Ad tracking in HubSpot

Set up ad tracking in HubSpot to see which ads your contacts click and convert on.

How ad tracking in HubSpot works

HubSpot attributes contacts to specific ads by adding tracking parameters to your ad URLs. After you connect your ad account, HubSpot automatically applies tracking to any ads that are active or pending review. If an ad can't be tracked, network-level reporting data, such as clicks and impressions, will still display for that ad in the HubSpot ads tool.

HubSpot is only able to track the following types of ads for contact attribution:

• Google Ads: HubSpot can track most Google ad types, but some ad types aren't supported due to API limitations. Learn more about the supported ad types, requirements, and parameters used when tracking and reporting on your Google ads.
  • Discovery campaigns can be tracked as long as you haven’t overridden tracking at the ad group or ad level. 
  • YouTube Ads cannot be tracked, but other reporting data like impressions and clicks will still appear on your HubSpot ads dashboard.
• Facebook and Instagram Ads: HubSpot can track most Facebook and Instagram ads, but some ad types aren't supported due to API limitations. Learn more about the supported ad types, requirements, and parameters used when tracking and reporting on your Facebook and Instagram ads.
  • Ads that do not link to external sites, such as Facebook Messenger ads, cannot be tracked.
  • Ads that use Placement Asset Customization (PAC) carousel format cannot be tracked. Standard carousel ads can be tracked.
  • Advantage+ ad types can be tracked. 
• LinkedIn Ads: HubSpot can track most LinkedIn ads, but some ad types aren't supported due to API limitations. Learn more about the supported ad types, requirements, and parameters used when tracking and reporting on your LinkedIn ads.

• • Message ads, Thought Leader Ads, and Document ads are not supported and cannot be tracked.
  • Leads who submit Lead Gen Forms on any ad type will sync to HubSpot, even if the ad type isn't trackable.
  • Carousel image ads can be tracked.

If you rename an ad campaign, the utm_campaign value in HubSpot's tracking template won't update automatically. HubSpot will continue to track the ad, but if you use the utm_campaign parameter in other systems, you may need to update the ad URL:

1. In the ad network, manually edit the ad campaign URL to reflect the new name.
2. In the ad network, remove the utm_campaign parameter and value entirely, then save. HubSpot will detect the missing parameter and automatically update the URL.

Auto tracking

To track ads in an ads account, ensure that HubSpot auto-tracking is enabled:

1. In your HubSpot account, click the settings icon in the top navigation bar.
2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Marketing > Ads.
3. For each ad account, click to toggle the Auto tracking switch on.

Please note: HubSpot can only attribute contacts to the ads they clicked after auto-tracking is enabled. Clicks that happened while auto-tracking was off won't be attributed retroactively.

• To disable HubSpot tracking for your ads, click to toggle the Auto tracking switch off.
  • This will remove HubSpot access to your tracking settings, but will not remove the existing tracking parameters from your ads.
  • You can remove these parameters from within Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Ads.
• By default, HubSpot's tracking template uses UTM parameters that match HubSpot's traffic analytics. To align utm_source or utm_medium with a third-party tool, such as Google Analytics, edit the tracking template:
  • Locate the ad network of the tracking template you want to edit.
  • Click Edit tracking template above the table of connected ad accounts for the ad network.
  • In the right panel, enter a new utm_source or utm_medium.
  • Click Save.