Google Marketing Platform Overview

  • Updated on Mar 20, 2025
  • Published on Mar 20, 2025

Overview

Branch connects to Google Marketing Platform (GMP) to surface ad-drive app conversions in the Branch Dashboard.

Google Marketing Platform includes the following products:

  • Display & Video 360 (DV360)

    • Formerly DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM)

  • Campaign Manager 360 (CM360)

    • Formerly DoubleClick Campaign Manager (DCM)

Important: Please use the GMP integration in the Branch Dashboard instead of DoubleClick, which is the legacy integration.

Limitations

By connecting your GMP and Branch accounts, you can:

  • Send app conversion data collected by the Branch SDK to GMP for attribution.

  • Gain read-only access to app conversion data from GMP Ads in your Branch Dashboard. This does not include cost/click/impression data.

Feature Support

Feature

Supported

View-Through Attribution

Yes

Click-Through Attribution

Yes

Local Currency Code

Yes

You can set your local currency in the Branch Dashboard. This results in a more accurate representation of performance.

How Does It Work?

  1. Branch connects with GMP through an API endpoint. This requires account authentication in the Branch Dashboard through Link IDs set up in GMP.

    • If you are using GMP as a campaign manager, and a third party for the ad inventory, see Attribution Claim Scenarios to get additional details.

  2. Events are configured to send from Branch to GMP.

  3. Once campaigns are launched, users see an ad to download the app.

  4. User installs the app and performs in-app events (ex. PURCHASE).

    • The Branch SDK captures the app install and downstream events.

  5. Branch communicates with GMP through the API endpoint, sending GMP data about the conversion.

  6. GMP claims conversions by sending the click or impression campaign data that sourced it to Branch.

  7. The Branch Dashboard will update reports for you to be able to compare and measure ad campaigns across platforms, secondary publishers, etc.

Please note that if you are not using Branch Links, you can only see the fields provided by GMP.

Attribution Claim Scenarios

For customers that utilize GMP Ad-server and use trackers on 3rd party platforms (ex. DSPs like The Trade Desk) to get unified reporting in GMP, the attribution claim to Branch will depend on the setup in GMP.

Scenario

Details

CM360 + Third-Party Media Source

DoubleClick Manager (DCM) parameters are included in the conversion response, and Branch ingests the DCM parameters.

Attribution conversion credit goes to the third-party media source.

Note: You will need to use Branch Ad Links with the &dclid=%edclid! macro added.

CM360 + DV360 Media Source

DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM) as well as DCM parameters are included in the conversion response, and Branch ingests the parameters.

Attribution conversion credit goes to the DV360 Media Source.

DV360 Media Source

DBM + DCM parameters are included (since a CM360 account is created when a DV360 account is created) in the conversion response, and Branch ingests all parameters.

Attribution conversion credit goes to the DV360 Media Source.

Competing Conversion Reporting

Branch does not recommend enabling Google Ads alongside a third party partner that also reports on Google Ads traffic.

This is to avoid conflicts when reporting conversions from the same partner via two different integrations.

For example, if Google Ads is enabled and CM360 is also utilized to report on Google Ads traffic, conversions might be reported by both Google Ads and CM360. In this scenario, CM360 will capture some of the conversions that would have been claimed by the main Google Ads integration.

Attribution Coverage

GMP covers attribution under the following properties/conditions:

Scenario

Covered

Not Covered

App to App

Both click & view-through conversions, using device ID.

Web to App

Only click-through conversions, using:

  • dclid for DV360 Supply.

  • gclid for Google Ads/AdMob supply.

  • View-through conversions

  • iOS scenarios where users have opted-out via ATT

  • Non-Google inventory (not leveraging gclid/dclid)

Integrate GMP and Branch

Follow the steps below to start tracking conversion events from GMP Ads.

Prerequisites

Before you can track conversion events from GMP Ads, you first need to:

  • Integrate the Branch SDK into your app.

    • If you are using a server-to-server (S2S) integration, make sure the advertising IDs are being passed to Branch.

  • Check with your Google representative for a guide provided by their team to configure Branch as an App Analytics Partner and generate a link ID for the iOS and Android versions of your app.

Enable GMP in Branch

To start sending app conversions to GMP for attribution:

  1. Navigate to the Partner Management tab and search for Google Marketing Platform.

  2. Provide the Link IDs for your respective apps.

  3. Click the Save button.

Create GMP Ads Campaign

Please follow Google's documentation on how to set up a Campaign.

Forward Events to GMP

Once you begin tracking events with the Branch SDK, Branch will start sending them to GMP.

Branch will forward in-app events to GMP for campaign optimization. Additionally, Branch will receive attribution data from GMP, resulting in richer analysis in the Branch Dashboard.

View the Appendix section in this guide for event mappings.

Custom Events

GMP supports up to 10 custom events in the following format:

  • custom

  • custom_1

  • custom_2

  • custom_3

  • custom_4

  • custom_5

  • custom_6

  • custom_7

  • custom_8

  • custom_9

When creating these custom events, you must click the pencil icon in order to create the new event.

Appendix

Data Mapping

Branch maps the following data fields from GMP to Branch.

GMP

Branch

Possible Values

n/a

~advertising_partner_name

“Google Marketing Platform”

product_type

~channel

This field reports the product that is responsible for the conversions, either “DBM” or “DCM”.

creative_id

~creative_id

The numeric ID of the creative ad unit that produced the ad event. This value is guaranteed unique. When product is DBM, this field represents the DBM Creative ID. When product is DCM, this field represents the DCM Creative ID.

placement_id

~secondary_publisher

The ID of the placement tag that calls an ad server for ad content when users visit a site. DCM serves ads when users visit a site with DCM placement tags. DCM generates a unique tag for each placement in an ad campaign. This value is only provided when product is DCM.

placement_name

~placement

The name of the placement tag that calls an ad server for ad content when users visit a site. DCM serves ads when users visit a site with DCM placement tags. DCM generates a unique tag for each placement in an ad campaign. This value is only provided when product is DCM.

line_item_id

~ad_id

Line items in DBM can be used for targeting, bidding and assigning creatives. This is the ID of the line item that produced the ad event. This value is guaranteed unique within the DBM universe. This value is only provided when product is DBM

line_item_name

~ad_name

Name of the line items in DBM that produced the ad event. This value is only provided when product is DBM.

Event Mapping

Branch Event Name

GMP Conversion Type

INSTALL

FIRST_OPEN

PURCHASE

ECOMMERCE_PURCHASE

INITIATE_PURCHASE

CUSTOM

ADD_TO_CART

ADD_TO_CART

VIEW_ITEM

VIEW_ITEM

VIEW_ITEMS

VIEW_ITEM_LIST

ADD_PAYMENT_INFO

CUSTOM

COMPLETE_REGISTRATION

CUSTOM

SEARCH

VIEW_SEARCH_RESULTS

ACHIEVE_LEVEL

CUSTOM

OPEN

SESSION_START

REINSTALL

REINSTALL_OPEN

COMPLETE_TUTORIAL

CUSTOM

ADD_TO_WISHLIST

CUSTOM

UNLOCK_ACHIEVEMENT

CUSTOM

SHARE

CUSTOM

SPEND_CREDITS

CUSTOM

RATE

CUSTOM

UPDATE

CUSTOM

RESERVE

CUSTOM

LOGIN

CUSTOM

INVITE

CUSTOM

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