View-through conversions (VTC) are a helpful way to track the value of your display or video ad campaigns, are supported by Floodlight, and can be included in Search Ads 360 reports. For display campaigns, for example, they measure the conversions where a customer saw—but didn't click—an ad before completing a conversion.
View-through conversions take into account the settings of your conversion actions, such as the way conversions are counted. VTCs help you view the full value of your ads, especially for campaigns designed to increase awareness.
Supported campaign types:
- Performance Max
- Demand Gen
- Video
VTCs are tracked with Floodlight and use impression beacons to provide a detailed look at how people interact with your ads. When your ad is shown, it’s registered as an impression. This allows Search Ads 360 to connect that ad view to any subsequent conversions on your site.
VTCs automatically exclude conversions from people who have interacted with any of your other ads. View-through conversions from browsers that don’t allow cross-site cookies can't be reported.
On this page
- When to use view-through conversions in Search Ads 360
- Beacon hierarchy for Search Ads 360 view-through conversions tracking
- Where to find view-through conversion data in Search Ads 360
When to use view-through conversions in Search Ads 360
View-Through Conversion data in Search Ads 360 can help you understand the full impact of ad campaigns, especially visual ones like Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube. VTCs measure conversions that happen after a user sees your ad but doesn't click, and then later converts.
Here are some scenarios for analyzing VTC data:
- Assessing Awareness and Consideration Campaigns: For campaigns building brand awareness or influence, users may not click immediately but are still impacted. VTC data captures conversions influenced by these impressions, offering a holistic performance view beyond click-through conversions (CTCs).
- Understanding Display and Video Impact: Campaigns on YouTube, Google Display Network, and Discover feeds generate many impressions. VTCs help quantify conversion value from users who saw these visual ads, even without a click.
Use VTC data to better understand ad visibility and achieve more comprehensive performance measurement, particularly for visual campaigns.
You can set your View-through conversions window when you create or edit conversion actions. For example, if you pick 30 days for a conversion action, Search Ads 360 will track view-through conversions that happen within 30 days after an impression is registered. Choose a conversion window that makes sense for your business.
Beacon hierarchy for Search Ads 360 view-through conversions tracking
For Search Ads 360 view-through conversion tracking to function, a dedicated Search Ads 360 Floodlight impression beacon is placed on the creative automatically. This beacon must remain active for view-through conversions tracking in Search Ads 360 to function. A creative can only have 1 primary impression beacon, and Search Ads 360 follows specific rules to avoid conflicts with other tracking systems like Campaign Manager 360 or third-party platforms.
Here’s how the beacon hierarchy works:
- If a manual beacon exists: Search Ads 360 won't add its own beacon if it detects a manually placed impression beacon from Campaign Manager 360 or a third party. This prevents double-tracking.
- If a Search Ads 360 beacon exists: Manually adding a new impression beacon from Campaign Manager 360 or a third party will override and replace the Search Ads 360 beacon.
- Warning: When the Search Ads 360 beacon is replaced, view-through conversions tracking in Search Ads 360 will stop working.
Where to find view-through conversion data in Search Ads 360
VTC data can be found in 2 places when reviewing your campaigns in Search Ads 360:
- View-through conversions column: To view the breakdown of Floodlight VTCs, segment your report by "Conversion source" and look for the “Floodlight” source.
- All conversions column: To view VTCs separately within this column, you can segment your report by "Ad event type" and look for the “Impression” event type.
VTCs are currently only considered in the last click attribution model. Learn more About attribution models.