Overview Of Anchor Tags And 3rd Party Tracking Systems
Many 3rd party analytic and/or revenue tracking systems ignore any values that appear after the anchor (#) tag. Therefore, if tracking parameters appear after an anchor tag in the URL, these systems may not capture those values.
Example A:
http://www.domain.com/about/#contact-us?mkwid=a1b2c3&pcrid=12345467&keyword=my%20keyword
Example B:
http://www.domain.com/about/?mkwid=a1b2c3&pcrid=12345467&keyword=my%20keyword#contact-us
In Example A, because the tracking parameters appear after the anchor, tracking systems will not be able to capture the tracking parameters (highlighted in red font), and revenue and/or analytic data may be lost.
In Example B, because the tracking parameters (highlighted in green font) appear before the anchor tag, tracking systems will be able to capture those values.
How Are Anchor Tags Managed With Upgraded URLs?
Prior to upgraded URLs, Marin?s URL Builder automatically identified an anchor tag and properly placed the anchor at the end of the URL. This arrangement allowed 3rd party tracking systems to correctly capture tracking parameter values as explained in the Overview above.
With Upgraded URLs, the tracking parameters are now appended by the Tracking Template defined in Google Google Ads, and Google does not automatically extract the anchor tag in the Landing Page (a.k.a. Final URL) in order to place it at the end of the URL. This may result in URLs with a format similar to Example A and can result in a loss of tracking values.
To prevent this from occurring, Marin will create a custom Tracking Template for each object containing an anchor tag for customers that opted in to the Upgraded URL Migration. These custom templates will allow for the proper placement of the anchor tags as shown in Example B.
Custom Template Examples
| Before Upgrade | After Upgrade | |
| Destination URL | Landing Page | Tracking Template |
| http://domain.com/about/?mkwid=a1b2c34d&pcrid=creative#contact-us | http://domain.com/about/ | {lpurl}?mkwid=a1b2c34d&pcrid=creative#contact-us |
| http://redirect.tracker.com?id=abc123&lp=http://domain.com/about/?mkwid=a1b2c34d&pcrid=creative#contact-us | http://domain.com/about/ | http://redirect.tracker.com?id=abc123&lp={lpurl}?mkwid=a1b2c34d&pcrid=creative#contact-us |
Notes
- Please note that these custom tracking templates apply only to the individual objects with an anchor tag, and this method does not modify your current Account/Campaign/Group Tracking Templates or any other settings.
- When creating new objects with anchor tags, you may need to implement an approach similar to the examples shown in the After Upgrade table above.
- As we continue to develop anchor support, these new strategies will be shared with our customers.
