How to Track Conversions in DV360: Floodlight Setup Guide

Conversion tracking is the part of a DV360 setup that's easiest to rush and hardest to fix later. If the tags are wrong, every CPA, every automated bid and every ROI figure built on them is wrong too. Below is the setup in the order I'd follow on a new advertiser, from choosing what to track to reading the reports.

How does conversion tracking work in DV360?

DV360 tracks conversions with Floodlight, the conversion tracking system shared by Google Marketing Platform products: Campaign Manager 360 (CM360), DV360 and Search Ads 360. You create a Floodlight activity for each action you care about, place its tag on your website or app, and attach the activity to your line items.

When someone converts, Floodlight checks whether that person saw or clicked one of your ads within the lookback window:

• A post-click conversion follows a click on your ad.
• A post-view conversion follows an ad view with no click.

If both happened inside the window, Floodlight credits the click.

Should you manage Floodlight in DV360 or CM360?

It depends on how the advertiser was set up, and that choice is hard to undo.

• If the advertiser uses CM360 as its ad server, the Floodlight configuration and global settings, such as lookback windows, live in CM360.
• If the advertiser is set to use third-party ad servers only, you can create and manage Floodlight activities directly in DV360.

An advertiser's ad server configuration can't be changed once it's created, so decide before you build anything. If you want one attribution view across several buying platforms, CM360 is usually the better home; our guide to CM360 campaign attribution explains why. When we set up a DV360 advertiser account, Floodlight conversion tracking is part of the setup.

How do you set up conversion tracking in DV360, step by step?

1. List your conversions and what they're worth. Write down every action worth tracking. For an EdTech or education brand that might be course page views, lead form starts, leads submitted and fees paid. Track the steps, not just the final one, so you can see where people drop off.
2. Create the Floodlight activities. In an advertiser that manages Floodlight in DV360, go to Resources, then Floodlight, and create a new web activity. Then choose:
   • Format: the Google tag is recommended; iframe and image tags are older formats.
   • Type: Counter for actions such as leads and sign-ups, or Sales for purchases with a value.
   • Counting method: for counters, Standard (every conversion), Unique (one per user per day) or Per session; for sales, Transactions or Items sold.
3. Decide on remarketing. Tick Remarketing on an activity if you want to build audiences from it. This is the basis of most DV360 retargeting campaigns, so switch it on for key pages from day one.
4. Install the tags. Open the activity's Code tab and send the tag to your developer, or add it through Google Tag Manager. On sales tags, pass the order value and a unique order ID so a reloaded thank-you page doesn't count twice. Editing an activity later doesn't update tags already on your site.
5. Test before launch. Complete a test conversion yourself, use Google's Tag Assistant to check that the tag fires once, and confirm the conversions appear in reporting the next day.
6. Attach activities to line items. In each line item's conversion tracking section, select the Floodlight activities that matter for that line. Set post-click and post-view windows in days. A window of 0 counts conversions within 24 hours, 1 within 48 hours, and so on. If you also use CM360, the shorter of the two windows applies.
7. Choose conversion counting. Each line item can count all post-view and post-click conversions, only post-click conversions, or all post-click conversions plus a percentage of post-view conversions that you set. Pick one rule for the campaign and keep it.

Our guide to creating a campaign in DV360 shows where these settings sit in the wider line item setup.

How do you track YouTube conversions in DV360?

YouTube & partners line items use YouTube-enabled Floodlight activities. Turn on the dynamic tag in your Floodlight group's web tag settings, create a web activity in the Google tag or iframe format, switch on YouTube-enabled Floodlight, then deploy the new code. Google also recommends turning on YouTube auto-tagging so conversions from ad clicks are counted accurately.

YouTube conversions are counted a little differently from other line items:

• Clicks count within a 30-day conversion window.
• An engaged view, meaning someone watched at least 10 seconds of the ad, counts if the conversion happens within 3 days.
• If someone both clicked and watched, only the click is counted.
• View-through conversions are reported separately and aren't used for optimisation.

Our guide to running YouTube ads through DV360 covers the rest of the YouTube setup.

How do you track app and offline conversions?

App conversions. When you create a mobile app Floodlight activity, you choose whether to track through Firebase or a third-party app analytics partner. Partners such as AppsFlyer, Adjust, Branch and Kochava can be linked in either CM360 or DV360, normally against the app's Google Play or App Store listing.

Offline conversions. Many Indian categories close the sale away from the website: a loan disbursed after a branch visit, a car booked at a dealer, an admission confirmed over the phone. You can upload these outcomes to a Floodlight activity, usually a placeholder activity that isn't placed on your live site. For new offline conversion workflows, Google now recommends its Data Manager API.

Enhanced conversions. This sends hashed first-party data, such as an email address, along with your Floodlight tags to improve matching. It's switched on at the Floodlight configuration in CM360, and in DV360 it applies to YouTube and eligible Demand Gen inventory.

Where does GA4 fit in?

GA4 and Floodlight do different jobs. Floodlight is what DV360 line items count and report conversions against. Linking a GA4 property to your DV360 advertiser lets you share GA4 audiences with DV360 and use GA4 key events in custom bidding. GA4 exports those conversions using its paid and organic last click model, and in DV360 the data shows up through custom bidding metrics rather than the standard conversion columns. The full setup is in our guide on connecting DV360 with GA4.

Expect Floodlight and GA4 to show different conversion counts. They use different attribution rules and windows, so pick one as the number you report and use the other as a cross-check.

How do you read conversion data in DV360 reports?

The core metrics are Total Conversions, Post-Click Conversions and Post-View Conversions, along with cost-per-conversion figures such as Revenue eCPA. Watch the naming: in DV360, "Revenue" means what was spent buying and serving your ads, not what you earned.

Keep post-click and post-view in separate columns. A line with a low CPA built mostly on post-view conversions deserves a second look before it gets more budget. Our guide to DV360 campaign reports shows how to schedule these reports, and our DV360 optimisation checklist covers what to do with the numbers. To turn conversions into a profit figure, see how to measure programmatic advertising ROI.

What mistakes break DV360 conversion tracking?

• Double tagging. The same Floodlight tag hard-coded on the page and fired again through Tag Manager doubles your conversions.
• The wrong counting method. Standard counting on a lead page that people refresh will over-count. Unique or Per session usually suits leads better.
• Sales tags without an order ID or value. You lose duplicate protection and revenue data.
• Changing windows mid-campaign. The change isn't retroactive, so your before and after numbers stop being comparable.
• Tagging only the last step. You can't optimise a funnel you can't see.
• Skipping consent. Make sure your privacy notice and consent flow cover advertising tags, in line with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act.

Next step

If you're running DV360 yourself, our self-serve DV360 account includes help with Floodlight and conversion tracking setup, so your first campaign starts with tags you can trust. If you'd like a second pair of eyes on an existing setup, contact us and we'll review your Floodlight activities and line item settings.