A marketer advertises in many markets around the world, including Germany and France. They've started running YouTube and Search campaigns with Google, and they measure online conversions. Which action should this marketer take to preserve their conversion tracking after regulatory changes such as the Digital Markets Act?
Remove the Google tag and send conversion data to Google server-side via API or offline uploads to remove third-party cookie reliance completely.
Implement the Google tag on select landing pages and switch all campaigns to manual bidding strategies to remove third-party cookie reliance completely.
Implement the Google tag sitewide, unlocking privacy solutions like Enhanced conversions, consent mode, and the Attribution Reporting API.
Remove the Google tag from all landing pages and evaluate campaigns based on clicks only to remove third-party cookie reliance completely.
Explanation
This question presents two valid, modern strategies for adapting conversion tracking to new privacy regulations like the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which impacts markets like Germany and France.
Analysis of Correct Answer(s)
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Implement the Google tag sitewide...: This is the foundational best practice for durable measurement. A comprehensive, sitewide tag is the prerequisite for activating Google's privacy-centric solutions, which are essential for navigating regulatory changes and the deprecation of third-party cookies.
- Enhanced conversions: Uses consented, hashed first-party data to recover conversions that would otherwise be lost.
- Consent mode: Adjusts tag behavior based on user consent choices and enables conversion modeling to fill measurement gaps respectfully.
- Attribution Reporting API: Prepares advertisers for future cookieless measurement technologies.
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Remove the Google tag and send conversion data...server-side: This is an alternative, more advanced solution. By implementing server-side tagging or sending conversion data directly to Google via an API or offline uploads, advertisers can reduce their reliance on client-side (browser) cookies. This method provides more control over the data being shared and is a robust way to preserve measurement accuracy.
Analysis of Incorrect Options
- Remove the Google tag...and evaluate...based on clicks only: This is a poor strategy because it abandons value-based measurement. Optimizing for clicks instead of conversions leads to inefficient ad spend and poor business outcomes.
- Implement the Google tag on select landing pages...: Incomplete tagging leads to inaccurate data. For comprehensive measurement and modeling, the tag must be implemented sitewide. Reverting to manual bidding is also a step backward, as it forgoes the powerful machine learning of Smart Bidding, which is designed to work with modeled, privacy-safe conversion data.