gclid and fbclid at same time

Question

During checking traffic source on e-commerce website i get confused.

I know that param gclid=.. means that user is tagged by GoogleAds, while fbclid works the same way but with facebook.

However, I dont understand what does it mean while they are both together in single url, like: www.example.com?gclid=CjwKCAiAyrXiBRAjEiwATI95mafT26kwak0CFBgICH0ZlLqafSBuyyoUBVZihf22pPdG9QK8DUmiZBoCh8YQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&fbclid=IwAR0oihEZbw0Q43GXiv4YW9n_G9odTEcpxzLtMxjYYqgrTt5EM-BcKqrJyuU

Is it possible that google ads is displaying ads on facebook and that is why gclid and fbclid are attached to url at the same time?

Answer 1

I have asked the same question on support google and get reply from them.

This case happens when a link including gclid is pasted on a Facebook page and somebody clicks on the link.

Source to answer.

Answer 2

Actually it's quite possible and normal.

If user searches on web via Google, clicks on Ad and is redirected to page, for example https://example.com/index?gclid=randomstring then it displays at the top of their browser.

Now user can copy this link and share it via Messenger (more common case) or facebook to someone. Then Facebook will not remove gclid and append fbclid.

As a result, you get a link with both these parameters.