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ReshikaRa
March 12, 2025
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Instagram Visits Appearing as Paid Search

  • March 12, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 829 views

Social visits have been incorrectly categorized as Paid Search in Adobe Analytics. Specifically, visits where Medium = SOCIAL are being assigned to the Paid Search channel. Due to which paid instagram activity have been affected on apple devices, this issue correlates with recent ios update on instagram. Could you please help on this. 

 

 

 

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Best answer by Hayley1

We believe now from looking at the data and the rules and info above, this is occurring because the referring domain is now being set as google.

The paid search marketing channel rules are above Social, and within Paid its using 'matches paid detection' which means its picking up google as the referrer and identifying as search engine, and that query string parameters exist.

 

I believe marketing channel processing rules needs to amend the order of the channels and this will resolve.

2 replies

PoornimaThakur5
Adobe Champion
PoornimaThakur5Adobe Champion
Adobe Champion
March 13, 2025

Based on the details provided, it appears that visits where Medium = SOCIAL are being assigned to the Paid Search channel. This issue correlates with a recent iOS update on Instagram, which may be impacting referral tracking.

I would check the following: 

  1. Marketing Channel Processing Rules : Navigate to Admin > Report Suites > Edit Settings > Marketing Channels > Marketing Channel Processing Rules. Review the Paid Search rule and check if it is too broad. If the rule is based on query parameters (e.g., utm_medium=ppc or utm_source=google), ensure it does not unintentionally include Medium = SOCIAL. 

  2. Impact of iOS Updates on Instagram Traffic: Recent iOS updates may be affecting how Instagram passes referral data, leading to missing or altered referrer information. Review affected visits to determine if the referrer value is blank or unexpectedly classified.

  3. Tracking Parameter Issues: If UTM parameters are used (e.g., utm_medium=social), verify that they are present in affected visits. Apple’s recent privacy changes may be interfering with how tracking data is captured from Instagram’s in-app browser.

  4. Marketing Channel Override Settings: Check if Marketing Channel Expiration & Override settings are allowing Paid Search attribution to persist incorrectly for returning visitors. Adjust channel priority to ensure Social visits are correctly categorized.

Let me know how it goes!

H
Hayley1
Level 2
March 13, 2025

We work with Reshika

We do see that the referring domain is showing as Google

 

What is the solution please as this impacts attribution of activity

PoornimaThakur5
Adobe Champion
PoornimaThakur5Adobe Champion
Adobe Champion
March 13, 2025

Thanks for sharing that! If the referring domain is showing as Google instead of Instagram, the issue is likely due to how Instagram's in-app browser redirects traffic.

Maybe, Analyze the redirect path using Chrome DevTools or a redirect checker to see if Google appears as an intermediary. If UTMs are being stripped due to iOS privacy changes, consider server-side tracking to maintain accurate attribution.

    FarazHusain
    Adobe Employee
    FarazHusainAdobe Employee
    Adobe Employee
    March 13, 2025

    @reshikara, you're currently looking at the marketing channel report without any marketing channel instances. Can you please add marketing channel instances as well, which will tell you whether the paid search was set or persisted when eVar had social value? Also, eVar will have its own persistence, and the marketing channel will have its own persistence. Please validate the same as well.

    H
    Hayley1Accepted solution
    Level 2
    March 13, 2025

    We believe now from looking at the data and the rules and info above, this is occurring because the referring domain is now being set as google.

    The paid search marketing channel rules are above Social, and within Paid its using 'matches paid detection' which means its picking up google as the referrer and identifying as search engine, and that query string parameters exist.

     

    I believe marketing channel processing rules needs to amend the order of the channels and this will resolve.

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