Google Analytics Audit Test #

84

Meta Attribution for All Paid Meta Links

Why It Matters:

Critical to understanding where your traffic is coming from and assigning appropriate credit.

Industries:

All

Checks For:

Accuracy

How accurate is your recent data?

Insight Category:

Attribution

Can you tell which marketing efforts are working?

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Background

A GA4 audit is essential for uncovering missing insights—key data points that organizations don't yet know and can act upon. A well-done audit evaluates both behavioral tracking and traffic attribution, ensuring each is accurate and useful. It also assesses whether the data collected truly supports business decisions and reporting.

Test Detail

This test checks whether sessions that include Meta’s click ID (fbclid) are being incorrectly attributed in Google Analytics.

When a user clicks a link from Facebook or Instagram ads, the fbclid parameter is appended to the URL.

However, Google Analytics does not natively interpret fbclid for source attribution, and if UTMs are missing or stripped, these sessions may be misclassified as:

  • Direct
  • Referral (e.g., from facebook.com or instagram.com)
  • Unassigned

This leads to:

  • Underreporting of Meta Ads impact
  • ROAS and CAC data that undervalue Meta performance
  • Broken attribution chains for first-touch or assisted conversions

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How to Conduct This Test

Basic Tests

  • In Google Analytics > Explore, create a Free-form report:
    • Dimensions: Session source/medium, Landing page + query string
    • Filter for page_location containing fbclid=
    • Metrics: Sessions
    • Look for sessions where the source is not facebook or instagram, or medium is (not set) / referral

Advanced QA

  • In BigQuery, run this query:
    SELECT session_source, session_medium, page_location, COUNT(*) AS sessions
    FROM `your_dataset.events_*`
    WHERE page_location LIKE '%fbclid=%'
    GROUP BY session_source, session_medium, page_location
    ORDER BY sessions DESC;
  • If many sessions with fbclid are attributed to direct, referral, or unassigned sources, Meta Ads are not being credited properly.

Automated, Free Audit

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Or hire a pro to fix your Meta Ads attribution permanently.

How To Fix

  • Always use manual UTM tagging for Meta Ads:
    • utm_source=facebook (or instagram)
    • utm_medium=cpc
  • utm_campaign=your_campaign_name
  • Ensure no intermediate redirects (especially mobile or link shorteners) strip UTMs or click IDs
  • Confirm proper attribution using Google Analytics DebugView, ensuring Meta-driven sessions retain full UTM context
  • Optionally store the fbclid in a cookie or backend for cross-session or offline attribution
  • Hire a pro to lock in durable Meta attribution, so your reporting reflects the full ROI of your campaigns.

Tips from a Google Analytics Consultant

Focus on Insights

Every Google Analytics audit should result in a plan for more insights.

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An insight is:

  • something you don't know
  • and can act on to improve performance

The Goal

Identify and remove insight blockers. Don't get tempted to track things you can't act on!

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