About clickserver URLs

Search Ads 360 generates clickserver URLs to track clicks on ads and other items in your campaigns and to attribute visits and conversions to those items. The URLs contain data that uniquely identifies each trackable item in a campaign. Here's an example clickserver URL:
http://clickserve.dartsearch.net/link/click?lid=123456789&ds_s_kwgid=987654321&ds_e_adid={creative}&ds_e_matchtype={ifsearch:search}{ifcontent:content}&ds_e_device={device}&ds_e_network={network}&ds_url_v=2&ds_dest_url=https://
www.example.com 

The way Search Ads 360 generates and traffics clickserver URLs varies by type of engine account.

Clickserver URLs in search accounts that support shared templates

In search engine accounts that support shared templates, Search Ads 360 generates a clickserver URL for each URL template you specify. If you sign into the engine, you'll see the Search Ads 360 URL template and clickserver URL in the corresponding tracking template.

For example, if you create a Search Ads 360 URL template at the campaign level in a Google Ads account, Search Ads 360 will generate and traffic one clickserver URL for the entire campaign. Google Ads saves the campaign-level Search Ads 360 URL template and clickserver URL in the campaign's tracking template.

Custom parameters for tracking performance of individual items

Since all child items use the same Search Ads 360 clickserver URL, Search Ads 360 traffics a custom parameter for each keyword, sitelink, product group, and other trackable item. The custom parameter uniquely identifies the item. When the engine serves an ad, it inserts the custom parameter into the clickserver URL, and Search Ads 360 uses the unique identifier from the parameter to attribute the click to the item.

Here's an example of URLs and custom parameters in a Google Ads campaign with a campaign-level URL template:

	In Search Ads 360	In Google Ads
Campaign	URL template:{unescapedlpurl}	Tracking template: https://clickserve.dartsearch.net/link/click? {_dssagcrid}&{_dssftfiid} &ds_e_adid={creative} &ds_e_matchtype={ifsearch:search}{ifcontent:content}&ds_url_v=2 &ds_dest_url={unescapedlpurl}
Ad	Landing page: https://www.myproduct.com ?p_id=42	Final URL: https://www.myproduct.com?p_id=42
Keyword	Landing page: none	Custom parameter in tracking template: "_dssagcrid" = "lid=39700000000000001&ds_s_kwgid=58700000000000001"

When a customer search matches the keyword in the example above, the engine serves an ad with this clickserver URL:

https://clickserve.dartsearch.net/link/click?
dssagcrid=lid=39700000000000001&ds_s_kwgid=58700000000000001
&ds_e_adid=44700001892079667
&ds_e_matchtype=search&ds_url_v=2...

Notice the following in the URL:

• The keyword's custom parameter provided a value for the {_dssagcrid} custom parameter. Search Ads 360 uses this unique ID to attribute conversion data to the keyword.

• The engine dropped the {_dssftfiid} custom parameter. Search Ads 360 uses this parameter only for sitelinks and other trackable extensions. For keywords, Search Ads 360 doesn't specify a value, so the engine ignores the empty custom parameter.

• The {creative} dynamic parameter provides the ad's unique ID. Whenever possible, Search Ads 360 uses this ID to attribute conversion data to the ad.

Clickserver URLs in search accounts without shared templates

In search engine accounts that don't support shared templates, Search Ads 360 generates a clickserver URL for each trackable item and then replaces each item's landing page URL with the clickserver URL. When a customer clicks an ad, the click is redirected to Search Ads 360, and Search Ads 360 then forwards the click to the original landing page URL.

In addition to containing data that identifies items in your campaigns, clickserver URLs also contain a copy of any dynamic parameters you may have specified in your landing page URLs or URL templates. When a customer clicks an ad, the engine supplies values for the dynamic parameters and returns them to Search Ads 360. Just before Search Ads 360 redirects to the keyword’s landing page URL, it substitutes the engine’s values for the dynamic parameters.

If you use additional tracking software, your clickserver URLs might also need to contain the static parameters you've defined, or they might need to encode the entire original landing page URL. You can change your engine account settings so your clickserver URLs contain the data your third-party tracker requires.

Clickserver URLs in social and engine track accounts

In social and engine track accounts, Search Ads 360 generates a clickserver URL for each landing page URL you upload as part of the account setup process. For example, in Facebook accounts you export your campaigns from Facebook and then upload them into Search Ads 360. When you upload the campaigns, Search Ads 360 generates a clickserver URL for each landing page URL in the uploaded campaigns.

Search Ads 360 URL encodes the full original landing page URL and then adds the encoded URL to its clickserver URL. When a customer clicks your social or engine track ad, the click is redirected to Search Ads 360. After recording the click, Search Ads 360 unencodes the original landing page URL and redirects the click to the unencoded URL.

View clickserver URLs

In search accounts with shared templates

In engine accounts with shared templates, clickserver URLs are only viewable from Search Ads 360 for ads, keywords, sitelinks, or other targeting items that define their own URL template (instead of inheriting a template). For example, if you create a URL template for a keyword named "red shoes", you can view the clickserver URL for the "red shoes" keyword by adding the Clickserver URL column to the Keyword tab. 

For ads or other items that inherit a URL template from the ad group level or higher, you can only see the clickserver URL by viewing the corresponding tracking template in the engine. See an example of confirming that a Google Ads tracking template contains a clickserver URL.

In search accounts without shared templates

In accounts without shared templates, you can view clickserver URLs by adding the Clickserver URL column to the Keyword tab. 

In social and engine track accounts

In social and engine track accounts, do the following to view clickserver URLs:

1. Navigate to an advertiser or lower scope.

   Steps for navigating to an advertiser

   1. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   2. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   3. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser.

   4. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the advertiser page, which contains data for all of the advertiser’s engine accounts.

2. In the left navigation pane, click Uploads.
3. Click the Search or Engine track tab.
4. In the reporting table, find the row that lists the file that contains the exported campaigns you uploaded.
   In the Next steps column, click the Download file link.
5. Open the downloaded file. The clickserver URL is in the Link column.