Offline Conversions - UNPARSEABLE_GCLID

[OMCC]

We are uploading offline conversions through the API for a client. The GCLID is extracted from the URL when a visitor clicks one of our client's ads to land at their properties.

Most of the offline conversions are going through fine, but approximately 1/3 are coming back with the UNPARSEABLE_GCLID error.

Why would this occur? We are using timezone "America/New_York" since our client's account is on EST.

Please help...

[Umesh Dengale]

Hello,

This error means the GLCID string provided is not a valid Google Click ID. Did you get the GclId from the CLICK_PERFORMANCE_REPORT? Please compare the GLCID string with GclId from the CLICK_PERFORMANCE_REPORT. If both are same then send me privately the SOAP XML request and response logs. Just click Reply privately to author in the forum when responding. Don't forget to remove the developer token in the output.

Thanks,

Umesh, AdWords API Team.

[OMCC]

Thanks for referring us to the click performance report, through it we realized that the GCLIDs we were sending were getting cut off.

[Umesh Dengale]

Hello,

I am glad that you found the solution. Let us know if you need help with any other issues.

[OMCC]

Hi,

The error seems to have returned and we've found two of the GCLIDs in the click performance report. We are sending the logs.

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

I think I know what's happening here: the OfflineConversionFeed.googleClickId is case-sensitive. In your log file, I see that this field's value is all lowercase, but the googleClickIds you mentioned contain uppercase letters. Please try the request again after changing the click IDs to have the proper case and let me know if you still encounter issues.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[OMCC]

Thanks - that seems to be the issue indeed. But why would the GCLIDs be all lowercase in certain specific cases? We are grabbing them directly from the URLs and most of the time they are fine. This issue seems to be scattered across different accounts and ad types.

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

The GCLIDs are generated strings, so it's entirely possible that some of those strings will contain mixed case. Are you saying that the GCLIDs you are seeing from clicks are not matching the case you see in the CLICK_PERFORMANCE_REPORT? I would expect the case to match between those two.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team

[OMCC]

Yes - it looks like we are having a mismatch in the case of the letters between the URL GCLID and the CLICK_PERFORMANCE_REPORT GCLID, only on occasion and without a clear pattern (such as in account, type of ad, landing page, etc.). We are looking into this and will post an update when we have one.

[OMCC]

Update: we have traced the issue to a redirect on our client's website that's forcing the GCLIDs to be all lowercase. Thanks for your help.

Once we upload the offline conversions through the API, will they be included in the Converted Clicks count? Our client uses Converted Clicks for reporting and wanted to know if that count reflects the conversions that we are sending. We are pushing the offline conversions to their own designated category in the same AdWords account as online conversions.

Thank you.

[Josh Radcliff (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

Glad to hear you found the source of the problem. Once you have uploaded your offline conversions, I would expect the Converted Clicks to reflect those conversions. Note that it takes up to 3 hours for imported conversions to appear in the AdWords user interface and AdWords API reports, per our Importing Conversions guide.

Thanks,

Josh, AdWords API Team