Most analytics platforms, including those directly integrated with Zemanta, allow you to track the post-click engagement metrics for your native advertising campaign. If you'd like to capture relevant information about your campaigns in Zemanta, you can add tracking parameters to each ad group.
You can add tracking parameters while creating a new campaign, or add them into current campaigns as needed. To add tracking parameters at the Ad Group level, add in your UTM parameters on the 'Settings' page.
By default, Zemanta passes tracking parameters to reveal the network and publisher. For example:
_z1_adgid=1840&_z1_caid=181290&_z1_msid=adiant&_z1_pub=cnn
GDPR Restrictions - If you’re running campaigns in countries that fall under GDPR restrictions, please make sure all of your trackers are IAB TCF V2 compliant and registered as a vendor in the IAB global vendor list. In the case of non-compliant trackers, we will not be able to append your trackers to responses coming from these countries.
Macros
When a user clicks on your native ad they are redirected to your content. During the redirect, Zemanta enables you to set a variety of dynamic tracking parameters at the ad group level to set customized data back to your analytics solution.
These macros can help you create custom views in your analytics solutions based on specific information so you can integrate with your attribution systems.
The dynamic macros available in Zemanta:
Macro | Description | Supported on | Supported on | Supported on VAST tag |
timestamp | UNIX timestamp of the impression or click even. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
cachebuster | A random number allowing you to circumvent browser and server caching. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
mediasource | Media source name as displayed in the "slug" column in the media sources tab. | Yes | Yes | No |
publisher | The domain of the publisher where the ad was shown. | Yes | Yes | No |
placement | The ID/name of the ad placement | Yes | Yes |
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idfa | The iOS identifier for advertising. | Yes | Yes | No |
idfa_lat | Signifies if the user has limited ad tracking turned on. | Yes | Yes | No |
aaid | Android advertising identifier. | Yes | Yes | No |
aaid_lat | Signifies if the user has limited ad tracking turned on. | Yes | Yes | No |
campaignid | The ID of the campaign that served the ad. | Yes | Yes | No |
adgroupid | The ID of the ad group that served the ad. | Yes | Yes | No |
contentadid | The ID of the ad that was served. | Yes | Yes | No |
postbackid | Unique click identifier that can be sent back on the conversion pixel to connect conversion with a specific click. | No | Yes | No |
random | A number that is guaranteed to be random for every event. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
pageurl | URL of the page where the ad was displayed | No | No | Yes |
width | Width of the ad unit | No | No | Yes |
height | Height of the ad unit | No | No | Yes |
gdpr | GDPR consent value - "1" if there is consent, "2" if there's no consent | Yes | Yes | Yes |
gdpr_consent_xxxx |
| Yes | Yes | Yes |
us_privacy | CCPA consent string | Yes | Yes | Yes |
title | Ad headline or title, used to identify which headlines are driving the most engaged audiences to make appropriate optimization decisions | Yes | Yes | No |
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IMPORTANT: All macros should be wrapped in either curly {}, dollar sign curly ${} or square [] brackets and are not case-sensitive.
Note: In macro gdpr_consent_xxxx, xxx is the ID from the IAB list: Vendor List TCF v2.0.
Now that you have some options let's walk through some potential use cases:
Example 1: Send the Content Ad ID as a variable:
In this example, your link will be different for each content creative that is served, which allows you to track the individual performance of each creative by enabling you to attribute engagement and conversions after someone has clicked on your content ad. This works especially well if you're A/B testing headlines and image combinations for a specific article.
Example 2: Send the Media Source as a variable:
In this example, your link will be different for each media source (or network) your content is served on. This will help you determine where the traffic, engagement, and conversions are coming from, ie. Outbrain, TripleLift, Floor6, and more! It's important to know which media sources are driving engagement so you can make meaningful optimizations.
These macros and tracking parameters will help you capture relevant information about your campaigns in Zemanta, giving you more data to make the optimizations that matter most.