Product Group parameters and Tracking Templates can be enabled to provide comprehensive tracking of Product Listing Ads and Shopping Campaigns.
Note: Before updating your URL Builder, we recommend reaching out to your Marin account representative for guidance. Your account representative may need to enable a few back-end features before you enable Product Group-level tracking in your Marin Client Account.
Handy Tip
You can set up Product Group tracking for both Google and Microsoft campaigns using Marin's URL Builder. To learn more about tracking using the URL Builder, we recommend checking out The Marin URL Builder article.
When Is A Product Group Template Required?
In the majority of cases, a Product Group template is NOT required when using an account, campaign, or group-level tracking template. Tracking for Product Groups can be ensured by simply:
- Including the Product ID ValueTrack parameter in the tracking template
- Applying a Product Group-level MKWID custom parameter
A Product Group-level template is needed when:
- Your URL structure differs between your product groups/shopping campaigns and your other objects
- You use keyword or creative-level tracking templates
- You use manual tagging override to track product group-level conversions using Google Analytics Autotagging
Product Group Tracking Parameters
In order to track Product Listing Ads or Shopping Campaign conversions, we recommend using the following parameters:
- Product ID - {product_id} for Google, {productid} for Microsoft. This parameter can be used to track conversions to a specific product as well as the product group and creative. This will also allow you to effectively optimize Product Group bids and structure.
Additionally, we recommend using the {_mkwid} customer parameter at the Product Group level and we recommend excluding the following parameters because they are not used for this ad type:
- Distribution - {ifsearch:s}{ifcontent:c} (Google only)
- Keyword - {keyword} for Google, {Keyword} for Microsoft
- Matchtype - {matchtype} for Google, {MatchType} or {BidMatchType} for Microsoft
- Placement - {placement} (Google only)
Tracking At The Product Group Level
In order to set up your Product Group-level tracking, we recommend following the instructions listed in The Marin URL Builder placing your template at the Product Group level. You can set up a new Tracking Template at the Product Group level by following the instructions below.
- From your Marin Client Account, click Settings in the top right corner.
- Click on the Revenue & Tracking.
- Select the URL Templates sub-tab.
- Click the + Create button ('plus sign' icon)
- From the list of available Tracking Template levels, select Product Group.
- From here, you can add URL parameters and custom parameters according to the instructions outlined in The Marin URL Builder article. Use the tracking parameters mentioned above in the Product Group Tracking Parameters section of this article.
- Once your new Tracking Template has been set up, click Create.
- To navigate between your existing Tracking Templates, select them from the grid and click Edit ('pencil' icon).
Tracking Product-Level Conversions
It may be useful to track the specific product that generated a conversion, in addition to the product group and creative. This will enable you to effectively optimize Product Group bids and structure.
For Google Product Group URLs, you can do this by appending product={product_id}. For Microsoft Product Group URLs, you would append product={productid}. This will allow any Google conversions to be attributed to both the Product Group and Product. For Microsoft, you would simply need to remove the underscore in the {product_id} parameter.
