Visits and clicks data provided by search engines, ad networks or affiliates do not match Acquisition reports in Matomo

When comparing reports from other analytics tools or marketing platforms with the Matomo Acquisition reports, you may notice differences between the number of clicks and visits. These variations occur for several reasons. Review the checklist below, which outlines the most common causes of data discrepancies when comparing reports with Matomo.

1. Are you comparing clicks with visits?

Check whether you are comparing equivalent metrics. Search platforms like Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Baidu Webmaster Tools, and Yandex Webmaster Tools report clicks and impressions. The Matomo > Acquisition > Overview and All Channels reports show visits.

If the same visitor clicks on more than one search result that leads to your site, Matomo records these interactions as a single visit, provided they occur within the default 30-minute visit window. However, search engines count each click separately and ad network reporting (e.g, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, YouTube Ads, AdRoll), provide impressions and clicks. Therefore, reports in Google Search Console or other search tools may show several clicks for what Matomo reports as one visit.

2. Did you compare the same date range and time zone in both tools?

Make sure the website or property you are reporting on is the same and the date range matches exactly (using the same start/end time). The time zone configuration must match between Matomo and the other analysis tool and data set.

3. Are all countries that appear in Google Ads also visible in Matomo?

Verify that the geographical coverage is the same in both reports. Some ad platforms let you filter or target specific countries, but Matomo may receive visits from outside those countries if users bypass geo-targeting (for example, when using VPNs).

If your Google Ads report shows visits from several countries, check that your Matomo report includes data from the same set of countries before comparing totals.

4. Did a large number of visits come from browsers that block referrers?

Safari, Firefox, and some privacy-focused browsers limit or block referrer information. This can lead to visits appearing as direct entries in Matomo, even though they originated from ads or search results.

View the Matomo > Visitors > Software report to identify if Safari or similar browsers represent a significant portion of traffic, as this may explain differences in attributed visits.

5. Could ad blockers be preventing tracking for part of your audience?

Some ad blockers prevent the Matomo tracking code from running. In this case, Matomo does not record those visits while search engines and affiliates reports may still report clicks from the same users. If a significant portion of your audience uses ad blockers, this can explain why Matomo reports 5-10% fewer visits than other platforms.

Additionally, a small share of privacy-focused browsers may strip referrer information or remove UTM/campaign parameters from URLs. When this happens, Matomo cannot attribute the visit to the correct source and will record it as a Direct entry.

6. Is Do Not Track or denied consent excluding visits?

When users enable the Do Not Track browser setting, Matomo respects this by default (in Privacy settings) and does not collect tracking data. If you believe a significant share of your audience use Do Not Track and it is affecting your data, disable the default behaviour in Matomo settings (Administration) Privacy > Users opt-out settings. The JavaScript tracker will automatically apply this setting.

If you use a Consent Management Platform (CMP), Matomo will only start full tracking once consent is granted, depending on your defined consent rules. CMPs can be configured for Matomo to record cookieless tracking data until cookie consent is given or block tracking completely until consent is received. Review your CMP reports to determine if decreased consent rates are causing significant data loss.

7. Have you set up IP or user-agent exclusions in Matomo?

Matomo provides several ways to exclude traffic, which can lead to lower visit counts compared to search engines or ad networks (which will still report all clicks). If you have configured exclusions, this may explain part of the difference. If exclusions are in place, compare the excluded traffic with your expected traffic sources to ensure you are not filtering out too much legitimate data.

Traffic can be excluded by blocking specific IP addresses/ranges, URLs, directories or parameters, and filtering out user agents. Learn more about blocking spam and bot traffic with Tracking Spam Prevention.

8. Is the Matomo tracking code installed correctly and loading before users leave the page?

Matomo can only track visits if the tracking code runs before the visitor leaves the page. If a page loads slowly or the code is placed too late in the HTML, some users may close the page before tracking occurs.

We recommend placing the Matomo tracking code before the closing </head> tag in your pages. Ensure any other scripts in the pages execute quickly and optimise page load speed to ensure the tracking code runs as early as possible.

9. Are there redirects on landing pages that might strip campaign parameters or referrer data?

Redirects can cause loss of referrer or campaign information if not configured carefully. When a landing page redirects to another URL, campaign parameters may be removed, and the referrer information can be lost.

To avoid this, ensure visitors land directly on a page with the Matomo tracking code installed. If redirects are required, use server-side redirects (301 or 302) that preserve query parameters and referrer information.

10. Are visitors being sent to HTTP instead of HTTPS, causing referrer loss?

When a visitor clicks from an HTTPS site to an HTTP page, browsers do not pass referrer information to the HTTP destination. This causes Matomo to classify the visit as Direct entry rather than attributing it to the original source.

Check that your website is fully accessible via HTTPS and any internal redirects and external links (ads, emails, partner sites) use the HTTPS version of your URLs. Using HTTPS consistently helps retain referrer information and improves accuracy in your Acquisition reports.