Updates to iOS 14 campaign measurement

As a result of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy changes, you will find some updates to the way we report and measure conversion information for ads serving on iOS 14 traffic. This article outlines how product changes may affect you as a Google Ads advertiser. Most advertisers will not be affected.

You can read about how we’re preparing our partners for Apple’s iOS 14 policy updates.

ATT impact on Google Click ID, website, and offline conversions

Since Apple’s ATT policies took effect on April 26, 2021, we no longer send the Google Click Identifier (GCLID) for iOS 14 traffic coming from ads on a handful of Google apps. Traffic from other Google sources will not be affected and will continue to include GCLIDs.

How will it affect me?

Some Google iOS apps currently use information (such as Apple’s IDFA) that would require ATT. Apple’s ATT policies mean Google will no longer use that information, and therefore will not show the prompt in those apps, in line with Apple’s guidance.

As a result, you may find a decrease in GCLIDs in your landing page URLs for traffic originating from affected iOS apps. For impacted traffic only:

• The &gclid={GCLID} will not be appended to ad clicks and the {gclid} ValueTrack parameter will be set to empty text.
• You may find a decrease in reported website conversions.
• You may find a decrease in reported offline conversions (imported from clicks).

What Google is doing to help

In March 2021, we introduced a new URL parameter to help comply with Apple’s policies and help you measure the results of your ads on iOS.

This new parameter, &wbraid={WBRAID}, will help you attribute conversions back to your ad campaigns and work with conversion modeling to give you a more accurate measurement on iOS.

To support this new parameter, the Google tag (gtag.js), Google Tag Manager (gtm.js), and Google Analytics (analytics.js) with a linked Google Ads account will set a new first-party cookie on your domains by default. That will attribute conversions back to ads subject to ATT policies.

As always, you can opt out of first-party cookie tracking at any time by disabling conversion linking in your respective configuration.

Preparing for iOS 14 changes

We recommend you prepare for these changes with the following actions:

• Ensure that you have the Google tag (gTag.js and/or Google Tag Manager) properly implemented on your site.
• While most advertisers won’t need to change their website, a small percentage may need to allow arbitrary URL parameters on their website to ensure continuity of campaign measurement.
• For Video campaigns, you should enable audience expansion for remarketing or Customer Match campaigns, and also choose to include similar audiences on all ad groups.

Bidding considerations for impacted campaigns

Campaigns using Smart Bidding will continue to set bids based on the most accurate measurement available. However, we recommend that you prepare for the above changes by closely monitoring the performance and delivery of all campaigns serving on iOS traffic. If necessary, you can also make adjustments to budgets and Smart Bidding CPA or ROAS targets to help you achieve your goals. For example, if you would like to increase spending, you can raise CPA targets or lower ROAS targets as needed.

ATT impact on app deep-link conversions

If your ads deep link users into your apps on iOS 14, you may also have fluctuations in your in-app conversions as Apple’s ATT policies go into effect. In reporting, we will be rolling out solutions to ensure you can continue to get the most accurate in-app measurement on iOS.

What Google is doing to help

In May 2021, Google introduced a new URL parameter that you can use to measure the results of your ads on iOS under Apple’s policies.

gbraid is the new parameter that can help you measure app conversions driven by ad campaigns on iOS. This new parameter is added to landing page URLs when auto-tagging is enabled for all iOS14.5+ clicks.

Benefits of using gBraid

• Discover key insights: Get full measurement of your Google ad campaign results and app conversions on iOS.
• Boost campaign performance: Capture unaccounted iOS conversions with gBraid to power bidding models to help deliver ads more efficiently.

How to set up gBraid

1. Make sure that your website supports the following:
   • Deep links are correctly set up
   • Arbitrary URL parameters are allowed
   • Tracking template is compatible with URL parameters
2. Turn on auto-tagging in your Google Ads account settings.
3. Find your measurement setup and follow the instructions. Learn more About tracking app conversions with an App Attribution Partner.

Preparing for iOS 14 changes

We recommend you prepare for these changes with the following actions:

• Stay up to date on the latest iOS 14-related information from your App Attribution Partner or upgrade to the latest version of Google Analytics for Firebase to ensure that your SDK supports Google’s conversion measurement on iOS, with the added gbraid parameter.
• While most advertisers won’t need to change their website, a small percentage may need to allow arbitrary URL parameters on their website (in this case "gbraid=") to ensure continuity of campaign measurement.
• If you use Manual CPC bidding, avoid making CPC bid adjustments (to account for the iOS-reported conversion drop) until reported iOS in-app conversions normalize.

Related links

• About modeled online conversions
• About deep links
• Best practices guide: Drive better performance and measurement for iOS App campaigns
• FAQs about iOS 14 changes