The iOS 17 Link Tracking Protection feature blocks gclid parameters in Safari private browsing, Mail, and Message, impacting 8-14% of traffic. This change breaks GA4's auto-tagging, leading to Google Ads traffic being misattributed as direct. A feature is requested to adapt GA4's auto-tagging mechanism to ensure accurate attribution despite these external tracking limitations.
The new iOS 17 Link Tracking Protection impacts 8-14% of your traffic As part of its latest iOS release, Apple now blocks the gclid parameters from certain links. More specifically, it blocks the parameter in: - Safari private browsing - Mail - Message How big of a problem is this? I just checked for a few US clients, and iOS traffic ranges 40-70%. Of that traffic, about 20% uses private browsing mode. So that means 8-14% of traffic is affected. How does this impact reporting? Google Ads reporting is unaffected. (Google has a different parameter, “gbraid” which can pass all of the info) But other tools are affected. This change breaks auto-tagging in Google Analytics 4, as well as other tools. So now, traffic (and sales) that should be attributed to Google Ads is now showing up as direct instead. One fix is to add additional UTM parameters to your links to help you figure out where traffic is coming from. Note: If you’re on Shopify and are using the Google channel as your feed app, a UTM parameter “sag_organic” is added to your product links to identify “Free Listings” clicks. With this update, users who click on a Shopping Ad when using private browsing mode on Safari will also be attributed to that same campaign. So you might want to adjust your links!