Add Floodlight conversions to a report

Once you've set up your Floodlight activities and installed tags on your site, you can report on paid-search conversions by adding Floodlight columns to your reporting tables.

Paid search conversions only

Floodlight columns in Search Ads 360 only report conversions attributed to clicks on paid search ads. To view conversions attributed to display ads, view-through conversions, as well as paid search ads, pull reports from Campaign Manager 360 (only available if your agency or organization uses Campaign Manager 360, and if your account has been granted access to Campaign Manager 360).

Standard Floodlight columns

Search Ads 360 provides several columns such as Actions and Trans that report conversions recorded by all Floodlight activities on a single device or browser. You can also add columns such as Actions cross-env, to report on cross-environment conversions -- those that start on one device and end on another -- to see a more complete number of Floodlight conversions.

Add a standard Floodlight column to a report:

1. Above the performance summary graph, click the Columns button to display the column selection tool.

2. In the Available columns list, click ▸Conversions, then click Floodlight.

3. Click + to add a Floodlight column to your report.

4. Click Apply. 

Scaled conversions

Floodlight columns include scaled conversions to account for the conversion data that can't be directly measured. Learn more about scaled conversions.

Saved views

A saved view is a group of reporting columns you can view in a reporting table. Search Ads 360 provides three saved views that display Floodlight conversions. To access the views:

Above the reporting table select one of the following options from the View list:

• Sales: Displays columns that report on Floodlight transaction activities, such as Trans.
• Actions: Displays columns that report on Floodlight action activities, such as Actions.
• Impact analysis: Shows the number of changes you've made to your campaigns, along with the current number of Floodlight actions, transactions, and revenue.

You can customize these views and save your changes as a new view.

Custom Floodlight columns

You can create a custom Floodlight column to report on a specific Floodlight activity, Floodlight activity group, or any combination of activities and groups. If you're tracking multiple activities on your site, creating a custom Floodlight column helps you pick and choose which Floodlight activities to analyze.

For example, if you sell software on your site, you may want to see which keywords lead to free downloads vs. paid downloads to help optimize keyword landing pages. With custom Floodlight columns, you can add just the two activities to compare statistics. If you're just interested in any download, you can create a new column that combines the metric from both activities into one column.

As another example, you select a Floodlight activity named Email sign-up and select the Actions metric. The new column will display the count of email sign-ups. If you select Cost/action instead, you’ll see the cost per email sign-up.

Create a custom Floodlight column

1. Click the Columns button in the toolbar above the performance summary graph.
   The column selection tool appears.

2. In the Available columns list, click ▸Custom conversions, then click Floodlight.

3. Click + New column.

4. Name your column.

5. All Floodlight activities is selected by default. If you want to include specific activities, choose the Select Floodlight activities option and select the Floodlight activities and/or Floodlight activity groups whose data you want to include in the column.

6. Use the Metric dropdown to select the metric you want to report on.

   The type of metric needs to match the type of Floodlight activities you selected. For example, if you select Action Floodlight activities, select the Actions, Cost/action, Action conv % or other action-related metrics. If you select a transaction-related metric, the column will display 0.
7. Optional. Use a custom Floodlight variable to filter the column.
   If you use a custom dimension to filter a Floodlight column, the "Cross-environment conversions" check box is cleared automatically because a filtered column can't also display cross-environment conversions.  Previously, you could select both options, but the column would always display zero conversions.

8. Optional. Use the Attribution model dropdown to apply a different model to the data.

   Floodlight cross-environment conversions are included in the column by default if the column isn't filtered by a custom variable.

9. Click Save.

10. Search Ads 360 automatically adds the new column to the Selected columns list.

11. Click Apply.
    The new column appears in your reporting table.

Additional options

If you add or create custom Floodlight columns, you can do the following, just as you can with other columns:

• Add Floodlight columns to formula columns, which enable you to perform calculations on the data and report the results.
  Then you can use the formula column as a custom KPI in a bid strategy.

• Use Floodlight columns in automated rules to trigger changes in specific campaigns, ad groups, ads, keywords, or product targets when the data in the Floodlight column matches criteria you specify.

• Segment reports by Floodlight activity instead of creating custom columns. You can use the Segment option to see detailed reporting on individual Floodlight activity groups and activities. This allows you to see performance data on the different types of conversions that a set of keywords or ads can produce.

Notes and known issues for custom Floodlight columns

• Advertiser-level columns: Custom Floodlight columns don't appear at the agency level, but they do appear at the advertiser, campaign, ad group, ad, or keyword level.

• Can't be used in a filter: Custom Floodlight columns don't appear in the list of available filters.

• Floodlight activity groups: When you create a custom column, selecting a Floodlight activity group adds all of the Floodlight activities that are currently in the group. If you later add a new Floodlight activity under the Floodlight activity group, the column will not automatically include data for that activity.

• Activities excluded by Floodlight instructions: When you create a custom column, you see all Floodlight activities within the advertiser, even those that are excluded from reporting in Search Ads 360 by a Floodlight instruction. If you create a Floodlight column for an excluded Floodlight activity, the column will always display 0, since the Floodlight instruction prevents Search Ads 360 from reporting on the activity.