Tracking YouTube Ads using Jotform involves a few key steps to ensure that when someone fills out your Jotform form after clicking on a YouTube Ad, you can attribute that conversion back to the specific ad campaign, ad group, or even creative.

The most effective way to do this is by combining:

UTM Parameters in your YouTube Ad URLs.

Hidden Fields in your Jotform form to capture these parameters.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or Google Ads Conversion Tracking to report the data.

Here's a step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Create Your Jotform Form
Log in to your Jotform account and create or select the form you want to use for your YouTube Ads.

Step 2: Add Hidden Fields to Your Jotform to Capture UTM Parameters
This is crucial for passing the ad-specific data into your form submissions.

In your Jotform editor, click "Add Form Element" (the plus icon on the left).

Go to the "Basic" tab and drag "Short Text" fields onto your form. You'll need one for each UTM parameter you want to track. Common UTM parameters are:

utm_source (e.g., youtube)

utm_medium (e.g., cpc, video)

utm_campaign (e.g., your-campaign-name)

utm_content (e.g., ad-creative-name)

utm_term (e.g., target-audience-keyword)

Rename each Short Text field to exactly match the UTM parameter it will capture (e.g., "utm_source", "utm_campaign"). It's important to use these exact names.

Hide these fields: Right-click on each new field and select "Hide" or go to its "Properties" and set "Visibility" to "Hidden." This ensures users don't see or fill them out, but the data is still captured.

Step 3: Set Up UTM Parameters in Your YouTube Ads (Google Ads)
When you create your YouTube Ad campaigns in Google Ads, you'll append UTM parameters to your final URLs. This tells Google Analytics and your Jotform where the traffic originated.

Go to your Google Ads account.

Navigate to your YouTube video campaign, ad group, or ad level.

Find the "Final URL" field for your ads.

Append your UTM parameters to the URL using a question mark ? for the first parameter and ampersands & for subsequent ones.

Example:
If your Jotform's direct URL is https://form.jotform.com/yourformid and you want to track a campaign for "Summer Sale," an ad group for "Beauty Products," and a specific ad "Ad Creative A," your URL in YouTube Ads would look like this:

https://form.jotform.com/yourformid?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=summer_sale&utm_content=ad_creative_a&utm_term=beauty_products

Pro Tip: Use Google Ads ValueTrack Parameters for Automation
Instead of manually typing unique names for campaign, ad group, etc., Google Ads allows you to use ValueTrack parameters that automatically populate this data. This is highly recommended for scalable tracking.

Example with ValueTrack:
https://form.jotform.com/yourformid?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign={campaignid}&utm_content={adgroupid}&utm_term={keyword}&utm_creative={creative}

You can set these at the account, campaign, or ad group level in Google Ads under "Tracking Template" or "URL options."

{campaignid}: Replaced by the campaign's ID.

{adgroupid}: Replaced by the ad group's ID.

{keyword}: Replaced by the keyword that triggered your ad (if applicable).

{creative}: Replaced by the creative ID.

Step 4: Configure Jotform to Pass UTM Data (Automatic)
Jotform has a built-in feature to automatically capture URL parameters into hidden fields that match the parameter names. This is why Step 2 (naming hidden fields exactly as utm_source, etc.) is critical.

When a user lands on your Jotform page via a URL with UTM parameters, Jotform will automatically populate those hidden fields with the corresponding values.

Step 5: View Your Captured Data in Jotform Submissions
After users submit your form, go to your Jotform Submissions page (often called "Tables").

You will see columns for each of your hidden UTM fields, populated with the data passed from your YouTube Ads.

Step 6: Integrate Jotform with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for Deeper Insights
While Jotform stores the data, sending it to GA4 allows for more robust analysis, segmentation, and connection to user behavior across your entire website.

Method 1: Using Jotform's Google Analytics Widget (Simpler)

In your Jotform editor, click "Add Form Element" > "Widgets."

Search for and add the "Google Analytics" widget.

In the widget settings, enter your Google Analytics 4 Measurement ID (starts with G-).

Jotform will send basic pageview data and potentially custom events for form submissions to your GA4 property. You can then define "conversions" in GA4 based on these events.

Method 2: Using Google Tag Manager (GTM) for Advanced Tracking (Recommended)

This method offers the most flexibility and control.

Ensure GA4 and GTM are set up on your website.

Jotform Form Submit Trigger in GTM:

You'll need to create a GTM trigger that fires when your Jotform form is submitted. This often involves listening for custom events that Jotform might push to the data layer or observing specific DOM changes on submission (e.g., if it redirects to a thank you page).

Challenge: If your Jotform is embedded as an iFrame, direct GTM form submission triggers might not work easily because the form is in a different context.

Solution for iFrames:

Redirect to a Thank You Page: Configure your Jotform to redirect to a specific "Thank You" page on your website after submission. On this thank you page, you can fire a GA4 conversion event. This is generally the most reliable method for iFrame embeds.

Jotform's "Source Code" Embed: If you use the full source code embed option for your Jotform, GTM triggers might be able to detect the form submission more directly.

Jotform Conversion Tracker Tools: As the search results indicate, there are third-party tools (like "Jotform Conversion Tracker" by Conversiontracking IO) that provide pre-built GTM containers to simplify this process for various embed types.

Create a GA4 Event Tag: When the form submission trigger fires, send a custom event to GA4 (e.g., form_submit_youtube_ad).

You can also pass the captured UTM parameters (from your hidden fields) as event parameters to this GA4 event for richer reporting.

Mark as Conversion in GA4: In your GA4 property, go to "Configure" > "Conversions" and mark your custom form submission event as a conversion.

Step 7: Analyze Your Data in Google Analytics 4 (and Google Ads)
Once data is flowing into GA4:

GA4 Reports:

Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.

You can see your utm_source (youtube), utm_medium (cpc), and utm_campaign data.

Filter reports by your custom form submission conversion event.

Analyze which YouTube campaigns, ad groups, or even specific ads are driving the most form submissions.

Google Ads:

If you've linked your Google Ads and GA4 accounts, your GA4 conversions will be available for import into Google Ads.

You can also set up specific Google Ads Conversion Tracking directly if you choose to redirect to a thank you page (where you can place the Google Ads conversion code). This will allow you to see conversions directly in your Google Ads reports and optimize your campaigns more effectively.

Troubleshooting Tips:
Test Thoroughly: Always test your tracking by clicking your ad (or using the final URL with UTMs) and submitting the form. Use GA4 DebugView and Google Tag Assistant to verify events are firing correctly.

Exact Naming: Ensure your hidden Jotform fields' names exactly match your UTM parameters (utm_source, utm_campaign, etc.).

Caching: Clear your website's cache after making changes.

Ad Blockers: Temporarily disable ad blockers when testing, as they can interfere with tracking scripts.

By diligently following these steps, you'll gain valuable insights into which of your YouTube Ads are most effectively driving conversions through your Jotform forms.