What is Floodlight Tag? A Step By Step Guide To The Media Campaign Analysis Tool

There are many analytics systems and auditors for media advertising: Gemius, Kochava, Kantar CMeter, Singular. This article will focus on Floodlight, the most popular tool for analyzing media campaigns.

We don’t live by clicking alone. So what lies beneath the 0.05% CTR in advertising? In the new article, we tell you about the most common mistakes in analyzing media flights and how to avoid them, describe what is floodlight tagging, and explore the concept of floodlight marketing.
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What is a Floodlight?

Floodlight is an integral part of the Google Marketing Platform which serves as a robust conversion tracking system. Utilizing tags in the form of iframes or image tags strategically placed on advertiser's site conversion pages, Floodlight tracks user activity and sends crucial conversion data to Search Ads 360 and Campaign Manager 360. The system employs cookies to recognize repeat visits, ensuring precise attribution. This piece of code, generated in Campaign Manager, is embedded on individual website pages, allowing marketers to comprehensively monitor and analyze user behavior. Floodlight's sophisticated approach provides actionable insights, empowering marketers to refine and optimize digital campaigns for enhanced performance based on a nuanced understanding of user interactions and conversions.

Answering the question What is Google floodlight? in short, floodlight is a conversion counter. You can read about it in detail in Google help. In simple terms, Google floodlight tags record the conversions on the site under the influence of media campaigns. You can also create audiences based on this counter.

Working with this tool is similar to working with goals in Google Analytics.

To create a goal in Google Analytics, you first need to create a “Goal” in the interface and then code directly or through Google Tag Manager to install it on the site.
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What Are Key Types of Floodlight Tags?

Floodlight tags are essential for tracking and measuring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, especially in Google Marketing Platform. There are several key types of Floodlight tags, each serving a specific function:

1. Sales Tags (Transaction Tracking):
   • These tags track when a user completes a transaction on the website, such as making a purchase. They record valuable data like the transaction amount and the items purchased, allowing marketers to assess the return on investment (ROI) from ad campaigns.
2. Custom Tags (Event Tracking):
   • Custom tags are used to track specific actions that a user takes on a website, such as downloading a file, signing up for a newsletter, or clicking on a specific button. These tags are customizable based on the unique objectives of a campaign.
3. Page View Tags:
   • Page view tags are used to track when a user visits a particular page or section of a website. This type of Floodlight tag helps measure user engagement and monitor traffic patterns across various pages.
4. Engagement Tags:
   • Engagement tags are designed to track interactions that don’t necessarily involve transactions but are still valuable, such as viewing a video, interacting with a product carousel, or spending a certain amount of time on a page.
5. Remarketing Tags:
   • Remarketing Floodlight tags help businesses track visitors who have previously interacted with the website but haven’t completed a desired action, like a purchase. These tags are then used to retarget those visitors with tailored ads to encourage them to complete the desired action.

Floodlight Tag Example

Let’s explore an example of how a Floodlight tag might be used for tracking a purchase transaction on an eСommerce site:

html

<script type="text/javascript">
 // Floodlight tag script
 var floodlightTag = {
   type: "Sale",
   transactionId: "12345",
   revenue: "99.99",
   items: [
     {
       productId: "SKU123",
       productName: "Running Shoes",
       quantity: 1,
       price: "99.99"
     }
   ]
 };

 // Code to send data to Google
 (function() {
   var img = new Image();
   img.src = "https://www.google.com/floodlight/tag?transactionId=" + floodlightTag.transactionId +
             "&revenue=" + floodlightTag.revenue +
             "&productId=" + floodlightTag.items[0].productId;
   document.body.appendChild(img);
 })();
</script>


In this example:

• The tag is of type "Sale," tracking when a purchase is made.
• The transactionId is unique for each transaction, and the revenue represents the total sale amount.
• The items array tracks the products bought, including their IDs, names, quantities, and prices.
• This information is sent to Google's tracking system to evaluate the effectiveness of ad campaigns, allowing for better insights and optimization.

This example demonstrates how businesses can track specific transactions and tailor their advertising strategies based on detailed data about user actions.
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How to Create a Floodlight Using the Same chain:

1. Create a Floodlight in the CM360 or DV360 system.
2. Get installation instructions.
3. Put it on the site and track the event (conversion).

How to Install Floodlight Tag?

Below, we offer several answers on How to implement floodlight tags based on the type of floodlight tag manager.

Installing Floodlight Tracking in Campaign Manager 360

To install floodlight tags, open Campaign Manager 360 and go to your advertiser.

Go to the “Action Groups” tab.

Give the action group a convenient name and select the type “Sales” or “Counter.” Everything is logical here: if you want to track transactions or revenue — choose “Sales.” If you’re going to track how many forms were filled in — choose “Counter.” You can learn more about action groups in Google Help in the Floodlight Conversion Counting Methods section.

Go back to the “Actions” tab and click “Create”.

Fill in all the required fields and save.

If you have an app, it is better to link CM360 to the developer’s Google Play account to track installations influenced by media advertising.

Installing Floodlight Tracking in Display&Video 360

Let's figure out what is floodlight in DV360. To install floodlight tags, open your DV360 account and go to the “Resources” tab. Click on “NEW FLOODLIGHT ACTIVITY” and select “Web”.

Fill in the required fields and save.

After saving, you will see a field with installation instructions, just like in CM360.

Adding Google Floodlights to the Website

You can install the Floodlight tag in two ways:

1. Directly to the website via code.
2. Using Google Tag Manager.

To install the Floodlight tag using Google Tag Manager:

Open GTM and select “Create Tag,” then “Floodlight Counter.” Give it a convenient name and fill in all the necessary fields for the successful transfer of the event to SM360:

• take the fields from SM360 on the “Actions” tab;

• fill in all the data inside the Floodlight tag, save it, and publish it.

You can also pass custom variables into Floodlight and get additional information for analysis. But this is a topic for another article.
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What Value Does Floodlight Tag Provide?

Floodlight tagging is an essential tool for businesses looking to optimize their digital marketing campaigns and track user interactions effectively. These tags, primarily used within Google Marketing Platform, offer significant value in multiple key areas:

1. Accurate Conversion Tracking: Floodlight tags allow marketers to track specific actions users take on a website, such as completing a purchase, filling out a form, or downloading a file. This data helps measure campaign performance accurately.
2. Comprehensive Attribution Insights: By capturing user interactions across various touchpoints, Floodlight tags contribute to multi-touch attribution models. This enables marketers to understand which channels and campaigns are driving the most valuable actions.
3. Enhanced Audience Segmentation: With Floodlight tags, marketers can create audience segments based on specific user behaviors. For example, targeting users who added items to their cart but didn’t complete a purchase.
4. Better ROI Measurement: By understanding which campaigns generate the most conversions and value, marketers can allocate budgets more efficiently, ensuring higher returns on investment.
5. Seamless Integration with Other Tools: Floodlight tags integrate smoothly with other Google Marketing Platform tools, such as Campaign Manager 360 and Display & Video 360, providing a unified approach to data collection and campaign optimization.

In short, Floodlight tags empower marketers with actionable insights, better targeting capabilities, and precise conversion tracking, making them an indispensable part of modern digital marketing strategies.

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