Adform tag for server-side Google Tag Manager

Adform is a company specializing in digital advertising solutions. They offer a range of services including efficient workflows, omnichannel reach, and better optimization of working media. Adform focuses on maximizing the use of data for competitive advantage, preparing for a cookieless future, and providing solutions for sustainable trading. 

We created the Adform tag to make the Adfrom integration process simpler. In this article, I'll show you how to set up this tag using server-side Google Tag Manager and describe the implementation keys.

Adform tag descriptionCopy link to this section

There are two configuration types that Adform tag includes: PageView and TrackEvent.

• Pageview event stores the adfcookieid URL parameter inside the adfuid cookie.
• TrackEvent event sends a request with the specified conversion event data to Adform API.

In Pageview you should add the Adform click ID parameter that was used in Adform campaign settings. Update adfuid cookie lifetime is needed.

In Track events you should make a POST request to Adform Server Side Tracking API.

• Tracking Domain - is the tracking domain set on the advertiser level.
• Tracking Setup ID - is the advertiser's tracking ID, which can be found under Site Tracking in Adform UI.
• Event Name - event-based conversion name that was setup in Adform, case-sensitive.
• Variables - a table map of event variables that are sent to Adform API.
• Compliance - pass information about the user's consent to the Adform API.

How to set up Adform tag for server-side Google Tag ManagerCopy link to this section

1. Create and set up a server Google Tag Manager container. 

2. Send data to the server GTM container. The two most popular ways of sending data to sGTM are Google Analytic 4 and Data Tag/Data Client.

3. Download Adform tag on GitHub -> Open templates sections in the server Google Tag Manager container -> Click New.

4. Click three dots in the top right corner -> Click Import -> Select Adform tag template you’ve recently downloaded from GitHub -> Click save.

5. As mentioned earlier, Adform tag sends two events to Adform: Pageview and TrackEvent. To determine what event to send, the tag will listen to the trigger. Parse events in the trigger, and send corresponding events to Adform.

ConclusionCopy link to this section

Thanks to the implementation of our Adform tag you get a lot of advantages:

• Reduced number of tracking scripts on the websites of advertisers, which is beneficial as a large number of these scripts can be blocked by users' browsers, potentially leading to extended loading times.
• Enhanced control for Adform over the data that is being gathered.
• Absence of impact on the latency of advertiser sites, as no tracking script is executed in the user's browser.

And if you are still hesitating to switch to server-side tracking, please leave a ticket and our expert support team will dispel all your doubts!