General FAQs
What is Search Ads 360 natural search?
Search Ads 360 natural search is a solution for reporting on organic advertising platform clicks that contribute to conversions. It leverages Floodlight to measure conversions and deduplicate organic, paid search, and display (Campaign Manager 360) traffic.
Are there any other benefits of Search Ads 360 natural search besides measuring organic search and deduplication?
Yes. If you choose the Equal Attribution attribution model, Search Ads 360 natural search data can also be utilized in the Path to Conversion (P2C) report, which is available for an additional fee. The P2C report allows users to see the conversion path among display, paid, and natural search clicks.
Note that if you choose the Opt-out attribution model, Path to Conversion reports will exclude natural search events, though you can still access the natural search data from Data Transfer files.
Is Search Ads 360 natural search a standalone product?
No, Search Ads 360 natural search is only available to advertisers and agencies who use Search Ads 360.
Is Search Ads 360 natural search used with any other Google Marketing Platform products in addition to Search Ads 360?
Yes, because Search Ads 360 natural search leverages Floodlight, natural search reports also deduplicate Display traffic from Campaign Manager 360.
Are HTTPS-encrypted searches compatible with Search Ads 360 natural search?
If an advertising platform encrypts customer searches, the actual words that the customer entered are not available to Search Ads 360. For example, if a customer signs into Google.com, Google encrypts all search data. If the customer searches and then visits a site from those search results, Search Ads 360 cannot report on the actual search terms.
In Search Ads 360 natural search reports, all conversions from encrypted natural searches are attributed to a placeholder named Not provided. Similarly in related Campaign Manager 360 reports, clicks from encrypted searches are reported in a Not provided row.
For example:
- A customer searches for red shoes and clicks an ad, but does not make a purchase.
- Later, the customer does an encrypted search on red shoes, clicks a natural search result, and makes a purchase.
The advertiser is set up with the Equal Attribution conversion option. Therefore, the conversion is attributed to the Not provided row in natural search, and is not attributed to a paid search keyword.
Before we made this change, the conversion would have been attributed to the red shoes keyword in paid search.
Where can I learn more about Search Ads 360 natural search?
Please contact your account manager to learn more about Search Ads 360 natural search.
Reporting FAQs
Does the end date specified in CM for the natural search campaign effects natural search reporting?
No, it won't effect the natural search reporting and can be ignored
Where do I pull Search Ads 360 natural search reports?
All Search Ads 360 natural search reporting is housed within Campaign Manager 360 Report Builder, and specifically under the Search Query, where Search Ads 360 data can be reported on.
So this means I can run reports to include both Search Ads 360 and Search Ads 360 natural search data?
Yes!
What's the attribution model of natural search clicks compared with Paid and Display Clicks?
There are actually two different attribution models available to clients:
- Equal Attribution: "Last click wins", so if a natural search visit was the last click in a funnel containing a paid click and search click before converting, the credit would go to that natural search visit.
- Opt-Out: Natural search clicks never receive credit for conversions. Instead, credit always goes to the last click that is not natural search (in other words, paid search or display). If natural search is the only click in a conversion funnel, the conversion isn't reported at all. Opt-out is a good option if you're concerned that natural search clicks might adversely affect your paid search performance.
- Note that if you choose the Opt-out attribution model, Path to Conversion reports will exclude natural search events, though you can still access the natural search data from Data Transfer files.
Great, so if I don't want to give credit to natural search clicks because they might adversely affect my paid search programs (in other words, find out the majority of the credit goes to natural and no longer have a budget for paid), then I should use the Opt-Out Attribution Model?
That's correct. If you're concerned that natural search clicks might adversely affect your paid search performance, you have the ability to customize how conversions are attributed and can decide to give all credit to paid search, but still see your natural search traffic.
Note that if you choose the Opt-out attribution model, Path to Conversion reports will exclude natural search events, though you can still access the natural search data from Data Transfer files.
Why does enabling Search Ads 360 natural search create three new advertisers with the same campaigns in Campaign Manager 360?
When an advertiser is created in Search Ads 360 Search, it results in three new advertisers in Campaign Manager 360 in addition to the original advertiser.
Use the original advertiser for reporting.
The advertisers that begin with NS CS and NS CS IT are “tracking advertisers” that are used to store the tracking code on the website. Please don’t use or update these advertisers.
Webmaster natural search tag FAQs
These FAQs are only applicable if you use the Floodlight iframe tag and natural search tag.
Does this tag replace Floodlight tags?
The Search Ads 360 natural search tag is not itself a Floodlight tag. It is the tag responsible for tracking arrivals or visits from advertising platforms and therefore is the essential part in Search Ads 360 natural search tracking.
Where on the page should the tag be posted?
The tag must be called every time the page loads. Posting the tag close to the top of the page within the HTML body tags is preferred. This will result in the most accurate tracking.
Can I use server-side include or some other language like Perl for the cache busting?
Yes, the webmaster may use whatever method as long as the tag contains a sufficiently random dynamic string. The JavaScript wrapper provided by Google Marketing Platform is meant to facilitate implementation and is only a suggestion. Client-side cache busting is preferred to server side.
How long do I leave the tag up on the site?
The tag must remain in place for Search Ads 360 natural search tracking to occur. The tag should not be posted, removed, and re-posted repeatedly. The tag should not be conditionally written to the page.
The tag is negatively affecting my page load time. Can I take it down?
The tag is very small, about 2.4 kb, and it's designed to have a minimal impact on page load. Search Ads 360 natural search tracking cannot occur without the tag in place.
I don’t want a Google Marketing Platform ad tag on my homepage. What can I do?
Advertising platforms most often direct users to the homepage. Therefore, the homepage may be the most important location for the tag to be posted. If the tag is not present, Search Ads 360 natural search tracking cannot occur.
I have dynamically generated pages. Where should I post the tag?
The tag needs to render along with page content and load with each page request.
On what other pages should I post the tag?
Post the tag to any page that might be the landing page for a natural search visit. This includes vanity pages, temporary pages, or any associated pages that need to be tracked. For example, some clients maintain an About Us page.
On what pages should I include the exclusion parameter?
If you are running Paid Search campaigns, use this exclusion parameter on every page that the tag is used. If this is not done, natural search visits will not be counted. Implement the exclusion parameter like any other query string value. If no query string exists, add a new one. If your server does not support arbitrary exclusion parameters in the page URL, consult the implementation specialist for an alternate method.