Google Click ID could not be decoded., at conversions0.gclid - This Google Click ID could not be decoded.

[Jen Brannstrom]

Dear API Support team,
I am using Make.com to pass gclid of offline conversions. The API seems to be set up correctly, I have a bunch of gclids that I wish to upload coming from a real, live account.
The gclids are a months weeks old now though. 

some example GCLIDS:

616171693eb8670001856e22
616171693eb8670001856e22
6162760d3eb867000143c232
616466ee3eb86700012809a3
6166f19d3eb867000140b404

The Error I get is: 


"Google Click ID could not be decoded., at conversions0.gclid ◉ This Google Click ID could not be decoded."

This is the RAW request:

{
    "response": {
        "status": 200,
        "headers": {
            "request-id": "YiQ-jLZdo-laKyDdnrI1JA",
            "content-type": "application/json; charset=UTF-8",
            "vary": "X-Origin, Referer, Origin,Accept-Encoding",
            "date": "Tue, 07 Jun 2022 15:06:03 GMT",
            "server": "ESF",
            "cache-control": "private",
            "x-xss-protection": "0",
            "x-frame-options": "SAMEORIGIN",
            "x-content-type-options": "nosniff",
            "alt-svc": "h3=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-29=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-Q050=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-Q046=\":443\"; ma=2592000,h3-Q043=\":443\"; ma=2592000,quic=\":443\"; ma=2592000; v=\"46,43\"",
            "accept-ranges": "none",
            "connection": "close",
            "transfer-encoding": "chunked"
        },
        "body": {
            "partialFailureError": {
                "code": 3,
                "message": "This Google Click ID could not be decoded., at conversions[0].gclid",
                "details": [
                    {
                        "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.ads.googleads.v9.errors.GoogleAdsFailure",
                        "errors": [
                            {
                                "errorCode": {
                                    "conversionUploadError": "UNPARSEABLE_GCLID"
                                },
                                "message": "This Google Click ID could not be decoded.",
                                "trigger": {
                                    "stringValue": "612f9de8791b21000117a0e5"
                                },
                                "location": {
                                    "fieldPathElements": [
                                        {
                                            "fieldName": "conversions",
                                            "index": 0
                                        },
                                        {
                                            "fieldName": "gclid"
                                        }
                                    ]
                                }
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
            "results": [
                {}
            ]
        }
    },
    "request": {
        "url": "https://googleads.googleapis.com/v9/customers/5988339676:uploadClickConversions",
        "headers": {
            "user-agent": "Make/production",
            "authorization": "***",
            "developer-token": "***",
            "login-customer-id": "6964960376",
            "content-type": "application/json"
        },
        "method": "POST",
        "body": {
            "conversions": [
                {
                    "gclid": "612f9de8791b21000117a0e5",
                    "conversionAction": "customers/5988339676/conversionActions/536803109",
                    "conversionDateTime": "2021-09-01 17:36:08+01:00"
                }
            ],
            "partialFailure": true
        }
    }
}

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Jen,

Thank you for raising this concern to the Google Ads API Forum. 

First of all, I want to inform you that this email will be deleted as containing generated logs. Moving forward to your concern, I can see that you are encountering an error saying "Google Click ID could not be decoded., at conversions0.gclid ◉ This Google Click ID could not be decoded.".

The possible reason for this is that you are uploading GCLID that does not exist. With this, to help you determine the GCLIDs that you can upload as conversions, then I can recommend generating reports using the click_view report. If in the event that you are using GCLIDs that are generated from the said report but the error persists, then you may provide the updated logs for further checking. You can provide it via the Reply privately to author option. If this option is not available, then send it instead to this email address googleadsa...@google.com.

Best regards,

Jinky Google Ads API Team

ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2bdU7f:ref

[Chad Wood]

Hi,

Would it be possible to update the error message to indicate that the GCLID could not be found within the accounts available resources?
Saying that it "cannot be decoded" makes it seem like the ID is malformed. That can result in wasted time and unnecessary review of working code.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi there,

Thanks for getting back to us. You may refer to this page for different error messages for different conversion upload errors. Your GCLID shouldn’t be altered/modified when importing via Google Ads API, otherwise, you would get an UNPARSEABLE_GCLID error.

Let us know if you have any other questions. 

This message is in relation to case "ref:_00D1U1174p._5004Q2bdU7f:ref"

Thanks,
 

Google Ads API Team

 

[Chad Wood]

>" Your GCLID shouldn’t be altered/modified when importing via Google Ads API, otherwise, you would get an UNPARSEABLE_GCLID error. "

It isn't altered/modified. I tried using the API with a GCLID belonging to a different account, and I got this same error.
So, it seems the error is also displayed when there was no matching GCLID? Very misleading, as someone in my case might spend time wondering if they somehow messed up the pipeline and mutated the key.

[Google Ads API Forum Advisor]

Hi Chad,

Thank you for getting back to us.

In order for us to further investigate, can you please provide the complete request and response logs with request-id where you've tried uploading a GCLID from a different account, but encountered the same error?

Reference links:
request - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/concepts/field-service#request
response - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/concepts/field-service#response
request-id - https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/concepts/call-structure#request-id

You may send these to us via Reply privately to author option.