The Basics of URL Tracking for Bing and Google

Tracking in Google Ads and Microsoft Ads (Bing) isn’t complicated, but a lot of people overthink it.

For 90% of advertisers, the defaults are fine. You don’t need to build tracking templates, you don’t need a PhD in UTMs. Just use the built-in auto-tagging settings and move on.

Microsoft Ads (Bing) – “Auto-tag my URLs with UTM tags”

In Bing, there’s an option under account settings: Auto-tag my URLs with UTM tags.

Tick that box and you’re done.
It automatically adds:

• utm_source=bing
• utm_medium=cpc
• utm_campaign={Campaign}
• utm_term={Keyword}
• utm_content={AdId}

Because Bing already populates {Keyword} into the utm_term, there’s no need to manually add it again unless you specifically want it in a separate field for your CRM.

In most cases, you don’t. Auto-tagging is clean and simple and does everything you need for Google Analytics, Looker Studio, or CRM tracking.

Google Ads – “Auto-tagging” + (optional) add {keyword} manually

In Google Ads, auto-tagging works a little differently.
Turning on Auto-tagging just appends a gclid (Google Click ID) to the landing page URL. That’s great for GA4 and offline conversion tracking – but it doesn’t add UTMs like Bing does.

So if you want to see your campaign, keyword, ad group, etc. in Google Analytics or your CRM, you need to manually add some UTM parameters in the Final URL suffix.

Personally, I just add the keyword:

You can add more if you want (like utm_campaign={campaignid}), but for most people, just tagging the keyword is enough for contact forms or CRM systems.

For example, in contact form 7 you might want this sending with the email

Please reply directly to the sender using their email address provided above.

Best regards,

Your Website Contact Form


GCLID: Cj0KCQjwiLLABhCEARIsAJYS6ukuqu5PW2Crz-Ex293jDWkX2eTyWn9Lfp0vv3GfsHmanSgm84fe7d4aAsd-EALw_wcB

Landing Parameters: ?kw=keyword+term&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjqiLLABhCE5RIsAJYS6ukuqu5PW2Crz-Ex294jDWkX2eTyWn9Lfp0vv1GfsHmanSgm84fe7d4aAsd-EALw_wcB

Interestingly, Google appended a GAD source as well, which apparently is this from Reddit

• gad_source=1 → Clicks from Google Search Ads (standard search campaigns).
• gad_source=2 → Clicks from Google Display Network (banner/display ads).
• gad_source=3 → Clicks from YouTube Ads.
• gad_source=4 → Clicks from Discovery Ads.
• gad_source=5 → Clicks from Google Shopping Ads (Performance Max, Smart Shopping, or standard Shopping campaigns).

When You Might Need More Than the Default

There are a few edge cases:

• If you’re using a third-party click tracker (like SA360 or Adobe), you’ll need a tracking template because the click has to pass through another server first.
• If you want fully customized UTMs (like changing utm_source=google to something else), you’ll need to build them manually.
• If you want extra tracking fields like match type or device type, you can add those manually into the Final URL suffix.

But if you’re not doing anything special – stick with auto-tagging.

A quick note about HubSpot (and other tracking templates)

If you’re integrating Google Ads with HubSpot, you might notice that HubSpot automatically adds a tracking template that looks something like this:

{lpurl}?ppc_keyword={keyword}&utm_term={keyword}&utm_campaign={_utmcampaign}&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=3412357244&hsa_cam={campaignid}&hsa_grp={adgroupid}&hsa_ad={creative}&hsa_src={network}&hsa_tgt={targetid}&hsa_kw={keyword}&hsa_mt={matchtype}&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3

Technically, this is fine – and it’s how HubSpot parses and stores ad data internally.
But from a clean tracking perspective, it’s convoluted.

They’re using a tracking template just to add query parameters, when a Final URL suffix would have been simpler and more standard.

It also repeats some parameters (e.g., {keyword} multiple times) and hardcodes platform names like adwords, which can look outdated.

Bottom line:
You’re generally best off leaving it alone if you’re using HubSpot’s reporting because that’s how they match clicks to contacts but just be aware that it’s a bit messy compared to how you’d normally structure things manually.

Final Take

Bing: Tick “Auto-tag my URLs with UTM tags.” Nothing else needed.
Google: Turn on “Auto-tagging” and add keyword={keyword} in the Final URL suffix if you want the search term easily captured.

Simple is better.
Complicating your tracking just adds unnecessary risk and more places where things can break.

Ben

Ben has a BEng (Hons) in Computer Science and 20 years of experience in online marketing, specialising in SEO, lead generation and affiliate marketing. After spending over a decade as an igaming affiliate, he has decided to concentrate on GA4 training and SEO Audits.