Using Search Ads 360 can provide many benefits for your digital marketing strategy and your business results. This article teaches you how to more effectively configure Floodlight tags on the platform.
What is a Floodlight tag?
Google Floodlight tags are used to track and record conversions on Google Marketing Platforms, which include Search Ads 360, Display & Video 360, and Campaign Manager 360. A Floodlight activity, or goal, correlates with tracking specific events on a page, such as visits or conversions (e.g., completing a purchase). Conversions occur when a user performs an action after viewing your ad, and tracking these conversions can help give insight into ad performance and your overall digital marketing strategy.
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Where are Floodlight tags found?
Google Floodlight tags are installed on the conversion pages on the advertiser’s site. The floodlight tag then attributes conversion data to Search Ads 360 and Campaign Manager 360 once a user has completed a conversion action. This data can be found in Floodlight, utilized on all Google Marketing Platform properties, and analyzed in reports.
Setting up Floodlights in CM360 & SA360
Once you’ve determined what specific conversions you want to track, such as the completion of a purchase or a visit to a page from your Google Search Ad, start by building the floodlight tag in ‘Activities’ in Campaign Manager 360.
Since floodlights are capable of tracking user activity across search and display, we recommend always setting up your floodlights in CM360. This way, if you decide to run a programmatic campaign in DV360, you can apply that same floodlight activity to both SA360 and DV360. If your audience in CM360 is largely composed of users who visit a specific page on your website, you can analyze audience performance in SA360 and potentially create a remarketing campaign for this audience.
Once your CM360 and SA360 advertisers are properly linked, you can name your tag and select which counting method is most appropriate for attributing conversions.
Floodlight counting methods
Each Floodlight activity requires a counting method, which determines how the Floodlight measures each conversion on your site. There are two conversion counting methods, counter activities and sales activities.
Counter activities are used to count the number of conversions tied to a specific event, like the number of page visits per user after clicking on one of your ads. You will narrow this down further by indicating how to count those conversions. For example, should every conversion be accounted for by a single user? The three counting options are: Standard, Unique, and Per Session.
- The standard option counts every conversion.
- The unique option counts the first conversion for each unique user in each 24-hour period.
- The per session option counts one conversion per user per session, and gives you the ability to define the length of a session for your site.
Sales activities measure the number of sales made or number of items purchased, and are typically used for e-commerce websites. Sales activities have two further options: Transactions and Items Sold.
- The transactions option counts all conversions, plus the total number of sales and total associated revenue.
- The items sold option counts each conversion, plus the total number of items sold and total associated revenue.
Why use Floodlights?
Floodlights could be useful for your digital marketing strategy if your campaign utilizes different accounts for different business units or cross-channel campaigns, as there are fewer discrepancies with one unified tracking system. Without implementing a Floodlight, it is possible the same data could be attributed to multiple accounts instead of being tracked to each unit.
Floodlights also ensure that your conversion reports are aligned with internal reports, maintaining consistency and accuracy between systems. Limiting the number of discrepancies can help prevent overvaluing certain marketing channels, which could ultimately have more serious consequences for your business.
The data applied and collected from implementing Floodlights can help inform your business’ cross-channel bid strategies and custom reporting processes as part of your entire campaign and digital marketing strategy.
Search Discovery can help
If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. Search Discovery is a trusted Google Premier Partner and a Sales Partner, among the top 3% of Google Partners globally, fully certified and trusted by Google to sell and provide services for software across the Google Marketing Platform and the Google Cloud Platform. We can help your brand thrive and take full advantage of the Google ecosystem.
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If you want to learn more about growing overall business impact and building a digital marketing strategy using floodlights and Search Ads 360, please schedule a meeting to start optimizing your campaigns today!
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