Search Ads 360 reports and bids on Floodlight conversion actions, which are conversions powered by Floodlight activities. These Floodlight activities are shared between Search Ads 360 and Campaign Manager 360.
With shared Floodlight activities, you use the same set of Floodlight tags to track conversions for both Display and Search ads. This helps to prevent double counting conversions that span across different ad formats. This article explains how Floodlight activities are shared between Campaign Manager 360 and Search Ads 360, and highlights the differences in their workflows.
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How sharing works
Sub-manager and advertiser relationship
Every Search Ads 360 sub-manager account is associated with a unique Campaign Manager 360 advertiser. The sub-manager and advertiser accounts share the same set of Floodlight settings, activities, and tags used to report conversions.
Synced Floodlight activities
Floodlight conversion actions you create in Search Ads 360 also create Floodlight activities in Campaign Manager 360, and vice versa. It may take a few hours before shared Campaign Manager 360 Floodlight activities appear as conversion actions in your Search Ads 360 sub-manager account.
Custom Floodlight variables
Just as standard Floodlight activities are shared, Custom Floodlight variables created in Campaign Manager 360 can be synced to the new Search Ads 360. This allows you to pass detailed conversion data (such as revenue, shipping costs, or new customer status) into Search Ads 360.
How Custom Floodlight variables interact between platforms
- You create and manage the custom variables (u-variables) in Campaign Manager 360. There is a limit of 100 custom variables available in Campaign Manager 360, all of which can be synced to Search Ads 360.
- After syncing, Search Ads 360 uses this data for advanced reporting and bidding.
- Numeric variables can be used as metrics (for example, total shipping cost).
- Text variables can be used as dimensions (for example, customer type).
Data processing limits: While Campaign Manager 360 limits the number of variable slots to 100, Search Ads 360 limits the unique values (cardinality) reported for custom dimensions. Custom dimensions in Search Ads 360 support up to 100,000 unique values (such as 100,000 different product SKUs). This limit does not apply to event-level reporting.
Learn more About custom Floodlight metrics and dimensions in Search Ads 360.
Workflow differences
| Workflow | Campaign Manager 360 | Search Ads 360 |
|---|---|---|
| Create Floodlight activities or Floodlight conversions | Learn more about creating Floodlight activities. | When you create a Floodlight conversion, Search Ads 360 configures some settings by default, such as the conversion type or counting method. These settings can be edited in Campaign Manager 360. Learn more about creating Floodlight conversion actions. |
| Report on Floodlight conversions |
Report on conversions attributed to display and video ads. If you are a Search Ads 360 user, you can also enable reporting on paid search activity in Campaign Manager 360. Learn more about reporting on paid search data. |
Report on conversions that are attributed to paid search activity. |
| Set conversion windows | Set a period of time for the Floodlight activity to record conversions. Learn more about conversion windows. | Conversion windows are applicable in Search Ads 360, but can only be edited in Campaign Manager 360. |
| Use Floodlight instructions | Not applicable to Campaign Manager 360 reports. | Manage how a conversion action is reported in Search Ads 360 without changing the actual conversion action. Learn more about Floodlight instructions. |
| Set data use across Google services |
Choose which Google services can receive consented data from end users in the European Economic Area (EEA) for advertising purposes. You can change this setting in your Floodlight configuration. Learn more about configuring Floodlight for advertisers. |
The setting for data use across Google services can only be edited in Campaign Manager 360. The Floodlight configuration settings in Campaign Manager 360 apply to associated Floodlight conversion actions in Search Ads 360. |