submit, Trakt records the submission with that source attached, including when the form has no hidden fields. Won deal value is credited to utm_source on Trakt's dashboard. A revenue-by-creative report in your own CRM still needs utm_content on the contact and on the deal.

The Google Ads link, auto-tagging, and the GA4 reports stay in Google. HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive stay your CRM's own mapping. Trakt does not upload conversions to Google Ads.

Pre-register for Trakt when you want the 90-day cookie and the submission record without adding the fields by hand.

Frequently asked questions

How do I track banner ads in Google Analytics 4?

For a banner on the Google Display Network, link the Google Ads account to the GA4 property under Admin, Product links, Google Ads links, and turn on auto-tagging in that link flow. For a banner on any other site, add utm_source, utm_medium=banner or display, and utm_campaign to the click URL. Read both in Reports, Acquisition, Traffic acquisition. Google Display traffic lands in the Display channel when the linked account's campaign type is Display. Other banners land there when the medium is banner, display, expandable, interstitial, or cpm.

Should Google Display banners use auto-tagging or UTMs?

Use auto-tagging, and keep the Google Ads link. Auto-tagging adds gclid, and the link is what lets GA4 classify Google Display Network traffic as Display. When the click ID works, GA4 uses the auto-tagged source and medium even if UTMs are also on the URL. utm_content and utm_term still fill the manual ad content and manual term dimensions. If you add any UTM and the click ID cannot be used, set source, medium, and campaign together, or the missing ones show as (not set).

Why does my banner show as google / cpc in GA4?

Auto-tagged Google Ads traffic defaults to source/medium google / cpc, including when the Google Ads account is no longer linked. The Display channel needs the link, because GA4 reads the ad network type or the campaign type from that link. Open Admin, Product links, Google Ads links, and confirm the account is linked and auto-tagging is on. A banner that is not a Google Ads banner will also miss Display if the medium is cpc. Use banner or display on those URLs.

Does GA4 show revenue from banner ads?

GA4 shows sessions, and it shows key events you marked, against the banner's source and campaign. A key event is the on-site action. Closed revenue is the deal amount in the CRM. Copy utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, and utm_content onto the form submission and then onto the deal, and sum won value by campaign. The Traffic acquisition report will keep showing sessions either way. The two reports answer different questions.