Google Ads tracking with etracker

by Katrin Nebermann

Reliable conversion tracking and campaign controlling are essential for the effective management of Google Ads campaigns. Google Ads offers a wide range of reports for this and, in addition to manual optimization of the campaigns set up, also offers automatic procedures for optimizing ad playout. These take into account not only the ad clicks, but also the conversion actions carried out on the website and the associated sales or conversion values. This can be recorded with Google Ads’ own conversion tracking tag or via Google Analytics. However, there is a catch with both the one and the other tool – they depend on the prior consent of website users.

No data without consent

The German supervisory authorities place high demands on consent for the use of Google Analytics and, similarly, for Google Ads Conversion Tracking. The resolution of the Conference of Independent Federal and State Data Protection Supervisory Authorities of May 15, 2020 states that

“The object of the consent must be made clear: Google Analytics users must make it clear for what purpose Google Analytics is used, that the usage data is processed by Google LLC, that this data is stored in the USA, that both Google and government authorities have access to this data, that this data is linked to other data of the user such as search history, personal accounts, usage data of other devices and all other data that Google has on this user.”

In addition, data protection authorities demand that rejection in consent dialogs must be possible with the same ease as acceptance. This means that buttons such as “Accept only necessary” must appear on the same level and in the same format as the “Accept all” button:

Complying with legal requirements inevitably leads to low conversion rates. Experience has shown that if the consent dialogs are designed correctly, only between 1 and a maximum of 50 percent consent is achieved. This nullifies data-driven campaign management.

Conversion tracking & upload via etracker Analytics: 100% data & 100% data protection compliant

If etracker Analytics is used in standard mode, legally compliant session tracking takes place without consent, because:

• No cookies are used,
• there is no data transfer to unsafe third countries,
• it is an order processing and
• no data is passed on to third parties via websites of different providers or enriched with other data from third-party sources.

Almost all conversions can be reliably recorded with cookie-less session tracking. With consent to etracker cookies after code customization also with the entire customer journey and corresponding attribution.

Campaign success can be analyzed in etracker analytics with all key campaign parameters via campaign, campaign group, keyword, ad, placement, etc.

Google Ads allows the import of conversion data from third-party systems such as etracker Analytics. So why not use Google Ads and bidding and optimization processes as usual and evaluate them with etracker in compliance with data protection regulations?

To do this, you only need to set up the upload to Google Ads once. The upload from etracker analytics to Google Ads is harmless under data protection law, as no personal data is transferred, only statistical data on the number of conversions and, if applicable, the assigned sales value per campaign click.

How does Google Ads conversion tracking work with etracker analytics?

Step 1: Set up campaign tracking

In order for the campaigns to be recorded in etracker analytics, the following entry must be replaced with the appropriate campaign name and added once in the Suffix field of the final URL of the campaigns:

etcc_med=SEA&etcc_par=Google&etcc_cmp=KAMPAGNENNAME&etcc_grp={adgroupid}&etcc_bky={keyword}&etcc_mty={matchtype}&etcc_plc={placement}&etcc_ctv={creative}&etcc_bde={device}&etcc_var={gclid}

Step 2: Set up conversion capture

There are several convenient ways to record and assign conversion actions in etracker analytics:

1. Via plugin for store systems such as Shopware, Magento and Oxid automatically.
2. Via automatic transfer from Google Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking and corresponding activation in the etracker tracking code.
3. Via etracker eCommerce Tracking API or conversion parameters (for leads or sales).
4. Via the target configuration in the etracker Analytics interface by selecting certain page views (automatically recorded) or click events (automatically recorded via event tracking code or via CSS selector input).

Example of CSS selector input:

Performance can then be evaluated according to various dimensions in the reporting:

Step 3: Set up conversion upload

The conversion action types from etracker must now be stored in Google Ads and the conversion upload must be set up once. etracker then ensures that the conversions are transferred to Google Ads on a daily or weekly basis, depending on the option selected.

etracker guides users in detail through the entire setup process:

Once the upload has been set up, the conversions and conversion values recorded via etracker analytics appear in Google Ads as usual and reliably for all campaign clicks, but without having to obtain consent:

Further information on measuring Google Ads campaigns with etracker and detailed instructions for setting up the conversion upload are available here.