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How to fix UTM Setup errors

Learn how to troubleshoot UTM errors on your ads in Cometly.

Updated over 2 months ago

Understanding the Red Dot Indicator

Cometly provides a visual aid, a red dot, to alert you of potential UTM setup errors on your ads. If you see a red dot next to the 'Ad' tab within the Ads Manager, it indicates a possible mistake in the setup of the UTM parameters.

Important: If you have imported your campaigns in the last hour, you may see a UTM setup error until the next data refresh. Please provide up to 1 hour for the next data refresh before taking additional troubleshooting steps.

Important: This alert will only show on ACTIVE ads within Cometly that have potential UTM setup errors.

Troubleshooting Steps

Step 1: Identify what ad channel is displaying the error

The troubleshooting steps are different depending on the ad channel. Hover over or click on the red dot. A tooltip will appear indicating that you have a set up issue.

Step 2: Ensure you have the correct UTM parameters on your ads

For your Events space, you must have the correct UTM parameters on your ads or you will see a UTM Setup Error.

Please visit the Setup section under the step 'Setup UTM parameters on your ads'. Below is the URL Parameter configuration required for your space:

Step 3: Check the UTM parameter setup inside Cometly Ads Manager

For Facebook & TikTok

  • For Facebook and TikTok, you can easily check your parameter configuration by navigating to the Cometly Ads Manager for your Facebook ad account or TikTok ad account and changing the columns to the preset 'Tracking Status'.

    • Make sure you go to the 'Ad Level' in the Cometly Ads Manager to see the Ad Link and URL Parameters.

    • TikTok should have parameters directly on the link.

Variant In URL

PLEASE NOTE: If there is another "?" in your Website URL (for example if you have a variant in your URL), that means you are already using UTMs, so you would need to switch the "?" to a "&" before adding it to the end of your Website URL.

Example: if your Website URL is

www.test.com?variant=123456

Then instead of adding:

?comet_source={{site_source_name}}&comet_ad_id={{ad.id}}&comet_placement={{placement}}

You would need to add:

&comet_source={{site_source_name}}&comet_ad_id={{ad.id}}&comet_placement={{placement}}

So your final Website URL would be:

www.test.com?variant=123456&comet_source={{site_source_name}}&comet_ad_id={{ad.id}}&comet_placement={{placement}}

Facebook Carousel Ads

For Carousel ads, you have to to add a URL Parameter for each of the cards on the Carousel ad.

For Google

  • For Google, you can easily check your parameters by navigating to the Cometly Ads Manager and select your Google Ad account.

  • Google uses a campaign tracking template, that is located at the 'Campaign Level'.

  • Select 'URL Params' in the columns

  • You should now see the tracking template, ensure that is the correct tracking template.

Step 4: Wait for updates

Important: If you made any changes to your UTM parameters inside Facebook, TikTok, or Google, you may have fixed the issue but you will continue to see the red dot indicating a UTM Setup Error until the next data refresh.

Please allow Cometly up to 1 hour to refresh data.

If you have resolved the UTM Setup error, the red dot indicating an error will go away.

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