Placement tags

A placement tag—sometimes called an ad tag—is code that calls an ad server for ad content when users visit a site. Campaign Manager 360 serves ads when users visit a site with Campaign Manager 360 placement tags. The placement tag instructs the user's browser to request the ad, and the request often includes information that Campaign Manager 360 can use to decide what kind of ad to send.

Campaign Manager 360 generates a unique tag for each placement in an ad campaign. For display creatives that support multiple sizes, Campaign Manager 360 generates one tag per size. Placements represent different spots on a site for ads to appear. Typically, an advertiser or agency will work with a publisher to decide where to place the tags on the site, as well as which types of tags are the most suitable.

Here's the basic process: First the trafficker sets up creatives in ads. Then the trafficker assigns ads to placements in Campaign Manager 360. Once everything is ready in Campaign Manager 360, the trafficker generates tags, tests tags, and sends them to publishers. First the trafficker assigns creatives to ads and assigns these ads to placements. Then the trafficker can view reports to see how the campaign is performing.

Click Tags in your campaign to download tags or send notifications to publishers if payment approval is needed.

For Campaign Manager 360, the tag workflow helps you choose the placements, tag types, and other tag information that determines how your tags are generated. Use the tag generation guide for steps to generate tags.

Considerations

• An important aspect of the tag workflow is whether your placements are set to be paid for by the agency or the publisher. Publisher-paid placements cannot be downloaded directly. Instead, you have to notify publishers about their tags through Campaign Manager 360.

	Image asset*	HTML5 asset	Rich media	In-stream (Video & Audio)	VPAID	Tracking creative
Standard	1x1 only
Iframe/JavaScript
JavaScript
Pre-fetch
Internal redirect
Click tracker
Tracking ad

* Placements that contain high-density image assets must use the ins tag since this tag type properly populates screen density.  

Make sure that these tags are always served together, with the A HREF tag first, then the IMG SRC tag.

A HREF: An HTML anchor and hyperlink reference tag that tells a user's browser to call the web address when a user clicks on the ima'ge.

ad.doubleclick.net: The web address of the Campaign Manager 360 ad servers.

ddm: This is a new parameter that distinguishes Campaign Manager 360 tags from the legacy product (DFA). It makes no difference to how you export or implement your tags.

jump: A command, passed to the Campaign Manager 360 ad servers, that is used for counting clicks. When a user clicks on the image, the actual clickthrough URL is substituted dynamically.

Nxxxx: The Campaign Manager 360 account ID.

site-keyname: An identifier for a site, based on the site's web address.

Byyyy: The Campaign Manager 360 campaign ID.

.Pzzzz: The Campaign Manager 360 placement ID.

sz=widthxheight: The dimensions of the placement, in pixels. This information enables the Campaign Manager 360 ad server to deliver a creative of the right size. For interstitial placements, sz= is left out of the tags.

kw=[keyword]: You can use the kw= parameter to pass keywords to the Campaign Manager 360 ad server. Keyword targeting is typically used for ads that are served on the results page of a search, and the value of the kw= attribute is the user's query. For example, if a user searches for car, then the parameter in the tags would be kw=car.

It is up to the site to determine when to serve the Campaign Manager 360 placement tags and to insert the appropriate keyword whenever the tags are served.

ord=[timestamp]: For the ord= parameter, sites are responsible for dynamically inserting a unique string (not necessarily a timestamp) each time a user visits the site. The purpose of making the tags unique is to prevent web browsers from serving cached creatives to the user.

IMG SRC: An HTML image tag. The SRC parameter tells the browser where to find the image to display.

ad: Identifies the tag as being Standard.

dc_lat=: The key of the dc_lat key-value pair for mobile applications to pass if the user has enabled “Limit Ad Tracking” options for IDFA or AdID in order to opt out of personalized ads and remarketing.

N: This is the value in the dc_lat key-value pair. A value of 1 means that the user has enabled the “Limit Ad Tracking” option for IDFA or AdID. If “Limit Ad Tracking” is off, the value is 0.

dc_rdid=: The key of the dc_rdid key-value pair for mobile applications to pass resettable device identifiers. The value is a user resettable device identifier in the form of IDFA for iOS or advertising ID (AdID) for Android. We will only accept values passed securely over SSL-enabled tags. This needs to be populated by the mobile application or ads SDK at runtime.

Czzzz: This is the value in the dc_rdid key-value pair. The value is the user resettable device identifier in the form of IDFA for iOS or advertising ID (AdID) for Android. We will only accept values passed securely over SSL-enabled tags. It needs to be populated by the mobile application or ads SDK at runtime.

tag_for_child_directed_treatment=: A key-value pair for mobile applications to pass information about if a request may come from a user under the age of 13, under COPPA compliance.

I: This is the value in the tag_for_child_directed_treatment= key-value pair. A value of 1 indicates that this particular request may come from a user under the age of 13, under COPPA compliance.

tfua=: The key of the tfua= key-value pair to pass information about if a request may come from a user under the age of 16 (may differ by country), under compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

I: This is the value in the tag_for_underage_of_consent= key-value pair. A value of 1 indicates that this particular request may come from a user under the age of 16 (may differ by country), under compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

ltd= Set by the publisher, a value of 1 indicates that the user hasn't provided consent for cookies, therefore impressions won't use, or create cookies. Only limited ads can be served.

BORDER=0 WIDTH=X HEIGHT=Y: Sets the dimensions of the ad slot where the image is displayed and specifies that the image will not have a border.

ALT="Click Here": The ALT= parameter sets the text that is displayed if the image does not load. This text is also displayed when a user mouses over the image and read by text readers for vision-impaired web users. By default, the ALT text for standard tags is Click Here, but this can be edited by the trafficker or publisher.

Not all browsers recognize the iframe HTML element, so these tags include several options depending on browser support.

• For browsers that do not recognize iframes, we include JavaScript tags.

• For browsers that recognize neither iframes nor JavaScript tags, we include a set of standard tags as well.

According to the standards for HTML, tags placed between <iframe> and </iframe> tags are ignored, so in most cases only the iframe tags are invoked. The JavaScript and standard tags are included as failsafe methods to ensure that ads are served even to users who are using obsolete browsers.

See below for the anatomy of the iframe tag portion of iframe/JavaScript tags. To learn about the JavaScript tag portion, see the JavaScript tags section.

Let's look at the iframe portion of our iframe/JavaScript tag sample:

IFRAME SRC: An HMTL iframe (inline frame) tag that allows an HTML page to be embedded in another HTML page. The SRC parameter tells the browser where to find the HTML page to load into the iframe.

"https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/adi/N300050839.134362FOXHULU/B90176049.2000357744;sz=1x1;ord=[timestamp];dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=;dc_sdk_apis=[APIFRAMEWORKS];dc_omid_p=[OMIDPARTNER];gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755};dc_tdv=1?": The parameters of the URL are the same as in standard tags, with three exceptions:

• The adi parameter tells the Campaign Manager 360 ad servers that the URL is part of an iframe tag.

• the abr=!ie parameter tells the Campaign Manager 360 ad servers not to serve JavaScript content if the browser is Internet Explorer.

  According to HTML conventions, browsers are not supposed to read any content between <iframe> and </iframe> tags. As such, any browser that recognizes iframes should read only the Campaign Manager 360 iframe tags, not the JavaScript tags. However, some obsolete versions of Internet Explorer read both sets of tags. The abr=!ie parameter ensures that these browsers are served only one ad for each set of Campaign Manager 360 placement tags.

  This parameter is included only in the iframe/JavaScript combination tags, not in JavaScript tags without iframes.

• The trafficker can choose to include the click= parameter. This parameter is used to redirect clicks to a third-party site, typically so that the site publisher can perform its own click counting. To use the click= parameter, the publisher needs to insert a URL as the value of the parameter. If the click= parameter is used, the publisher should make sure that it's used in both the iframe and the JavaScript tags. The publisher also needs to redirect standard tags to the third-party site; what methodology is used is up to the publisher.

  The URL you use as the value of the click= parameter should be a redirect, not a request for a 1x1-pixel image.

WIDTH=X HEIGHT=Y MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no BORDERCOLOR='#000000': These parameters set the dimensions and other features of the iframe. By default, they are set up to integrate the iframe seamlessly with the surrounding webpage.

To get a better understanding of the JavaScript tags, let's look at them part by part.

SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC: An HTML script tag that tells the browser to read as JavaScript the content retrieved from the source (SRC) location.

"https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/adj/N300050839.134362FOXHULU/B90176049.2000357744;dc_sdk_apis=[APIFRAMEWORKS];dc_omid_p=[OMIDPARTNER];gdpr=${GDPR};gdpr_consent=${GDPR_CONSENT_755};dc_tdv=1;sz=1x1;ord=[timestamp];dc_lat=;dc_rdid=;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=;tfua=?": The parameters of the URL are the same as in standard tags, with three exceptions:

• The adj parameter tells the Campaign Manager 360 ad servers that the URL is part of a JavaScript tag.

• The trafficker can choose to include the click= parameter. This parameter is used to redirect clicks to a third-party site, typically so that the site publisher can perform its own click counting. To use the click= parameter, the publisher needs to insert a URL as the value of the parameter. If the click= parameter is used, the publisher should make sure that it's used in both the iframe and the JavaScript tags. The publisher also needs to redirect standard tags to the third-party site; what methodology is used is up to the publisher.

• You can manually add the dc_expa= parameter for third-parties to track real-time expansions of rich media display expanding creatives. Publishers need to insert an encoded URL that will receive a postback when the creative is expanded as the value of the parameter.

VAST 2.0 pre-fetch tag

VAST 3.0 pre-fetch tag

VAST 4.0 pre-fetch tag

https://ad.doubleclick.net: These parameters are the same as in standard tags.

ddm: This is a new parameter that distinguishes Campaign Manager 360 tags from the legacy product (DFA). It makes no difference to how you export or implement your tags.

pfadx: Lets the ad server know that this is a pre-fetch (pf) tag and an ad command for XML (adx).

Nxxxx.site-keyname/Byyyyyy;kw=[keyword];ord=[timestamp];dc_lat=N;dc_rdid=Czzzz;tag_for_child_directed_treatment=I: These parameters are the same as in standard tags.

sz=widthxheight: Dimensions of the placement, in pixels. (The value of the sz parameter is always 0x0 for VAST placements.)

dcmt=text/xml: MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, which tell the browser what type of content you're sending. In this case, the MIME type is text/xml, which means that the content being sent is text in the form of XML code.

dc_vast=3: Formats the tag to be compliant with VAST 3.0 specifications.

Here's an example of a click tracker tag. Note that no random number is required because cache busting is handled automatically for clicks.

https://ad.doubleclick.net/: These parameters are the same as in standard tags.

clk: Lets the Campaign Manager 360 ad servers know that this is a click tracker.

[ad ID];[placement ID]: The IDs of the ad created for this click tracker and of the targeted placement.

[verifier]: A character that is created according to a proprietary algorithm and used internally to verify that the tag has not been tampered with.

dc_transparent: When dc_transparent=1, it indicates that the tag shows the URL redirect chain. This is included when you use a static landing page URL for the tracking and click tracker ads on a placement. Learn more about using a static landing page URL.

?[landing page URL]: The web address to which the user is ultimately sent.

The landing page URL is only included with static click trackers. In a dynamic click tracker, the second part of the tag, beginning with the ?, is left out. When the user clicks on the tagged feature, the Campaign Manager 360 ad server dynamically inserts the landing page URL that the trafficker specifies in Campaign Manager 360.

ltd=: Set by the publisher, a value of 1 indicates that the user hasn't provided consent for cookies, so the click tracker won't use, or create cookies, or allow enhanced attribution. When ltd=1 a DCLID value won't be appended to the end of the landing page URL, which makes enhanced attribution unavailable.

Meta refresh is a method of instructing a web browser to automatically refresh the current web page after a given time interval. If you set that interval to 0 seconds, and you specify an alternative URL as the final destination, you can use a meta refresh to function as a URL redirect. In some cases, it might be convenient for a publisher to embed a static click tracker tag within a meta refresh as the destination URL. For example, the publisher might want to use a friendly or memorable URL for a text link, rather than a long URL that includes a call to the Campaign Manager 360 ad servers.

If a click tracker tag is embedded within a <meta> tag in a webpage, you need to replace the semicolons in the click tracker tag with their ASCII equivalent (%3b). Otherwise, some older browsers will interpret the semicolons as parameters within the <meta> tag.

Here's an example of a static click tracker tag within a <meta> tag, with the semicolons replaced:

Note: If there are semicolons in the clickthrough URL, they should also be replaced with %3b.

Image URL (Use this tag in Google Ad Manager only)

Click-through URL (Use this tag in Google Ad Manager only)

• Check Include tracking ads when you download tags.

• If you're using event tags on a placement, your publisher must implement JavaScript or iframe tag URLs for impression tracking. We recommend that you send both and let the publisher decide which to use. These tags are labeled impressions (JavaScript) and impressions (iframe).

• For your tag to be compliant with Google Ads’ click tracking guidelines, use a static landing page URL in your tracking ads for transparent click tracking. Learn more about using a static landing page URL.