For some types of search engines, the new Search Ads 360 supports reporting on Floodlight conversion action and uploading performance metrics but doesn't support creating or managing campaigns. To report on these search engines in the new Search Ads 360, create an engine track account. Depending on the type of engine, the new Search Ads 360 can partially automate the process of setting up conversion tracking and uploading performance metrics.
Engine track accounts are for reporting only. New Search Ads 360 doesn’t create or manage campaigns in engine track accounts.
Supported advertising platforms
The new Search Ads 360 experience can manage and report on a limited set of features in the following advertising platforms:
- adMarketplace
- Naver
- Qihoo/360.cn
- Yandex
Reporting data sources
For all supported advertising platforms above, reporting data comes from 2 separate sources:
- The advertising platform: Is the source for data about impressions, clicks, and cost.
- Conversion tracking systems: When a customer clicks your ad, other systems such as Floodlight conversion action can start tracking activity. To attribute the tracking activity to campaigns in the new Search Ads 360, clicks need to be redirected to the new Search Ads 360 using the new Search Ads 360 tracking URL (clickserver URL). Each clickserver URL has unique IDs that the new Search Ads 360 uses to track unique visits to your site. The clickserver URL IDs also attribute any conversions during that visit back to the specific campaigns and keywords that led to the visit. After the new Search Ads 360 records the campaign and keyword IDs, it redirects the click to the original landing page you specified for your ad.
What does the new Search Ads 360 automate for engine track accounts?
For engine track accounts, the new Search Ads 360 can help automate the following processes:
- Uploading metrics from the advertising platform.
In engine track accounts, the new Search Ads 360 doesn't automatically download engine metrics such as clicks, impressions, and cost. But you can download the metrics and upload them into the new Search Ads 360. Depending on the advertising platform, you may be able to automatically download the metrics on a schedule and then set up software on your computer to automatically upload them to an sFTP endpoint that you create in the new Search Ads 360. - Adding the new Search Ads 360 clickserver URL to the landing page URLs in engine track accounts. Clickserver URLs enable the new Search Ads 360 to record visits and attribute Floodlight conversion actions to your campaigns, keywords, and ads. Recording visits for ads will only happen if the search engine supports reporting at ad level.
If you sign into any search engine listed above except adMarketplace and Yahoo! JAPAN Ads, and download a bulksheet that contains your campaigns, you can upload the bulksheet into your new Search Ads 360 engine track account. New Search Ads 360 will automatically add its clickserver URLs to the landing page URLs in your campaigns, and you can upload the campaigns with clickserver URLs back into the engine.
For adMarketplace, contact the adMarketplace support team and let them know you want to use the new Search Ads 360 for reporting. They can help you add the new Search Ads 360 clickserver URL to your adMarketplace keywords.
For Yahoo! JAPAN Ads, contact Yahoo! JAPAN Ads support team and let them know you want to use the new Search Ads 360 for reporting. They can help you add the new Search Ads 360 clickserver URL to your Yahoo! JAPAN Ads keywords. - Creating campaigns for reporting in the new Search Ads 360.
When a customer clicks an ad and is redirected to the new Search Ads 360, the new Search Ads 360 creates its own campaign, ad group, keyword, and ad (if the engine supports ad-level reporting) to represent the keyword that was matched and the ad that was clicked. These items in the new Search Ads 360 created are for reporting purposes only. The ad copy itself doesn't appear in the new Search Ads 360, nor do any of the normal campaign or ad group settings appear. While you can't create new ad groups, ads, or keywords from the new Search Ads 360, you can apply labels and custom dimensions to enhance reporting. As with other types of engines, the labels and custom dimensions aren’t sent to the search engine.
Any conversions occurring during the visit will be attributed to the keyword that matched the customer search. If the search engine supports reporting at ad level, conversions will also be attributed to the ad that the customer clicked.
If a customer subsequently clicks an ad from the same campaign and ad group, the new Search Ads 360 creates an ad and keyword in the existing ad group. Soon after clicks start redirecting through the new Search Ads 360, the campaign in the new Search Ads 360 will closely mirror the campaign in the engine itself.
Names may be shortened in the new Search Ads 360 reports
To prevent the tracking URLs from becoming too long, the new Search Ads 360 sometimes limits campaign, ad group, and ad names to 20 characters. The names aren't changed in the engine itself. The shortened names only appear in the new Search Ads 360 reports and Campaign Manager 360 reports.
If the shortened names aren't unique, use the engine ID or the new Search Ads 360 ID to distinguish campaigns, ad groups, or ads.
Supported reporting features
- Standard reporting at the account, campaign, ad group, and keyword level. Metrics at the ad level are only available in Yandex accounts. For the other types of engine track accounts, the new Search Ads 360 doesn't provide metrics on the Ads tab.
- Labels and custom dimensions
- Using custom formula columns to apply custom logic to the reporting data
- Audience, geographic location of presence, and cross-environment reports
- Segments and dimensions, such as keywords, dates, custom dimensions, and device, but not network or keyword match type. Metrics at the ad level are only available in Yandex accounts. For the other types of engine track accounts, the Ad segment and Ad destination URL dimension are empty.
- Attribution models
- Using the new Search Ads 360 Conversion API to upload offline Floodlight conversions
- Conversions and uploaded performance metrics appear as Paid search data in Campaign Manager 360 reports.
New Search Ads 360 doesn't support reporting on:
- Sitelinks or other assets that might be supported by the engine
- Product groups or other similar targets for shopping ads
- Hourly data
- New Search Ads 360 macros. The new Search Ads 360 doesn’t provide values for the new Search Ads 360 macros in landing page URLs within an engine track account.
New Search Ads 360 can't create, edit, or pause campaigns, change bids or make other types of changes.
Placeholder keywords in "Other engines" compared to engine track accounts
To report on unsupported search engines before the new Search Ads 360 introduced engine track accounts, you needed to create an engine account of type "Other engines", and then create placeholder keywords in the engine account. While placeholder keywords are still supported, it's recommended that you use an engine track account instead.
Engine track accounts significantly reduce the time needed to report on unsupported engines. Engine track accounts enable the new Search Ads 360 to create a campaign that matches the campaign in the engine, instead of requiring you to recreate the campaign and populate it with placeholder keywords. Engine track accounts also enable you to import performance metrics, which isn’t supported for "Other engines."
Instructions
- In the new Search Ads 360, create an engine track account.
- Add the new Search Ads 360 clickserver URLs to your engine track accounts.
- Wait for clicks on your ads to redirect through the new Search Ads 360.
- After you experience that traffic is successfully redirecting through the new Search Ads 360, optionally download performance metrics from the engine, and upload them into the new Search Ads 360.
Now you can view and customize reports for engine track accounts.