URLs

URL parameters can help you understand the effectiveness of your ads. For example, you can use URL parameters to identify where your ad traffic is coming from and which ads helped drive a conversion. Insights from URL parameters can show which link people clicked to get to your ad’s destination, such as to your website or Facebook Page. Bear in mind that although you can add URL parameters to your ads on Facebook, you’ll need to use a website analytics tool to track the results.

You can add URL parameters to your Facebook ads during the ad creation workflow. URL parameters can be placed on ads that link to destinations off Facebook, such as your website, or on ads that promote existing Facebook posts. If you’re adding URL parameters to an existing Facebook post and it links to a website URL off Facebook, your URL parameters will only apply to URL clicks on the ad and not on clicks that may happen if someone sees the post organically and clicks a link.

Add URL parameters to your ads

You can add URL parameters to your ads in Ads Manager. Note that doing this will override any parameters that you’ve set elsewhere, such as in Instagram’s default URL parameters.

To add URL parameters to your ads on Facebook:

1. Create a new ad campaign in Ads Manager or continue working on one saved as a draft.
   The following objectives are available for dynamic parameters:
   • Traffic
   • Reach
   • Video Views
   • Post Engagement
   • Lead Generation
   • Catalogue Sales: URL parameters field only, template URL field is not supported
   • Store Traffic: URL parameters field only, website URL field is not supported
   • Conversions
   • Brand Awareness
2. Note: Dynamic parameters are not supported for ads that use the Collection ad format on Instagram placements or ads that use the App Install objective. Dynamic parameters will also not work with any mobile app deep links.
3. After entering your information at the Campaign and Ad set levels, navigate to the Ad level to set your URL parameters.
4. At the ad level, click Build a URL parameter under Website URL.
5. 
   Note that you can also build a URL parameter in the Tracking section at the ad level. You can add URL parameters in both the Website URL field (as part of the URL), as well as the URL parameters field. Any parameters added in the URL parameter field will be appended into what is in the Website URL field as long as they are not duplicates. Parameters in the URL parameter field will override the duplicate parameter in the Website URL field.
   For example, if you have two parameters, one named utm_source=1 in the website URL field and the other named utm_source=2 in the URL parameters field, only utm_source=2 will be in the final URL.
   Enter the parameters that you want to track. Each parameter will include a key, ad-identifying information and the value you assign to that key. The key and value are connected using an equals (=) sign and you can add multiple URL parameters to your ad by separating them with an ampersand (&) symbol.
   For example, if you want to track an ad with a blue background, try adding “background=blue” in your parameter. The key is “background” and the value is “blue”. This creates a unique URL for this specific ad. In this example, that URL would be “www.example.com?background=blue.”
   
6. Note: Make sure that none of your parameters are empty, always add a parameter key. For example, the background parameter in this string has been left empty: “https://www.example.com/page?background=&foo=bar”. Make sure that you always include a parameter key (such as blue, “https://www.example.com/page?background=blue&foo=bar”) or remove the parameter. When you’ve finished, click Apply. You’ll see your URL parameter in the field.

Note: A URL parameter is only applicable to the first product page. For example, if someone clicks on your ad which directs them to your product page, that interaction will be tracked using the URL parameter you set. However, if they click out of the product page from the ad experience and come back to your product page organically later on, the URL parameter will be lost.

You can also use dynamic parameters. Dynamic parameters provide an automated way to populate the values of your parameters based on information you provide when setting up your ad and information related to how your ads are delivered.