Configure Floodlight for advertisers

To start using Floodlight for an advertiser, you need to configure it.

About Floodlight configurations and advertiser sharing

Floodlight configurations exist in a parent/child relationship. Parent advertisers are owners of Floodlight configurations and activities/tags, as well as any lists created based on these tags. Only parents can create audience lists. However, lists owned by the parent are shared with the children by default, and child advertisers can view and target to any lists their parent creates. Note that lists that are shared with the parent are not shared with the children by default. 

More about parents and children

You can only designate an advertiser as a child if there are no activities associated with it. Once you add an activity to a child advertiser, you lose the ability to share that advertiser forever. Click Share advertiser on the Floodlight configuration screen to select an advertiser to designate as a parent. If you don’t select a parent advertiser, you are the parent.

When is it useful to share advertisers?

Sharing advertisers is useful when the same activity counts as a conversion for multiple advertisers. The Share Advertiser option simplifies tags and reporting by linking these advertisers with a shared Floodlight setup.

Sharing advertisers also prevents duplicate conversions. When a user clicks ads from several shared advertisers before converting, only the most recent click is associated with the conversion. For example:

• Day 1: User clicks on ad from parent advertiser.
• Day 2: User clicks on ad from child advertiser.
• Day 3: User converts. Only the child advertiser is attributed with a conversion.

Sharing advertisers also simplifies the implementation of Floodlight tags when working with multi-national advertisers. Imagine you have different campaigns in different countries, but all the clients are buying on the same site. For example, having shared advertisers allows you to use only one Sales Floodlight tag on the confirmation page instead of one Floodlight tag per country, ensuring that conversions get attributed to the right campaign and advertisers.

For example, let's say that a user clicks on an ad from a campaign from Advertiser A (a child advertiser in Europe) and then clicks on an ad from a campaign from another Advertiser B (a child advertiser in the US), then converts.

• If the two advertisers are not shared, you would need to implement two Floodlight tags on the advertiser site: one for Advertiser A (Floodlight A) and one for Advertiser B (Floodlight B). When the user converts, there would be two activities: one for Advertiser A (Floodlight A) and one for Advertiser B (Floodlight B).

• If the two advertisers are sharing their Floodlight configuration, you only need to implement a single Floodlight tag on the page. There is only one post-click activity that gets attributed to the last click (in this case, Advertiser B). This is a more accurate result, as the user converted only once and the conversion is attributed to the correct campaign.

Configure Floodlight

To get Floodlight up and running, you need to set up a Floodlight configuration. Once you've done that, you can create activity groups and activities.

Set up a Floodlight configuration

Only a parent advertiser can edit a Floodlight configuration. Any changes made to the configuration of a parent advertiser will apply to the child advertisers associated with that parent.

1. Navigate to an advertiser and click Floodlight > Configuration.

2. Set a conversion window for clicks and impressions. The default conversion window is 30 days.

3. Enable either dynamic tags or image tags.

   • Dynamic tags deliver additional code when your Floodlight tags are accessed. If you're using dynamic tags, you must add the desired code to each of your Floodlight activities. Learn about dynamic tags

   • If you choose to enable only image tags, all of your new Floodlight activities will generate just image tags. You won't be able to edit the tag format for any of your existing activities. If you switch your Floodlight configuration to use image only tags and you already have Google tags or iframe tags on your site, they will still record conversions. Learn about image tag

4. Select any standard variables you want to include in the tag. Learn about standard variables
   Once you add a standard variable to a Floodlight configuration and save it, it can’t be removed.

5. Set data use across Google services. You can decide which Google services can receive consented end-user data. What is a Google service?

   For optimal measurement, make sure that all Google services are selected to receive consented end-user data. If your business requires you to select specific Google services that may provide you with ads services, choose Select Google services. Select all Google services that are allowed to receive user-consented data for measurement and personalization. 

   Ensure you provide information to users about which Google services receive their end user-consented data.

6. Enable Enhanced attribution for improved attribution signals across the Google Marketing Platform for display and video inventory. Make sure you set up one or more Google tag based Floodlight tags before enabling this. Note that enabling enhanced attribution will not benefit iframe and image tags, only Google tags. Learn about Enhanced attribution

7. Add any custom variables you want to include in the tag. Learn about custom variables

   Please take care when using parameters in tags. The terms of your Google Marketing Platform contract prohibit passing any information to us that we could use or recognize as personally identifiable information (PII). If you enter certain values into a field in a Google Marketing Platform product, you may see a warning that reminds you that you must not use parameters to pass data that we would recognize as PII. Parameter friendly names that trigger this warning include, for example, email and username. Note that it is okay to use these friendly names if your purpose is not to collect information that Google Marketing Platform could use or recognize as PII. (For example, a custom variable with the friendly name email and the value weekly is fine, but passing a user’s email address is not.) If we see any cause for concern, we may contact you to confirm that you are not using parameters in a way that is prohibited.

    

   Learn more about our best practices to avoid sending PII.

8. Enable enhanced conversions and agree to the terms and conditions. By allowing enhanced conversions, you can collect hashed data for more accurate conversion measurement. Learn more about allowing enhanced conversions

9. Click Save.

Link a Floodlight configuration with a Display & Video 360 advertiser

Note that once you link a Floodlight configuration with a Display & Video 360 advertiser, they cannot be unlinked.

You can link any Campaign Manager 360 advertiser to a new advertiser in Display & Video 360 provided that you've been given permission to add the advertiser from Campaign Manager 360.

Linking a Floodlight configuration with a Display & Video 360 advertiser begins with authorizing a Display & Video 360 partner. After a partner has been authorized, advertisers within that partner can be linked to your Campaign Manager 360 Floodlight configuration within Display & Video 360.

To associate a Display & Video 360 partner with your Floodlight configuration:

1. Navigate to an advertiser and and click Floodlight > Configuration.

2. Expand the Display & Video 360 association section, and click New association.

3. Read and authorize the information sharing notice.

4. Enter the Display & Video 360 partner ID you want to link to. Your Display & Video 360 partner must authorize the association then select the appropriate Floodlight configuration for use.

Association statuses

When you add a Display & Video 360 partner, they'll need to authorize the account associations. Until the partner approves, the association status in Campaign Manager 360 will be "Authorized, not linked to Display & Video 360". After your partner creates an advertiser with this Floodlight configuration, the association status changes to "Linked". You'll be able to see the status of each association, including the name of the specific partner, advertiser, and site, in your Campaign Manager 360 Floodlight configuration. The final steps for linking a Display & Video 360 advertiser to your Floodlight configuration will take place within Display & Video 360. Learn more.

Note that changing the Floodlight configuration for an advertiser that's already linked with Display & Video 360 to be associated with a parent advertiser (becoming a child advertiser itself) will affect creative syncing. Creatives will only sync to advertisers matching the Floodlight configuration of the parent.

Considerations

• Display & Video 360 users are responsible for linking accounts: Google Marketing Platform support can't link Campaign Manager 360 advertisers to Display & Video 360 advertisers on behalf of customers. 

Allow a Display & Video 360 partner to manage Floodlight-based audiences

To share Floodlight-based audiences from Campaign Manager 360 to a Display & Video 360 partner:

1. Navigate to an advertiser and and click Floodlight > Configuration.

2. Expand the Display & Video 360 association section, and find the Display & Video 360 partner.

   If you cannot find the partner listed, follow the process on how to link a floodlight configuration with a Display & Video 360 advertiser.

3. Check the box under Allow list management.

4. Read and authorize the information sharing notice.