About conversion tracking for YouTube
Floodlight conversion tracking
YouTube & partners line items use Floodlight activities to count conversions. Unlike other types of line items, Floodlight conversions only impact optimization when the Floodlight optimization for YouTube feature is enabled.
Note: A line item can track exactly one Campaign Manager 360 conversion type. Google Analytics Floodlight activities can’t be combined with non-Google Analytics Floodlight activities within the same line item.
YouTube-enabled conversion tracking
YouTube & partners line items automatically use any of the YouTube-enabled Floodlight activities that exist for your advertiser to count conversions. For information on enabling your Floodlight activities to count YouTube conversions, see Set up conversion tracking for YouTube using YouTube-enabled Floodlight activities. View-through-conversion (VTC) reporting is not available for desktop but is supported for mobile.
YouTube in-feed video ads attribute a conversion when the billable event (a view/click) is reached and a conversion occurs on the advertiser’s website.
YouTube auto-tagging
Enable YouTube auto-tagging for your advertiser in Display & Video 360 Partner Settings to improve attribution signals for conversion measurement. This is recommended for all customers to accurately account for conversions driven by ads shown on YouTube.
When Floodlight optimization for YouTube is enabled, YouTube auto-tagging is required and can't be disabled.
How it works
When YouTube auto-tagging is enable a Google Click Identifier (GCLID) parameter is added to the landing page URL when someone clicks your ad. For example, if someone clicks on your ad for example.com, the final URL will look like example.com/?gclid=123xyz. GCLID offers similar functionality to the DCLID parameter set by the Enhanced Attribution feature in Campaign Manager 360, but is used specifically for YouTube. On the landing page, the Google tag contains your Floodlight activities and reads the GCLID to attribute conversions to clicks on your ads.
Set up auto-tagging
To turn on auto-tagging:
- From your Display & Video 360 partner, click Partner settings > Advertiser configurations.
- Check the box to Accept the Terms & Conditions for accessing YouTube & Partners, then click Select advertisers to choose which advertisers you want to enable access to YouTube & partners line items.
- In the YouTube auto-tagging section, click Select advertisers to choose which advertisers you want to enable auto-tagging for.
Reporting on conversion events for YouTube & partners line items
Reporting on conversion events varies based on which conversion and measurement scenarios your advertiser is configured to optimize toward:
- Learn more about reporting for line items using Floodlight optimization for YouTube
- Learn more about reporting for line items optimized using YouTube-enabled Floodlight activities
YouTube reporting supports cross-device conversions for connected TV.