topic Re: Hubspot attributing Paid Search to Direct in Ads

Hubspot attributing Paid Search to Direct

DeeCee — Thu, 15 May 2025 11:36:06 GMT

We seem to be having an attribution issue where we see leads coming in through google ad campaigns being attributed to direct traffic.

I can see the First referring page is through a google campaign but then the first page seen is the page where the contact form is hosted.

What's also missing is gclid. Also the number of page views is 0.

Could this be cookie consent related or a Hubspot attribution problem?

Re: Hubspot attributing Paid Search to Direct

Josh — Thu, 15 May 2025 12:30:29 GMT

Hi @DeeCee,

A few things you can troubleshoot here.

First, can you confirm if you're using the integration? Here's the knowledge base article about it.

If you're not using the integration, you'll have to apply your UTM parameters manually. Here's a knowledge base article for that.

Do you have auto-tagging enabled on the Google Ads side? If not, the gclid won't be included.

If you are already using the integration or creating UTM parameters and it's still not working, be sure that those parameters aren't being dropped. The best way to avoid this is to ensure the users are going directly to the HTTPS version and there are no redirects in place. If a visitor is coming from HTTPS (Google), then sent to HTTP and back to HTTPS, those parameters will be dropped.

It sounds like your HubSpot tracking code is properly firing because the page visit is still happening, so that shouldn't be an issue.

This is where I'd start. I hope that helps!

Re: Hubspot attributing Paid Search to Direct

DeeCee — Thu, 15 May 2025 13:00:31 GMT

Hi @Josh,

We're using the integration and have auto-tagging enabled on Google Ads.

The parameters aren't being dropped as we see the UTMs being populated under the original source drill down 1 and 2 fields.

It's a recent behavior where with certain leads we see the first referring site is a google campaign but no gclid or page views are being recorded. These leads are then being attributed to Direct Traffic.

Re: Hubspot attributing Paid Search to Direct

Josh — Fri, 16 May 2025 13:14:43 GMT

Hi @DeeCee,

Here are a couple more steps to try:

Replicate the ad click in an incognito window
- Click a live ad and watch the address bar:
  1. Does the landing URL still contain the gclid or utm_* after every redirect?
  2. Open DevTools → Network; confirm hs_analytics.js fires and a hutk cookie is set.
- If the gclid disappears or the script never fires, you’ve found the issue (redirect stripping parameters or missing HubSpot code).
Verify the landing page’s tracking code placement
- Make sure the HubSpot tracking snippet loads on the very first page—not after a redirect and not delayed by a cookie‑consent manager or GTM trigger.
I mentioned this before, but double-check check there are no HTTPS>HTTP instances. Even if the UTM remains attached, that traffic could still be labeled as Direct because it will drop the referrer.

Josh

Re: Hubspot attributing Paid Search to Direct

SanjayKumar — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 05:06:14 GMT

Hi @DeeCee
If leads are showing up as Direct even though the referring page is from a Google campaign, here are a few things to check:

If the gclid (Google Click ID) isn’t captured, HubSpot can’t assign Paid Search attribution it defaults to Direct. This can happen if:

Auto-tagging is off in Google Ads
Redirects strip the gclid
Tracking is delayed (e.g. by a cookie banner)

If HubSpot's tracking script is blocked until a user accepts cookies, it won’t record the session just the form submission. That leads to Direct attribution.

If HubSpot logs the first page seen as the form page and page views = 0, it likely missed the session altogether.What I’d Recommend:

Make sure auto-tagging is enabled in Google Ads
Ensure the HubSpot tracking script loads before user interaction
Adjust cookie banner settings so HubSpot can fire earlier
As a fallback, use UTM parameters with hidden fields in forms to preserve attribution

Re: Hubspot attributing Paid Search to Direct

Samieltamer — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 11:32:10 GMT

Pretty curious about it ! we experience the same kind of problem with hubspot contact creation attribution.
How is your form embed in your landing page ? what kind of forms ? is that an iframe ? What is your thank you page (inside the iframe ? a confirmation message ? Or a full thank youp age loading in the whole page / parent page ?

I have this kind of problem, ads interaction well catch (utm in source drill down etc) but form submission being tag as "Organic search" or "direct traffic" in some case (we have an iframe form and an iframe thank you page loaded inside of it..).

Re: Hubspot attributing Paid Search to Direct

chighsmith — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 18:50:41 GMT

Hi @Samieltamer,

Thank you for posting to the Community!

Tagging in our Top Contributor Josh again since they were able to provide the Accepted Solution of this thread.

Hi @Josh! Are you able to provide any insight on @Samieltamer's question above?

Thank you!

Cassie, Community Manager