Adobe Advertising IDs Used by Analytics

Advertisers with an Adobe Advertising-Adobe Analytics Integration Only

Applicable to Advertising DSP and Advertising Search, Social, & Commerce

Adobe Advertising uses two IDs for on-site performance tracking: the EF ID and the AMO ID.

When an ad impression occurs, Adobe Advertising creates the AMO ID and EF ID values and stores them. When a visitor who has seen an ad enters the site without clicking an ad, Analytics calls these values from Adobe Advertising through the Analytics for Advertising JavaScript code. For view-through traffic, Analytics generates a supplemental ID (SDID), which is used to stitch the EF ID and AMO ID into Analytics. For click-through traffic, these IDs are included in the landing page URL using the ef_id and s_kwcid (for the AMO ID) query string parameters.

Adobe Advertising distinguishes between a click-through or view-through entry to the website using the following criteria:

• A view-through entry is captured when a user visits the site after viewing an ad but not clicking it. Analytics records a view-through if two conditions are met:

  • The visitor has no click-throughs for a DSP or Search, Social, & Commerce ad during the click lookback window.

  • The visitor has seen at least one DSP ad during the impression lookback window. The last impression is passed as the view-through.

• A click-through entry is captured when a site visitor clicks an ad before entering the site. Analytics captures a click-through when either of the following conditions occurs:

  • The URL includes an EF ID and AMO ID as added to the landing page URL by Adobe Advertising.

  • The URL contains no tracking codes, but the Adobe Advertising JavaScript code detects a click within the last two minutes.

Figure 1: Adobe Advertising view-based Analytics integration

Figure 2: Adobe Advertising click URL-based Analytics integration

Adobe Advertising EF IDs

The EF ID is a unique token that Adobe Advertising uses to associate activity with an online click or ad exposure. The EF ID is stored in an Analytics eVar or rVar (reserved eVar) dimension (Adobe Advertising EF ID) and tracks each ad click or exposure at the individual browser or device level. EF IDs act primarily as keys for sending Analytics data to Adobe Advertising for reporting and bid optimization within Adobe Advertising.

EF ID Format

Google Ads search ads

{gclid}:G:s

where:

• gclid is the Google Click ID (GCLID).
• s is the network type (“s” for search).

Microsoft Advertising search ads

{msclkid}:G:s

where:

• msclkid is the Microsoft Click ID (MSCLKID).
• s is the network type (“s” for search).

Display ads and search ads on other search engines

<Adobe Advertising visitor ID>:<timestamp>:<channel type>

where:

• <Adobe Advertising visitor ID> is a unique ID per visitor (such as UhKVaAAABCkJ0mDt). Also called the surfer ID.

• <timestamp> is the time in the format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS (such as 20190821192533 for Year 2019, Month 08, Day 21, Time 19:25:33).

• <channel type> is the channel type responsible for the click or exposure:

  • d for a click on a DSP display ad (display click-through)
  • i for an impression of a DSP display ad (display view-through)
  • s for a click on a Search ad (search click-through).

Example EF ID: WcmibgAAAHJK1RyY:1551968087687:d

The EF ID Dimension in Analytics

In Analytics reports, you can find EF ID data by searching for the EF ID dimension and using the EF ID Instance metric.

EF IDs are subject to the 500k unique identifier limit in Analysis Workspace. Once the 500k value is reached, all new tracking codes are reported under the one-line-item title “Low Traffic.” Because of the possibility of missing reporting fidelity, the EF IDs are not classified, and you should not use them for segments or reporting in Analytics.

Adobe Advertising AMO IDs

The AMO ID tracks each unique ad combination at a less granular level and is used for Analytics data classification and ingestion of advertising metrics (such as impressions, clicks, and cost) from Adobe Advertising. The AMO ID is stored in an Analytics eVar or rVar dimension (AMO ID) and is used exclusively for reporting in Analytics.

The AMO ID is also called the s_kwcid, which is sometimes pronounced as “the squid.”

Ways to Implement the AMO ID

The parameter is added to your tracking URLs in one of the following ways:

• (Recommended) The server-side insertion feature is implemented.

  • DSP customers: The pixel server automatically appends the s_kwcid parameter to your landing page suffixes when an end user views a display ad with the Adobe Advertising pixel.

  • Search, Social, & Commerce customers:

    • For Google Ads and Microsoft® Advertising accounts with the Auto Upload setting enabled for the account or campaign, the pixel server automatically appends the s_kwcid parameter to your landing page suffixes when an end user clicks an ad with the Adobe Advertising pixel.

    • For other ad networks, or Google Ads and Microsoft® Advertising accounts with the Auto Upload setting disabled, manually add the parameter to your account-level append parameters, which append it to your base URLs.

• The server-side insertion feature isn’t implemented:

  • DSP customers: The JavaScript code automatically records click-throughs and view-throughs. When a browser doesn’t support third-party cookies, you can still track click-based conversions for the following ad types:

    • For Flashtalking ad tags, manually insert additional macros per “Append Analytics for Advertising Macros to Flashtalking Ad Tags.”

    • For Google Campaign Manager 360 ad tags, manually insert additional macros per “Append Analytics for Advertising Macros to Google Campaign Manager 360 Ad Tags.”

  • Search, Social, & Commerce customers:

    • For (Google Ads and Microsoft® Advertising) ads, manually add the AMO ID parameter to your landing page suffixes, ideally at the account level unless different tracking for individual account components is necessary.

    • For ads on all other ad networks, manually add the AMO ID parameter to your account-level append parameters, which append it to your base URLs.

To implement the server-side insertion feature, or to determine the best option for your business, talk to your Adobe Account Team.

AMO ID Formats

AMO ID Format for DSP

s_kwcid=AC!${TM_AD_ID}!${TM_PLACEMENT_ID}

where:

• AC indicates the display channel.

• {TM_AD_ID} is the Adobe Advertising-generated alphanumeric ad key. It’s used an unique identifier for an ad and serves as a key for translating Adobe Advertising entity metadata into readable Analytics dimensions.

• {TM_PLACEMENT_ID} is the Adobe Advertising-generated alphanumeric placement key. It’s used an unique identifier for a placement and serves as a key for translating Adobe Advertising entity metadata into readable Analytics dimensions.

Example AMO ID: AC!iIMvXqlOa6Nia2lDvtgw!GrVv6o2oV2qQLjQiXLC7

AMO ID formats for Search, Social, & Commerce ads

The parameters vary by ad network, but the following parameters are common to all:

• AL indicates the search channel.

• {userid} is a unique user ID assigned to the advertiser.

• {sid} is replaced by the numeric ID for the advertiser’s ad network account: 3 for Google Ads, 10 for Microsoft Advertising, 45 for Meta, 86 for Yahoo! Display Network, 87 for Naver, 88 for Baidu, 90 for Yandex, 94 for Yahoo! Japan Ads, 105 for Yahoo Native (deprecated), or 106 for Pinterest (deprecated).

Baidu

s_kwcid=AL!{userid}!{sid}!{creative}!{placement}!{keywordid}

where:

• {creative} is the ad network’s unique numeric ID for the creative.
• {placement} is the website on which the ad was clicked.
• {keywordid} is the ad network’s unique numeric ID for the keyword that triggered the ad.

Google Ads

These including shopping campaigns using Google Merchant Center.

• Accounts that use the latest AMO ID format, which supports campaign- and ad group-level reporting for performance max campaigns and drafts and experiments campaigns:

  s_kwcid=AL!{userid}!{sid}!{creative}!{matchtype}!{placement}!{network}!{product_partition_id}!{keyword}!{campaignid}!{adgroupid}

• All other accounts:

  s_kwcid=AL!{userid}!{sid}!{creative}!{matchtype}!{placement}!{network}!{product_partition_id}!{keyword}

where:

• {creative} is the Google Ads unique numeric ID for the creative.
• {matchtype} is the matchtype of the keyword that triggered the ad: e for exact, p for phrase, or b for broad.
• {placement} is the domain name of the website on which the ad was clicked. A value is available for ads in placement-targeted campaigns and for ads in keyword-targeted campaigns that are displayed on content sites.
• {network} indicates the network from which the click occurred: g for Google search (for keyword-targeted ads only), s for a search partner (for keyword-targeted ads only), or d for the display network (for either keyword-targeted or placement-targeted ads).
• {product_partition_id} is the ad network’s unique numeric ID for the product group used with product ads.
• {keyword} is either the specific keyword that triggered your ad (on search sites) or the best-matching keyword (on content sites).
• {campaignid} is the ad network’s unique numeric ID for the campaign.
• {adgroupid} is the the ad network’s unique numeric ID for the ad group.

Microsoft Advertising

• Search campaigns:

  s_kwcid=AL!{userid}!{sid}!{AdId}!{OrderItemId}

• Shopping campaigns (using Microsoft Merchant Center):

  s_kwcid=AL!{userid}!{sid}!{AdId}!{CriterionId}

• Audience network campaigns:

  s_kwcid=AL!{userid}!{sid}!{AdId}

where:

• {AdId} is the ad network’s unique numeric ID for the creative.
• {OrderItemId} is the ad network’s numeric ID for the keyword.
• {CriterionId} is the ad network’s numeric ID for the product group used with product ads.

Yahoo! Japan Ads

s_kwcid=AL!{userid}!{sid}!{creative}!{matchtype}!{network}!{keyword}

where:

• {creative} is the ad network’s unique numeric ID for the creative.
• {matchtype} is the matchtype of the keyword that triggered the ad: be for exact, bp for phrase, or bb for broad.
• {network} indicates the network from which the click occurred: n for native or s for search.
• {keyword} is the keyword that triggered your ad.

Yandex

s_kwcid=AL!{userid}!{sid}!{ad_id}!{source_type}!!!{phrase_id}

where:

• {ad_id} is the ad network’s unique numeric ID for the creative.
• {source_type} is the type of site on which the ad has been displayed: b for search, c for context (content), or ct for category.
• {phrase_id} is the ad network’s numeric ID for the keyword.

AMO ID Dimension in Analytics

In Analytics reports, you can find AMO ID data by searching for the AMO ID dimension and using the AMO ID Instances metric. The AMO ID dimension houses all AMO ID values captured, whereas the AMO ID Instances metric indicates how often an AMO ID value was captured by the site. For example, if the same search ad was clicked four times but Analytics tracked seven site entries, then AMO ID Instances would be seven (7) and Clicks would be four (4).

For any reporting or auditing within Analytics, the best practice is to use the AMO ID along with its corresponding instance. For more information, see “Data Validation for Analytics for Advertising” in “Expected Data Variances Between Analytics and Adobe Advertising.”

About Analytics Classifications

In Analytics, a classification is a piece of metadata for a given tracking code, such as Account, Campaign, or Ad. Adobe Advertising categorizes raw Adobe Advertising data using classifications so that you can display the data in different ways (such as by Ad Type or Campaign) when you generate reports. Classifications form the basis of Adobe Advertising reporting in Analytics and can be used with the AMO metrics, such as Adobe Advertising Cost, Adobe Advertising Impressions, and AMO Clicks, as well as with custom and standard on-site events like Visits, Leads, Orders, and Revenue.