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This help center shows articles applicable to Merchant Center Next. Learn more about the upgrade and get answers to frequently asked questions.

Ads redirect [ads_redirect]

Use the ads redirect [ads_redirect] attribute to specify additional landing page parameters on your product page that you want to use for your Shopping ads. Keep in mind that when you submit a tracking URL for the ads redirect attribute, customers will be sent to that URL, rather than the URL you submit for the link [link] or mobile link [mobile_link] attributes.

IMPORTANT

With the launch of parallel tracking, the domains of the link [link], mobile link [mobile_link] (if present), and ads redirect [ads_redirect] attributes are required to match. If the domains for these attributes are found to be different, you may lose tracking. Learn more about parallel tracking

In this article

When to use 

OptionalOptional for each product

Not available for products listed for free on Google

If you need to track campaign metrics, you can do that by specifying additional landing page parameters on your product page.

If your products are being advertised through a display campaign, use the link for display ads [display_ads_link] attribute instead.

Through Google Ads, you can use a tracking template to add tracking parameters (to the URL that you submit) at the campaign, ad group, and product group levels.

Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure Google understands the data you're submitting.

Learn when and how to submit your product data in English

Type URL (including http or https), ASCII characters only, and RFC 3986 compliant
Limits 1–2000 characters
Repeated field No
File format Example value
Text (TSV) https://tracking.example.com?product=ballpoint-pens
XML (Feeds) <g:ads_redirect>https://tracking.example.com?product=ballpoint-pens</g:ads_redirect>
To format your data for Content API, see the Content API for Shopping resource.
Note: To ensure that this product data attribute gets recognized by our system correctly, remember to submit your data source file in a format that we support.

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements you'll need to meet to show your product. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in your Merchant Center account.

  • Redirect to a landing page that meets the landing page requirements.
  • Redirect to the same landing page content submitted for the link or mobile link attribute. After customers visit your tracking page, redirect them to the same landing page content that you submitted for the link [link] or mobile link [mobile_link] attribute.

  • Use the accepted ValueTrack parameters if your tracking URL contains parameters. Learn more about ValueTrack parameters
  • Use a value that will resolve into a valid URL after any parameters or tracking templates are replaced with their final values. For example, the following value would not display as a valid URL for desktops: {ifmobile:ht}tp://example.com

Best practices

These best practices can help you go beyond the basic requirements to optimize your product data for performance.

  • Avoid using redirects. Redirects increase the time between a user clicking your ad and loading your landing page. Lengthy loading times cause a negative user experience. To track ad clicks, use the Google Ads tracking template.
  • After parameter expansion, the domain of the ads redirect attribute needs to exactly match the domain of the link attribute (as well as the mobile link attribute, if present). This allows for parallel tracking, which sends people directly from your ad to your website and helps your landing page to load more quickly.
  • If you want to use a third-party click measurement system, you can set the tracking template in Google Ads to specify a tracking server URL.

Include your mobile-specific landing page with tracking in this attribute. Use the {ifmobile} ValueTrack parameter (in the value that you submit for the ads redirect attribute) to redirect only mobile customers.

For example: https://tracking.example.com?p=ballpoint-pens&m={ifmobile:true}{ifnotmobile:false}

https://{ifmobile:m}{ifnotmobile:www}.example.com/product?id=123?param=abc

Examples

Using Google Ads tracking templates

If you intend to use Google Ads tracking templates, ads redirect [ads_redirect] attribute, with the appropriate values.
Link [link] https://www.example.com/product?id=123
Ads redirect [ads_redirect] https://www.example.com/product?id=123&param=abc
Google Ads tracking template https://tracking.com?url={lpurl}&src=google
If a tracking template and ads redirect attribute are both used, the attribute value is used as {lpurl} in the Google Ads tracking template.
Without parallel tracking:
  • Customers are sent to: https://tracking.com?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fproduct%3Fid%3D123%26param%3Dabc%0A&src=google
With parallel tracking:
  • Customers are sent to: https://www.example.com/product?id=123&param=abc
  • Tracking request is sent to: https://tracking.com?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com%2Fasnc%2FdGVzdA&src=google
Notes:
  • When parallel tracking is applied, the {lpurl} parameter in the tracker call is replaced with a substitute URL that looks like https://google.com/asnc/dGVzdA. Substituting {lpurl} with a Google substitute URL ensures that your webpage doesn't get pinged twice (once from the user click, and again from the parallel tracking redirect). Learn more
Once the finalUrlSuffix field in Google Ads is launched, the substitute URL will include all parameters sent to the landing page so that the tracking server can process it as needed. Learn more
Link [link] https://www.example.com/product?id=123
Ads redirect [ads_redirect]
Google Ads tracking template https://tracking.com?url={lpurl}&src=google
If no value is provided for ads redirect attribute, then the link and mobile link attributes are used as {lpulr} in the Google Ads tracking template. Without parallel tracking:
  • Customers are sent to: https://tracking.com?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fproduct%3Fid%3D123&src=google
With parallel tracking:
  • Customers are sent to: https://www.example.com/product?id=123
  • Tracking request is sent to: https://tracking.com?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com%2Fasnc%2FdGVzdA%26
    id%3D123%26param%3Dabc&src=google
Note:
  • When parallel tracking is applied, the {lpurl} parameter in the tracker call is replaced with a substitute URL that looks like https://google.com/asnc/dGVzdA. Substituting {lpurl} with a Google substitute URL ensures that your webpage doesn't get pinged twice (once from the customers click, and again from the parallel tracking redirect). Learn more
Once the finalUrlSuffix field in Google Ads is launched, the substitute URL will include all parameters sent to the landing page so that the tracking server can process it as needed. Learn more

 

Not using Google Ads tracking templates

If you submit the ads redirect [ads_redirect] attribute, customers will be sent to that URL, and not to the URL that you submit for the link [link] or mobile link [mobile_link] attributes.
Link [link] https://www.example.com/product?id=123
Ads redirect [ads_redirect]
Google Ads tracking template

  • Customers are sent to: https://www.example.com/product?id=123
Link [link] https://www.example.com/product?id=123
Mobile link [mobile_link] https://m.example.com/product?id=123
Ads redirect [ads_redirect] https://{ifmobile:m}{ifnotmobile:www}.example.com/product?id=123?param=abc
Google Ads tracking template

If you use the ads redirect attribute, the value you provide overrides the link and mobile link attributes.
  • Desktop customers are sent to: https://www.example.com/product?id=123param=abc
  • Mobile customers are sent to: https://m.example.com/product?id=123&param=abc

Mobile-optimized landing pages

Link [link] https://www.example.com/product?id=123
Mobile link [mobile_link] https://m.example.com/product?id=123
Ads redirect [ads_redirect] https://{ifmobile:m}{ifnotmobile:www}.example.com/product?id=123?param=abc
Google Ads tracking template
If you use the ads redirect attribute, the value you provide overrides the link and mobile link attributes. Desktop customers are sent to: https://www.example.com/product?id=123param=abc Mobile customers are sent to: https://m.example.com/product?id=123&param=abc

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