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Developer Docs
Features & Configuration
Click ID Persistence

Click ID Persistence

Convultra captures click IDs from ad platform URL parameters and stores them server-side. This means attribution continues to work even after cookies expire, are blocked, or are cleared by the visitor.

Supported click IDs

ParameterPlatformNotes
gclidGoogle AdsStandard click identifier
gbraidGoogle AdsPrivacy-compliant, used for iOS / Safari app campaigns
wbraidGoogle AdsPrivacy-compliant, used for web campaigns on iOS / Safari
fbclidMeta / Facebook AdsAppended to all Meta ad click URLs
msclkidMicrosoft AdsAppended to all Microsoft Ads click URLs
ttclidTikTok AdsAppended to all TikTok Ads click URLs

In addition, Convultra captures and stores all standard UTM parameters:

  • utm_source
  • utm_medium
  • utm_campaign
  • utm_content
  • utm_term

How it works

  1. A visitor clicks an ad and lands on your site with a click ID in the URL, for example: https://yoursite.com/pricing?gclid=abc123&utm_source=google
  2. The Convultra SDK reads the click ID and UTM parameters from the URL on the first pageview.
  3. The SDK sends them to the Convultra server, which stores them alongside the visitor record.
  4. When a conversion occurs (minutes, hours, or days later), the server matches the conversion to the stored click ID.
  5. The conversion is forwarded to the ad platform with the correct click ID for attribution.

No client-side storage is required. Click IDs are not stored in cookies, localStorage, or sessionStorage. Everything is persisted server-side.

Why this matters

Cookie expiration

Traditional tracking relies on first-party cookies to store click IDs. Most browsers limit cookie lifetimes:

BrowserCookie Limit
Safari (ITP)7 days (24 hours for some JS-set cookies)
Firefox (ETP)7 days for known trackers
Chrome400 days (planned changes with Privacy Sandbox)

With server-side persistence, Convultra retains click IDs for 30+ days regardless of browser cookie policies.

Cookie blockers and private browsing

Many visitors use ad blockers, cookie blockers, or private/incognito mode. These prevent cookies from being written or read. Since Convultra stores click IDs server-side, attribution works even when:

  • Cookies are blocked entirely
  • The visitor uses private browsing
  • The visitor clears cookies between sessions
  • Browser extensions strip tracking parameters on subsequent navigations

Safari ITP

Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) is the most aggressive cookie restriction in production browsers. It caps first-party cookies set via JavaScript to 7 days and caps cookies set via document.cookie after a cross-site navigation to 24 hours.

Convultra bypasses ITP entirely because click IDs are stored on the server, not in cookies.

When ITP strips gclid, Google Ads uses gbraid or wbraid as fallback parameters. Convultra captures all three.

Setup

Click ID persistence is automatic. Once the SDK is installed, click IDs are captured and stored with no additional configuration.

💡

Click IDs must be present in the URL on the visitor's first pageview. If the click ID is stripped before the page loads (for example, by a redirect that removes query parameters), Convultra cannot capture it.

Verifying click ID capture

To confirm that click IDs are being captured:

  1. Open the Convultra Dashboard and navigate to Conversions or Visitors.
  2. Find a recent visitor who arrived via an ad click.
  3. The visitor record will show the captured click ID and UTM parameters.

You can also check the browser's network tab for the initial pageview request to api.convultra.com/api/v1/track (or your custom domain). The request payload includes the captured click IDs.

Server-Side TrackingDeduplication