What is FBCLID? Should You Remove It From Google Analytics?
Published May 8, 2023
If you’ve been using Google Analytics to track your website’s performance, you may have noticed a mysterious query parameter called “FBCLID”—which means Facebook Click Identifier—in your URL. This parameter has left many website owners wondering what it is and whether or not they should remove it from their Google Analytics data. This article will explore the FBCLID parameter, its purpose, and its impact on your website’s data. We will also answer the question of whether or not you should remove it from your Google Analytics data.
What is FBCLID?
FBCLID is a query parameter that appears in URLs when a user clicks on a link that takes them from Facebook to another website. The FBCLID parameter is automatically added to the URL by Facebook when a user clicks on a link shared on Facebook. The purpose of the FBCLID parameter is to track the source of the traffic and provide attribution to Facebook for the click.
How does FBCLID work?
When a user clicks on a link shared on Facebook, the social media platform adds the FBCLID parameter to the URL of the website the user is directed to. The FBCLID parameter is a unique identifier that is tied to the specific user and the specific link they clicked on. When the user lands on the website, the FBCLID parameter is captured by Google Analytics as a referral source and is attributed to Facebook as the source of the traffic.
Effects of FBCLID in Google Analytics
Having the FBCLID parameter in your website’s URLs can have both positive and negative effects. On the positive side, the FBCLID parameter can provide valuable information about your Facebook ad performance, such as which ads are driving the most traffic to your website and which ones are converting the most users. This can help you optimize your Facebook ad campaigns for better results.
On the negative side, having the FBCLID parameter in your URLs can clutter up your Google Analytics reports and make it more difficult to analyze your website traffic and user behavior. Additionally, if you are using multiple traffic sources to drive traffic to your website, having the FBCLID parameter in your URLs may make it more difficult to identify which traffic sources are driving the most conversions.
Should You Remove FBCLID from Google Analytics?
Now that we know what FBCLID in URL is and how it works, the question remains: should you remove it from your Google Analytics data? The decision to remove the FBCLID parameter from Google Analytics depends on your specific needs and goals.
If you are primarily using Facebook ads to drive traffic to your website, then it may be beneficial to keep the FBCLID parameter in Google Analytics.
However, if you are using multiple traffic sources to drive traffic to your website, then it may be more beneficial to remove the FBCLID parameter from Google Analytics. This will help you keep your reports clean and make it easier to analyze your website traffic and user behavior.
How to Remove FBCLID
- Log in to your Google Analytics account and go to the “Admin” section, which is located in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- In the “Admin” section, look for the “View” column and click on “View Settings”.
- In the “View Settings” page, scroll down until you see the “Exclude URL Query Parameters” option. Type “fbclid” (without the quotes) in the text field next to it.
- Click the Save button
By excluding the “fbclid” parameter from your Google Analytics reports, you can ensure that the data reflects the actual behavior of users on your website, regardless of how they arrived there.
However, please note that this exclusion only applies to future data that is tracked by Google Analytics. If you have existing reports or page URLs that already have a “fbclid” parameter attached to them, they will not be affected by this option.
Conclusion
The “fbclid” parameter is used by Facebook to track clicks on links that are shared on their platform. While this can be useful for marketers to measure the effectiveness of their Facebook campaigns, it can also create inaccuracies in Google Analytics reports.
Google Analytics’ FBCLID exclusion option is a useful tool for improving the accuracy of your website traffic data. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can easily exclude the “fbclid” parameter from your reports and ensure that the data reflects the actual behavior of your users.
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About The Author
Krizzia Paolyn, is an SEO Specialist and author based in the Philippines. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. It has always been her passion to share her voice, and at the same time, to encourage others to share their voices as well. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
