Google Analytics 4 does not support email reporting functionality. Consequently, integration via email reporting with the DSP dashboard is not possible.
Important NOTE: Reminder that Google Analytics 4 is replacing Google Analytics Universal on July 1, 2023. With this change, Email Reporting is being deprecated and will no longer function. If you would like to connect your Google Analytics 4 account through API please follow the steps described HERE.
Reliable and complete data is key to any traffic acquisition campaign. Analyzing your campaign’s post-click performance is vital for its success.
If you are interested in optimizing your Google Analytics, you have to provide Outbrain DSP with a daily report for the previous day on Sessions, % New Sessions, New Users, Bounce Rate, Page Views, Time on Site, and Conversion.
This guide explains how to set up automated email Google Analytics traffic reporting that will be sent daily back to Outbrain DSP as an additional signal for your traffic performance optimization process. As a result of this, you will also be able to review campaign performance metrics in your Outbrain DSP dashboard.
Make sure tracking parameters are appended to every content ad URL when using click trackers/click commands
To track 1st Party Analytics data (Google Analytics), Outbrain DSP has to append its tracking parameters to every content ad URL. The parameters are expanded on the DSP's redirector and captured by the analytics on the landing page. Learn more here.
Prerequisites
Your website needs to use Google Analytics to monitor and analyze traffic.
You have administrative permissions in your Google Analytics account.
Create Automated Daily Traffic Performance Report for One Conversion/Goal
1. Log in to your Google Analytics account and select the site that you are promoting by clicking All Web Site Data.
2. In the left panel, under the section Behavior, expand Site Content and select Landing Pages.
3. Change the date range from Custom to Yesterday and click Apply. Set the Secondary dimension to the Device Category.
4. In the search box, search for _z1 (this will filter the traffic driven to your pages through Outbrain DSP).
If you use keywords, switch the dimension from Landing Pages to Keyword and search only for z1 (no underscore) in the search field.
5. Remember to expand the rows from 10 to 5000 in the Show Rows drop-down menu. Otherwise, your reports will only have 10 lines of data, which will result in a big click discrepancy. Expand the list to show 5000 items.
PLEASE NOTE: Even if the campaign is not live yet, you can set up automated email reporting. Once the campaign starts, the system will start collecting information about all the traffic from Outbrain DSP and start populating the list automatically.
If you want to track an exact conversion, you have to choose the action you want to include in the report.
IMPORTANT: You have to define the same conversion name in the Outbrain DSP dashboard as here.
6. Now, click on the Share button. A window dialog will appear for you to schedule an automated email report.
a. Define the recipient Email: gareports@mailapi.zemanta.com
b. Customize the Subject to specify the campaign name and/or the site’s domain (e.g., Example Campaign: Exampleclientsite.com).
c. Set the Attachments format to CSV.
d. Set the Frequency to Daily.
e. Make sure the body contains this message: [brand_name] - Outbrain DSP GA report
f. Click Send.
Create Custom Report With More Than One Conversion Action
1. Expand the Customization section.
2. Click on the Custom Reports button.
3. Click on the + New Custom Report button.
4. Give it a custom name.
5. Add all the necessary metric groups one by one:
Sessions, % New Sessions, New Users, Bounce Rate, Pages / Session, Avg. Session Duration
6. Include the Completion goals in the metric groups. This is where you will merge different conversions into one report.
7. For the Keyword integration, you want to select the Keyword as the Dimensions Drilldown.
8. Click the Save button.
9. Repeat the process above: Create an automated daily traffic performance report.
You’re all set! Outbrain DSP will receive Google Analytics reports so you can optimize performance based on post-click engagement goals.
Make Sure:
The email is being sent to Outbrain DSP daily.
The email contains the report attached.
You include all the data parameters required in the report.
You include only yesterday's data.
To send the report in CSV format.
You are sending only one report per campaign.
Data Use & Privacy
Google formally approves DSP's access to Google Analytics data.
Our system will only read DSP-related data as it filters out data signals that do not contain Outbrain DSP’s click ID (zpbid) or Outbrain DSP Performance tracking codes (_z1_msid, _z1_adgid, _z1_caid) in the landing page URL.
For optimization and audience segment-building purposes, Outbrain DSP will only use contextual data based on clicks (i.e., time of day, section, browser, etc.) and will not use the user’s personal data.
You can create a custom filter inside Google Analytics that will automatically collect traffic generated only by your Outbrain DSP campaigns. To create the filter, first navigate to the Filter section in the view in which you want to create it and then include _z1_|zpbid| in the Filter Field.
IMPORTANT: If you use workarounds, include this filter: _z1_|zpbid|.*z1[0-9]+[a-zA-Z].+?1z.* in the Filter Field.