--- title: "Facebook click ID (fbclid) lost on WordPress" description: "The fbclid from Meta ad clicks is not saved in the _fbc cookie on your WordPress site. Check redirects, SEO and language plugins, consent and the Meta Pixel." updated: "2026-10-04" url: "https://ispixelworking.com/guides/meta.fbc_not_set/wordpress" --- # Facebook click ID (fbclid) lost on WordPress Fix guide · WordPress · medium · about 45 min · updated 2026-10-04 For the finding “Click ID from Meta ads is not stored” (`meta.fbc_not_set`). Also for: [Any website](https://ispixelworking.com/guides/meta.fbc_not_set/generic), [Shopify](https://ispixelworking.com/guides/meta.fbc_not_set/shopify), [Webflow](https://ispixelworking.com/guides/meta.fbc_not_set/webflow), [Framer](https://ispixelworking.com/guides/meta.fbc_not_set/framer). ## What this means When someone clicks a Meta ad, Meta adds `?fbclid=...` to the link. The Meta Pixel (still often called the Facebook Pixel) on your site should save it in the first-party cookie **`_fbc`**, so later events (a lead, an add-to-cart, a purchase, possibly on another page) can be tied back to the ad click. On your site, the click ID did not end up in `_fbc`. Why it costs you money: - Meta has a weaker link between ad clicks and conversions, which lowers event match quality and can lower reported results. - If you send server events through the Conversions API (Meta's plugins and most tracking plugins can), they usually rely on the same `_fbc` value, so they lose it too. ## How to confirm it yourself Our check opens your page in a browser in the EU as if arriving from a Meta ad, with a test click ID in the URL, accepts the cookie banner and looks for `_fbc`. If our report shows a **redirect chain**, start there. 1. **Log out of WordPress** or use a **private (incognito) window**. Some plugins that remove URL parameters skip logged-in users, so you would not see the problem while logged in. 2. Open developer tools (F12) on the **Network** tab and tick *Preserve log*, so redirects stay visible. 3. Open the exact URL your ads use, with a made-up click ID added: `https://yourdomain.com/landing-page/?fbclid=test123`. (This sends a normal page view to your own pixel. It does not create an ad click.) 4. If the first request is a redirect (`301`, `302`, `307`, `308`), check its **Location** header. Does the new address still contain `?fbclid=test123`? 5. Accept the cookie banner, wait a few seconds, then go to **Application > Cookies** (Chrome) or **Storage > Cookies** (Firefox) and look for `_fbc`. It should look like `fb.1..test123`. You should also see `_fbp`. ## How to fix 1. **Link your ads to the final address.** WordPress redirects other versions of an address to its canonical one: the `http` or `https` and `www` or non-`www` version set in **Settings > General** (**WordPress Address** and **Site Address**), and the trailing slash that your permalink structure in **Settings > Permalinks** uses. In our tests on WordPress sites, `http` to `https`, `www` and trailing slash redirects kept the query string. Still use the exact final address in every ad, so visitors land without a redirect. 2. **Check the Redirection plugin,** if you use it (**Tools > Redirection**). Each redirect has a query parameter setting: - **Exact** (the default) only matches the query you entered, so an ad URL with `fbclid` may not be redirected at all; - **Ignore** matches but drops the parameters; - **Pass** matches and passes the parameters on to the target. For any redirect your ads go through, choose **Pass**. You can also change the default for new redirects under **Tools > Redirection > Options** (**Default query matching**). 3. **Check URL cleanup in your SEO plugin.** Yoast SEO's **URL cleanup** option (in its **Crawl optimization** settings) redirects away all unregistered URL parameters. It never removes `gclid` or `utm_` parameters, but `fbclid` is not on that list. It also does not remove anything for logged-in users, which is why you may not have noticed. If it is on, add `fbclid` to the parameters you want to keep, or turn the cleanup off. If you use a different SEO, security or caching plugin with a similar "remove query strings" or "clean URLs" option, check it the same way. 4. **Check language redirects.** WPML's **Browser language redirect** (**WPML > Settings > URLs and SEO**) redirects visitors in the browser to the version in their language, and Polylang's **Detect browser language** option redirects first-time visitors of the home page. Test your ad URL with a browser set to a different language. If the redirect drops `fbclid`, link your ads directly to the language version the audience should land on. 5. **Check redirects outside WordPress:** rules in your hosting panel or `.htaccess` file, your CDN, a domain forwarding service, link shorteners or campaign link tools in front of the site. 6. **Make sure the pixel runs on the landing page after consent.** `_fbc` is written by the pixel. If it only fires on the next page, `fbclid` is no longer in the address and `_fbc` is never written. On WordPress, caching and optimization plugins that combine or delay scripts can cause this; see "Meta Pixel not firing after cookie consent on WordPress". 7. **Check that first-party cookies are on.** In Meta Events Manager, open **Data sources**, select your pixel and open **Settings**. Under **Cookie settings**, **Cookie usage** shows whether first-party cookies are on (the default). If they were turned off, click **Edit**, turn **First-party cookies** on and save. 8. **Check that your consent plugin keeps the cookie.** After you click Accept, `_fbc` should still be there on the next page. 9. **Clear every cache** (plugin, host and CDN) after changing redirects or settings, then test again while logged out. ## Common causes - Yoast SEO's URL cleanup (or a similar option in another plugin) redirects `fbclid` away. - A redirect in the Redirection plugin is set to **Ignore** or **Exact** instead of **Pass**. - Ads link to an old page, the non-canonical domain or a short link whose redirect drops the query string. - A language redirect sends visitors to another URL without `fbclid`. - The pixel only fires on the next page after consent, often because an optimization plugin delays or combines it. - First-party cookies are turned off for the pixel. ## How to verify the fix 1. Repeat the test above with the exact ad URL, logged out: no redirect drops `?fbclid=test123`, and after accepting cookies `_fbc` ends with `test123`. 2. Open another page of the site: `_fbc` is still there. 3. Re-run the check on IsPixelWorking. The issue should be gone, and the redirect chain in the report (if any) should keep the click ID. ## Sources - Meta for Developers, `fbp` and `fbc` parameters (cookie format, pixel stores the click ID in `_fbc`): https://developers.facebook.com/docs/marketing-api/conversions-api/parameters/fbp-and-fbc - Meta Business Help Center, Check your Meta Pixel cookie settings: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/560982207646475 - Meta Business Help Center, About cookie settings for the Meta Pixel: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/471978536642445 - WordPress Developer Resources, `redirect_canonical()` (www, trailing slash and other canonical redirects): https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/redirect_canonical/ - Redirection, Matching a URL (query parameters: exact, ignore, pass): https://redirection.me/support/matching-a-url/ - Redirection, Options (default query matching): https://redirection.me/support/options/ - Yoast, Advanced crawl optimization settings: URL cleanup (parameters never removed, logged-in users): https://yoast.com/help/advanced-crawl-settings-permalink-cleanup/ - WPML, Automatic redirect based on browser language: https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/language-setup/automatic-redirect-based-on-browser-language/ - Polylang, Detect the browser preferred language: https://polylang.pro/documentation/support/guides/detect-the-browser-preferred-language/ - IsPixelWorking live test, 2026-10-04, on three public WordPress sites: http to https, www to non-www and trailing-slash redirects (301) kept `?fbclid=` in the target URL. Some of these redirects may be served by the host rather than WordPress.