Overview
To bridge the gap between digital exposure and real-world actions, GroundTruth Ads Manager supports multiple independent tracking and attribution methods. Depending on your campaign goals and existing analytics stack, you can choose the solution(s) that works best for your team.
The GroundTruth Pixel
The GroundTruth Pixel measures a wide range of user actions after they click your ad and land on your website.
Best Used For:
- Omnichannel Attribution: Measure performance across CTV, Mobile, Desktop, and Audio in a single view.
- Full Customer Journey Mapping: Understand exactly how physical and digital touchpoints connect.
- Detailed On-Site Engagement: Track user behaviors such as scrolls, clicks, time-on-site, and conversion events.
- Build-in Site Retargeting: Build custom audiences of past site visitors automatically without installing separate scripts or making manual requests.
How it Works: Upon landing on your website, the base pixel automatically tracks standard browser activity. Optional custom event snippets can be added to capture custom bottom-funnel events like cart additions and purchases.
Reporting: High-level site activity is available natively on your Campaign Overview page.
Generating Your Pixel in Ads Manager
You can generate or select your GroundTruth Pixel directly within the creation flow. While you can create multiple unique pixels within a single account, only one pixel can be active per ad group at any given time.
Option 1: Generate a New Pixel
Click the + Generate new pixel button and configure the following:
- Website URL: Input your destination domain (include the secure protocol prefix, e.g., https://).
- Tracking Pixel Name: Give your pixel a distinct, clear name for easy reference.
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Enable Site Retargeting (Optional): Check the Enable site retargeting box during pixel creation to build a custom audience of past website visitors so you can re-engage them across any channel later.
âšī¸ Site Retargeting Capture Logic & Details
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How Traffic is Captured: The audience automatically captures traffic from the specific Website URL entered, as well as any sub-paths or sub-directories under that URL.
Captured: https://example.com, https://example.com/start
Not Captured: Subdomains not explicitly defined during pixel creation (e.g., user.example.com)
Processing Time: Allow ~1 hour after creation for the audience segment to populate in the platform.
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Locating Your Audience in Future Campaigns: To target past site visitors, navigate to Target by Audience using either path:
Option A (Quick): Target by Audience > Search by Pixel Name
Option B (Library): Target by Audience > Browse Audience Library > Deterministic > Other Types of Audiences > Search by Pixel Name
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Note: The code snippet itself remains identical whether or not site retargeting is enabled, with the exception of the unique GTID identification string generated for your account. Once generated, you can copy, download, or delete the code snippet.
Option 2: Select From Existing
Click Select from existing to choose a previously created pixel from the dropdown menu. We recommend using a consistent, clear naming convention so your team can easily identify the correct pixel.
Implementation Methods
The pixel generated in the platform is your Base Pixel, which is required for all tracking. If you want to track custom conversion events (like purchases or form fills), you must apply additional code snippets (detailed in the section below) after this base install.
Method 1: Google Tag Manager (Recommended)
- Log in to GTM, navigate to Tags in the left-hand menu, and click New.
- Click into the Tag Configuration box and select Custom HTML as the tag type.
- Paste your copied GroundTruth base pixel code directly into the HTML text box.
- Click into the Triggering box and select All Pages so the tag fires globally across your site.
- Name your tag (e.g., GroundTruth Base Pixel) and click Save.
Method 2: Manual HTML Placement
- Access your website's HTML files.
- Paste the base pixel code snippet directly into the header section (<head>) of every webpage you wish to measure. For the most accurate attribution, we recommend placing it on all pages.
Method 3: Shopify & WordPress Integration
These platforms require specialized setups. Refer directly to [Install GroundTruth Pixel in Shopify] and [Install GroundTruth Pixel in WordPress] for instructions.
Pixel Validation
To validate that your pixel is firing properly, follow the steps outlined in [Validate Pixel Installation].
Custom Events (Optional)
Once your base pixel is installed, you can track specific bottom-funnel milestones by adding a simple, single-line "signal" code snippet to your action completion pages (such as your "Thank You" or order confirmation pages).
đī¸ Cart
Triggered when a product is added to cart (e.g., gtpx('cart',{amount:49.99});). Remember to replace XXXXX with a numerical value.
gtpx('cart',{amount: XXXXX});đŗ Purchase
Triggered when a purchase is completed, like on a "thank you" page (e.g., gtpx('purchase',{amount:139.00});). Remember to replace XXXXX with a numerical value.
gtpx('purchase',{amount: XXXXX});đ Conversion
Triggered when a custom, named conversion is completed, like a form fill. Advertiser must specify their custom goal name string in the label field (e.g., gtpx('conversion',{label:'signup'});).
gtpx('conversion',{label:'my_goal_name'});Third-Party Tracking & URL Parameters
GroundTruth Ads Manager supports a robust suite of integration options to measure your post-click user journey. By appending Google UTM codes, custom URL parameters, and third-party tracking pixels, you can seamlessly connect your real-world location campaigns with your digital attribution platforms.
Supported Tracking Methods
You can configure tracking mechanisms natively within your campaign setup to ensure accurate downstream measurement:
- UTM & URL Parameters: GroundTruth fully supports appending standard Google Analytics UTM parameters (e.g., utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign) and custom query strings directly to your destination URLs when uploading your creative. We recommend using groundtruth or gt as the utm_source at minimum.
- Creative-Level Pixels & Scripts: Read more about third-party click trackers and tracking scripts in [Setting up Ad Group creative(s)]
Understanding In-App Reporting Discrepancies
While GroundTruth reports strictly on actual impressions and clicks generated directly by real users, you may encounter reporting discrepancies when comparing our dashboard metrics with third-party analytics platforms (such as Google Analytics).
Because GroundTruth specializes in in-application (in-app) mobile environments, there are natural mobile-browser behaviors that cause tracking delays. The three primary drivers of traffic discrepancies include:
- Supply-Side Platform (SSP) Browser Routing: When a user clicks an in-app ad, the SSP must route the web traffic. Depending on the user's device and the app environment, the SSP will open your destination URL either in a built-in, lightweight in-app browser or redirect the user to an external mobile web browser (like Safari or Chrome). This split-path transition can occasionally strip or delay attribution signals.
- User Latency and Early Exits: Unlike standard desktop browsing, mobile users frequently click an ad accidentally or change their mind mid-load. If a user clicks an ad and closes the browser window before your third-party tracking pixel has fully loaded, GroundTruth will count the redirect click, but your destination platform (e.g., Google Analytics) will record no session or pageview.
- Inherent Mobile Browser Traffic Loss: In-app mobile web views do not share cookie spaces or session states as cleanly as desktop browsers do. Technical discrepancies can occur due to strict device-level privacy settings, ad blockers, or packet drops on unstable cellular networks before the tracking script can ping its server.
Best Practices for Accurate Tracking
To minimize discrepancies and ensure your third-party tools capture as many sessions as possible, we recommend the following optimization steps:
- Optimize Your Landing Page Speed: Ensure your website loads in under 2 seconds. The faster your page loads, the less time there is for a user to exit before the tracking script fires.
- Use Hardcoded UTMs: Always append your UTM parameters directly to your primary destination URL rather than relying on javascript-based redirects, which are frequently blocked by mobile browsers.
- Consolidate Your Tags: Whenever possible, use lightweight, asynchronous tracking tags to prevent slow loading speeds in mobile environments.
đ Deep Dive: Want to understand your dashboard metrics further? [Read Google Analytics discrepancies].
Need Help?
For additional support and to ensure your campaign is set up for success, please reach out to your dedicated GroundTruth representative, or our Self-Serve team (selfservehelp@groundtruth.com) to be connected to a representative.
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