Google Ads Web—Integration for PC and console apps

The Integration tab includes a number of sections, as described below.

Activate partner

To configure the integration, you must first turn on the Activate partner toggle. 

General settings

1. First open conversion ID: Enter the ID of the First open conversion action you set in Google Ads. To find the ID:
   1. Go to the Google Ads platform and open the Details tab of the First open conversion action page.
   2. Copy the value of the ctid=* query parameter from the page URL. For example, if ctid=123456789, insert 123456789 to the First open conversion action ID box.
2. Enter your Customer ID. You can retrieve it from your Google Ads Manager:
   1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
   2. In the top right corner, click the Google account icon and scroll down to where the Customer ID is displayed.
   3. If you have multiple Google Ads accounts running campaigns for your app, you must use the Customer ID from a manager (MCC) for cross-account conversion tracking. Paste the MCC ID (and not a specific account’s Customer ID) in the Customer ID text box and also in the MCC Customer ID text box (same ID in both boxes). 
      If you only use a single Google Ads account to run ads, simply paste the account ID in the Customer ID text box and leave the MCC Customer ID text box empty. See Google instructions on configuring an MCC account.
3. To allow AppsFlyer to upload conversions to Google Ads, click Sign in with Google.
4. In Google, select the admin account of the MCC account from which you retrieved the Customer ID above.
5. Click Allow.

Enable view-through attribution

AppsFlyer supports view-through attribution for Google Web campaigns using a Smart Script or Smart Banner-enabled landing page. This allows probabilistic modeling (PMOD) attribution of app installs triggered by ad impressions, even when users don’t click the ad directly.

When a user sees a Google ad and lands on a Smart Script or Smart Banner-enabled landing page, AppsFlyer can attribute the resulting app install, including cross-platform, back to the original web impression.

When available, AppsFlyer includes the gclid in the postback to Google.

To enable view-through attribution:

1. In AppsFlyer, from the sidebar, open Active Integrations > Google Ads Web.
2. In the Integration tab, scroll to the Install attribution section.
3. Turn on Install view-through attribution.
4. [optional] Turn on Cross-platform equal attribution priority and set its lookback window. For more information, see Enable equal priority for cross-platform impressions.
5. Open the Attribution tab.
6. Scroll to the View-through attribution section and set the preferred view-through lookback window (up to 24 hours).
7. Click Save integration to apply the changes.

Default postbacks

Postbacks for installs are automatically sent only to Google Ads Web.

In-app event postbacks

Configure mapping of in-app event postbacks sent to Google Ads Web. These events can be viewed in the Google Ads Manager: 

1. Turn on In-app event postbacks.

2. Click Add event to add an SDK or server-to-server event to the list. The following table describes the fields to complete:
    

   Parameter name	Description
   AppsFlyer event	The name of the event, as received by AppsFlyer either from the SDK integrated into your app or from server-to-server events. Click Add item, enter the event name, and click .
   mapped to partner event	The Conversion Action ID of each event, as is defined on the partner's side.  In Google Ads Conversion Goals page, click the conversion action you created. In the Conversion Action Details page, copy the Conversion Action ID from the URL parameter ctId=. Go back to AppsFlyer and paste it. For example if ctid=123456789, paste 123456789.
   for users from	This partner only: In-app event postbacks are sent only for events attributed to this partner—meaning, the user who performed it came from this partner.
   including	Values and revenue: All event parameters, including the revenue value (if exists in the event), are sent in the postback.

3. [Optional] Click the Add conditionicon to set conditions for an event.
4. Set the In-app event postback window, if required (read more about in-app event postback window configuration).
5. Click Save integration.
6. [Optional] After saving the integration, while remaining on the configuration page, you can integrate more of your apps with the partner:
   1. From the top-left corner, under the partner name, click the app name to open the list of apps.
   2. Select a different app from the drop-down list.
   3. Repeat the integration steps for the selected app.

Generating an attribution link in the AppsFlyer UI isn't currently available. However, you can either use a cross-platform landing page with SmartScript or create a direct attribution link for your app (see table below).

To set up a campaign that redirects users to a cross-platform landing page:

1. Set up a cross-platform landing page as described in the attribution link section.
2. Log in to Google Ads and create a new campaign.
3. Select the campaign objective.
   
   • All objectives are applicable, except "App promotion" (which can only be used for mobile app campaigns).
   • We recommend setting the "Sales" campaign objective for optimization based on specific in-app events.
4. Select the conversion goals.
   
   • By default, you see the predefined account-level campaign goals. You can keep those, or remove ones that aren't relevant for your campaign.
   • If you don’t see the goal you want, add the conversion action and conversion goal.
   • You can also edit your predefined goals in the Conversions page.
5. Select the campaign type.
   
   • All campaign types are applicable, except "Shopping" which requires a product catalog and is limited to verified domains.
6. Enter the cross-platform landing page URL as Google's final URL.

To set up a campaign that redirects users to a single platform and app store:

1. Set up a direct attribution link as described in the attribution link section.
2. Log in to Google Ads and create a new campaign.
3. Select the campaign objective.
   
   • All objectives are applicable, except "App promotion" (which can only be used for mobile app campaigns).
   • We recommend setting the "Sales" campaign objective for optimization based on specific in-app events.
4. Select the conversion goals.
   
   • By default, you see the predefined account-level campaign goals. You can keep those, or remove ones that aren't relevant for your campaign.
   • If you don’t see the goal you want, add the conversion action and conversion goal.
   • You can also edit your predefined goals in the Conversions page.
5. Select the campaign type.
   
   • All campaign types are applicable, except "Shopping" which requires a product catalog and is limited to verified domains.
6. Enter the link to be used as Google's final URL.
   • This must be the final web location you want to redirect your users to. It can be any web URL including a web landing page or store URL. For example: https://store.steampowered.com/app/{appid}/{myapp}/.
   • The final URL can't be an AppsFlyer URL, as this may cause your campaign to be rejected. Only use a direct web address that has no redirects.
7. Enter your AppsFlyer direct attribution link as Google's Tracking Template URL.
   • For parallel tracking to function as intended, the final URL must be placed in the {lpurl} ValueTrack parameter in Google’s Tracking Template URL as specified by Google.
   • Don't include the af_dp parameter.

In Google Ads, you can either select from the predefined list of conversion actions and goals or create your own.

Important! For AppsFlyer to send a "First Open" event postback, you need to create a conversion action and name it "First Open".

To create your own Google Ads conversion actions and goals:

1. In your Google Ads account overview page, from the side menu, select Goals > Conversions > Summary.
2. Click + New conversion action.
3. Select Conversions offline as your conversion actions data source.

4. Select Import from the list of conversion types, then select Manual import using API or uploads > Track conversions from clicks.

    Note

   If Manual import using API or uploads is not available:

   1. Select CRM, files, or other data sources > Track conversions from clicks.
   2. In Data source select Skip this step and set up data source later.
5. Click Continue.
   A form displays.
6. Fill out the form and click Create and continue to finish creating your conversion tracker.
7. For Goal and action optimization, select a category to map your conversion action into.
   Note: Google ads campaign optimization is per category; not per specific action). If you only want your campaigns to optimize to a single action, make sure to map only that action to this category. For example, if you want your campaign to optimize towards the "install" action, make sure to map the "install" action to its own category, for example, “Other.” You’ll then be able to select this category as the campaign goal when creating the campaign.
8. Copy the conversion action ID from Google Ads and enter it in the mapped to partner event field. The Conversion Action ID is used as the partner event ID when mapping the AppsFlyer event name to the partner event ID  in the in-app event postbacks setup. To copy the conversion action ID from Google Ads perform the following:
   1. In Google Ads Conversion Goals page, click the conversion action you created.
   2. In the Conversion Action Details page, copy the Conversion Action ID from the URL parameter ctId= and paste it.
9. Click Create and continue.
10. Click Finish.