What is Ad Content in Google Analytics?

Buried within Google Analytics is a powerful dimension called Ad Content, a deceptively simple feature that can unlock incredibly specific insights about your campaigns. In short, it's what tells you which specific link a user clicked when multiple options point to the same destination page. This article breaks down exactly what Ad Content is, how to track it, where to find it in Google Analytics 4, and how you can use it to make smarter marketing decisions.

What Exactly is Ad Content in Google Analytics?

The "Ad Content" dimension in Google Analytics captures the value you assign to the utm_content parameter in your campaign URLs. If that sounds a bit technical, don’t worry. Think of it this way: You’re running an email campaign for a summer sale, and you have two links pointing to your sale page - a large, visual button and a simple text link in the header.

Both links go to the same URL, so how do you know which one is more effective at driving clicks and sales? This is where utm_content comes in. It helps you differentiate between two identical destinations.

You would tag your links like this:

• For the button link: ?utm_content=summer_sale_cta_button
• For the text link: ?utm_content=header_text_link

When someone clicks these links, Google Analytics logs that utm_content value. Later, when you look at your reports, the "Ad Content" dimension will show you performance metrics broken down by summer_sale_cta_button and header_text_link, giving you proof of which element performed better.

This dimension is crucial for understanding user behavior at a granular level. While your campaign source, medium, and name tell you where the traffic came from and as part of which initiative, Ad Content tells you the specifics of what element they engaged with.

What About GA4 vs. Universal Analytics?

In Universal Analytics (GA3), "Ad Content" was a standard, default dimension that was easy to find in most reports. In Google Analytics 4, things work a bit differently. The dimension is now called "Manual ad content” (or “Session manual ad content”/”First user manual ad content”) and you often have to add it to your reports as a secondary dimension. It’s still just as powerful, but requires an extra click or two to uncover.

Why You Should Be Using the Ad Content Dimension

Tracking Ad Content isn't just about satisfying curiosity, it’s about collecting actionable data to refine your marketing efforts. Consistent use helps you move beyond guessing and start making data-backed decisions about your designs, copy, and overall strategy.

1. Run Smarter A/B Tests on Your Creatives and CTAs

Ad Content is a perfect tool for on-the-fly A/B testing without needing complicated testing software. You can test virtually any element of your campaign:

• Calls-to-Action (CTAs): Track whether "Shop Now" converts better than "Explore the Collection" in a social media ad. Tag one utm_content=shop_now and the other utm_content=explore_collection.
• Ad Images/Videos: See if an ad with an image of a person or a product photo drove more conversions. Tag them utm_content=model_image and utm_content=product_shot.
• Headline Variations: In paid search or social ads, test which headline gets more qualified traffic by tagging each variation.

By comparing metrics like engagement rate, conversions, and revenue for each utm_content tag, you can see concrete evidence of what resonates with your audience and apply those learnings to future campaigns.

2. Differentiate Between Multiple Links on the Same Page

This is one of the most common and valuable uses for utm_content. Nearly any piece of marketing content features multiple opportunities for a user to click through.

Example: A promotional email

A typical email might have several links all pointing to your new landing page:

• A link on your logo at the top
• A main call-to-action button in the middle
• A text link within a descriptive paragraph
• A link in the repeating footer

Without Ad Content tracking, all traffic from this email shows up as one lump sum. But by tagging each link differently (utm_content=logo, utm_content=main_cta, utm_content=body_link, utm_content=footer), you can identify precisely which placements are driving engagement versus which ones are being ignored.

3. Gain Granular Performance Detail in Complex Campaigns

Sometimes, tracking at the campaign level isn't specific enough. Imagine running a large "Black Friday" campaign (utm_campaign=black_friday_2024) across Facebook and Instagram. Within that campaign, you might be running several ad variations targeting different angles:

• Ad 1: Focuses on "Early Bird" deals.
• Ad 2: Highlights a specific best-selling product.
• Ad 3: Is a user-generated content video testimonial.

Using utm_content=early_bird, utm_content=bestseller_feature, and utm_content=ugc_video lets you break down the performance of the entire "Black Friday" campaign by individual ad theme. This helps you understand which angles generate the most revenue, so you can reallocate your budget to the winners in real-time.

How to Implement utm_content for Effective Tracking

Setting up your campaigns to track Ad Content effectively requires a systematic approach. The foundation of good data is consistency.

Step 1: Create a Clear Naming Convention

Before you create a single link, decide on a consistent format for your tags. This prevents messy reports where CTA_Button, cta-button, and CTABtn all show up as separate line items for the same thing. Stick to a simple, scalable system and document it for your team.

A good practice is to use lowercase letters and replace spaces with underscores or hyphens.

• Simple format: [location]_[description] (e.g., header_text_link, profile_link_in_bio)
• Ad-focused format: [format]_[angle] (e.g., video_testimonial, image_discount_promo)

Step 2: Build Your URLs with a URL Builder

You don't need to construct these long, parameter-filled URLs by hand. Google's free Campaign URL Builder makes it foolproof.

Here's how you'd fill it out:

• Website URL: The final destination page (e.g., https://www.yourstore.com/special-offer)
• Campaign Source (utm_source): Where the traffic is coming from (e.g., facebook)
• Campaign Medium (utm_medium): The type of channel (e.g., cpc or social)
• Campaign Name (utm_campaign): The specific promotion (e.g., spring_promo_2024)
• Campaign Content (utm_content): Your specific link or ad description (e.g., blue_sweater_carousel_ad)

The tool will generate the full, ready-to-use URL for you.

Step 3: Add the Tagged URL to Your Marketing Platform

Once you have your tagged URL, simply use it as the destination URL in your ad, email, or social media post. When using ad platforms like Google Ads, you have the option of auto-tagging, which handles this automatically. However, for non-Google platforms (like Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, or your email service provider), manual UTM tagging is the only way to send this rich campaign data over to Google Analytics.

Finding Your Ad Content Data in Google Analytics 4

As mentioned, GA4 requires a little more exploring to find your Ad Content data. Here is the most direct way to access it.

To see your Ad Content report:

1. On the left-hand menu, navigate to Reports.
2. Under the "Life cycle" section, click on Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.
3. The default primary dimension is Session default channel group. Click the small blue plus sign (+) next to the table header to add a secondary dimension.
4. In the search box that appears, type "ad content."
5. You'll see a few options. Select Session manual ad content.

The report will now show your Ad Content values as a secondary dimension, allowing you to see metrics like Users, Sessions, Engaged Sessions, and Conversions for each specific tag you created.

Which "Ad Content" Dimension Should I Use?

You may notice a few options when searching:

• Session manual ad content: Attributes data based on the specific session where the click occurred. This is perfect for analyzing the direct performance of an ad or CTA.
• First user manual ad content: Attributes data based on the ad content that brought a user to your site for their very first visit. This is more useful for understanding which ad variations are best at acquiring new customers.

For most day-to-day campaign analysis and A/B testing, Session manual ad content is the one you’ll use most often.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Properly leveraging Ad Content means avoiding a few common pitfalls that can pollute your data.

• Inconsistent Naming: It bears repeating - using FB, fb, Facebook, and facebook.com will fragment your data and make analysis a nightmare. Stick to your naming convention.
• Using it for the Wrong Information: The utm_content tag is for differentiating ad variations or links within a single campaign. Don't use it to describe the traffic source, medium, or campaign. That's what utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign are for.
• Tagging Your Internal Links: Never use UTM parameters on links from one page of your own website to another. This will overwrite the original source data and incorrectly attribute the user's conversion to an internal click, breaking your attribution model.
• Forgetting to Tag: If you don't add the parameter, the (not set) value will dominate your report, leaving you with no useful insights. Make UTM tagging a required step in your campaign launch checklist.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the Ad Content dimension in Google Analytics is a massive step forward in understanding what really works in your marketing. By moving beyond high-level campaign metrics and drilling down into the performance of individual links, creatives, and CTAs using utm_content, you leave guessing behind and start optimizing based on real user behavior.

While digging through GA4 to connect these dots is powerful, we know that combining this data with performance metrics from Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and Shopify can turn into hours of manual report building. At Graphed, we automate all of that. By connecting all your data sources in one place, you can ask plain-English questions like, "Which utm_content from my Facebook spring promo campaign drove the most Shopify 'add to carts' last week?" and get an instant real-time dashboard–no more wrestling with secondary dimensions or exporting CSVs.