Tracking Google Ads For Mobile Apps Via Parallel Tracking / Campaign URL

Through Parallel Tracking, you can set up your Everflow account to track clicks and conversions on your Google Ads campaigns. Customers are sent directly to your landing page while Everflow's tracking happens in the background.

See Google's explanation on Parallel Tracking - [Click Here]

Diagram of parallel tracking showing an ad click reaching the Final URL plus a tracking URL via sendBeacon

This solution predates our Direct Linking functionality. Mobile App tracking does not work with Direct Linking.

How To Set Up in Google Ads

Step #1

Step #2

Click on Campaigns.

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Step #3

Click the blue campaign link for the Campaign you'd like to edit. In the example shown above, you would click TM_Keywords_Search.

Step #4

Click Settings in the left Column.

Then, you will need to click Additional settings to access the Parallel Tracking section, which is labeled Campaign URL.

Google Ads campaign Settings with Additional settings and the Campaign URL section

Step #5

Click Campaign URL options.

Enter your tracking link under Tracking template with the following parameter appended: ?url={lpurl}

Under Final URL Suffix, add: gclid={gclid}&async=json.

It should look like this:

Google Ads Campaign URL options with the tracking template and Final URL suffix filled in

To find your tracking link in Everflow, navigate to Offers - Manage > click on the Offer. Go to the Tracking Links tab, and select the Partner you want to associate this activity with.

You may even want to create a Partner especially for the purpose of tying to Google Ads campaigns.

Heads Up!Google requires SSL tracking links (https://). Make sure your Offer has the Force SSL turned on inside of the Tracking & Controls tab.

How to Set Up in Everflow

With parallel tracking, the User is being sent to the Advertiser through Google's flow, instead of them going through Everflow. This prevents any information from being passed to the Advertiser in your Default Landing Page URL, so you need to do an additional conversion tracking setup to receive these conversions back.

You can always set up both a postback that receives the normal transaction_id & one that receives gclid with your Advertiser.

Option #1: Postback (Server-to-Server)

Option #2: Pixel Cookie-Based Tracking

Option #3: iFrame Cookie-Based Tracking

Option #4: JavaScript Cookie-Based Tracking

How gclid Tracking Works

When a click comes in with &gclid=xyz as a query string parameter, Everflow keeps a mapping between the gclid and the transaction_id in the backend. Later, when a conversion comes in with that same gclid=xyz, Everflow looks up the mapping to find the matching transaction_id and attributes the conversion accordingly.

If a conversion comes in with both a gclid and a transaction_id (either explicitly or through a transaction_id stored in the cookie), the transaction_id wins. The gclid is only used as a fallback.

Because there is no character limit on a gclid, using it is also a helpful workaround for anyone using the JavaScript SDK who needs to pass a longer transaction ID.

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