Pinterest

With the Pinterest integration, you can connect your Pinterest ads to ClickPatrol to track ad clicks and monitor performance. The setup combines Google Tag Manager, the ClickPatrol Tag, and Pinterest UTM parameters to classify traffic as ClickPatrol_Legitimate or ClickPatrol_Suspicious, letting you build audiences that focus only on real users.

How it works#

When a visitor arrives from a Pinterest ad, the UTM parameters in your ad URL tell ClickPatrol the traffic came from Pinterest. The ClickPatrol Tag classifies the visit and pushes a ClickPatrol_Legitimate or ClickPatrol_Suspicious event into GTM. Your Pinterest tag, fired through GTM, sends a matching event to Pinterest, which you use to build a site visitor audience of suspicious traffic. You can then exclude that audience from your ad groups, keeping your campaigns focused on genuine engagement.

Step 1: Install the ClickPatrol tag in Google Tag Manager#

Before you start, make sure the ClickPatrol tag is installed and firing in Google Tag Manager, and that the Pinterest tag is loaded on your page. If you have not set up the tag yet, start with the Google Tag Manager article.

Step 2: Copy your UTM template#

1. Go to Integration in the sidebar.
2. Click the Pinterest tab.
3. Copy the UTM template shown under UTM Parameters:

&cr={adid}&utm_id={campaignid}&utm_campaign={campaignname}&adi={adgroupid}&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_source=pinterest&source=p

Note: this template is appended to your existing URL parameters, which is why it starts with &. If your ad has no parameters yet, remove the leading &.

Step 3: Add the UTM template to your Pinterest ads#

1. Open Pinterest Ads Manager, click Ads in the top-left, then click Reporting.
2. In the reporting table, find the ad you want to edit and click the pencil (edit) icon. You can also check the box next to one or more ads and click Edit.
3. Scroll to the ad's Set up section and locate the Destination URL field.
4. Add the UTM template from Step 2 to the end of your existing destination URL.
5. Click Review, then Apply changes to save and activate your changes.

Important: Add the template to the Destination URL field. Do not paste it into the third-party tracking URLs section, this is a separate field for third-party click or impression counting and will not classify traffic correctly.

Once saved, traffic from this ad will appear in your ClickPatrol dashboard.

Verify your setup#

After publishing, confirm the integration is working:

• Check your ClickPatrol dashboard for incoming Pinterest traffic under Reports.
• If no traffic appears after 24 hours, confirm the UTM template is correctly added to your ads and that the ClickPatrol Tag is firing in GTM.

Note: ClickPatrol can only classify Pinterest traffic that passes through the UTM parameters above. Ads without these parameters will not be tracked.

Audiences and exclusions#

Once the ClickPatrol events are firing, you can build a Pinterest site visitor audience from suspicious traffic and exclude it directly at the ad group level.

Site visitor audiences are built from your Pinterest tag, so make sure your Pinterest tag sends an event through GTM whenever the ClickPatrol_Suspicious event fires. You then build the audience from that event.

1. In Pinterest Ads Manager, go to Ads > Audiences.
2. Click Create audience and select Site visitor list (visitor retargeting) as the audience type.
3. Set the source to the specific event tag that matches your ClickPatrol_Suspicious event.
4. Name your audience (for example, ClickPatrol - Suspicious Traffic) and click Create.

Note: Your audience size will update within 24 hours on the Audiences page in Ads Manager.

1. Open the ad group you want to protect.
2. Under Audiences, add your ClickPatrol - Suspicious Traffic audience.
3. Set it to Exclude rather than Include.
4. Save your ad group.

Important: Apply this exclusion to every ad group you want protected. Pinterest exclusions are set at the ad group level, not the campaign level, so a new ad group will not inherit the exclusion automatically.

Once applied, Pinterest will stop serving your ads to anyone in the excluded audience, keeping your spend focused on legitimate traffic.