ValueTrack parameters are placeholders written in curly brackets, such as {campaignid} or {keyword}, that Google Ads replaces with real details of each click as it happens. You add them to your tracking settings so that the address a visitor arrives on carries information about which campaign, keyword, device or placement sent them.
How ValueTrack parameters work
You write a parameter into one of the URL fields in Google Ads, most often the final URL suffix or the tracking template. When someone clicks, Google swaps each placeholder for the value that applies to that click, before the visitor’s browser loads the page.
For example, a suffix of utm_term={keyword}&device={device} might arrive as utm_term=emergency+plumber+leeds&device=m, where “m” means mobile. Some of the most used parameters are:
- {campaignid} and {adgroupid}: the numeric IDs of the campaign and ad group.
- {keyword}: the keyword in your account that matched, not the exact words the person typed.
- {matchtype}: e for exact, p for phrase, b for broad.
- {device}: m, t or c for mobile, tablet or computer.
- {network}: where the click came from, such as Google Search, search partners or YouTube.
- {creative}: the ID of the ad that was clicked.
- {lpurl}: the final URL, used inside tracking templates.
If a value does not apply to a click, the placeholder is left empty. Performance Max and other keywordless campaigns, for instance, have no keyword to insert. Google also offers custom parameters for values you define yourself, such as a promotion code.
Why it matters
With auto-tagging on, Google Analytics 4 already receives a lot of Google Ads detail. ValueTrack fills the gaps for everything else: your CRM, a call tracking service, a form tool, a landing page builder or a reporting spreadsheet. A lead that reaches your sales team with the campaign ID and keyword attached can be traced back to the spend that produced it.
That traceability matters most for UK businesses that close sales offline, such as estate agents, solicitors and B2B suppliers. Without it, the account knows the click happened but the business cannot tell which searches lead to signed contracts.
Common mistakes
- Expecting {keyword} to show the actual search. For that you need the search terms report; ValueTrack gives the matched keyword.
- Assuming every parameter works in every campaign type. Several are blank in Performance Max, Demand Gen and video campaigns.
- Copying a long string of parameters into the final URL of every ad, instead of setting them once in the suffix at account or campaign level.
- Letting the website or a redirect strip unfamiliar parameters, so they never reach the form or analytics.
- Passing anything personal through a URL. Click details are fine; names or email addresses are not.
How to act on it
Decide what your other systems actually need: usually campaign ID, ad group ID, keyword, match type and device. Add those to the account-level final URL suffix, mapped to sensible UTM parameters or your own names, then click a live ad and check the full address in the browser.
If you capture leads through a form, add hidden fields that read the parameters from the page address and store them with each enquiry. Building that link between ad clicks and real outcomes is part of how I run Google search ads management.