Parallel Tracking in Google Ads

August 08, 2019

If you have experience using Google Ads, you may have heard of Parallel Tracking. This feature is required on Search and Shopping campaigns and will be required for Display campaigns starting July 31, 2019. Parallel tracking will be made available to Video campaigns towards the end of 2019.

So what is Parallel Tracking?

Parallel tracking is a feature offered by Google Ads that loads your landing pages more quickly by sending visitors directly from your ad to your final URL without redirects. This is intended to reduce potential lost visits, improve ad performance and as a result potentially increase conversions in your campaigns.

How does parallel tracking work?

Parallel tracking is designed to direct users to your landing page as quickly as possible while also loading tracking URLs in the background.

Here’s what the user flow looks like with parallel tracking:

  1. Visitor clicks on your ad.
  2. Visitor reaches your landing page.
  3. Google Ads loads their click tracker in the background.
  4. Third party click trackers load.
  5. Tracking URL loads in the background.

Here’s what the user flow would look without parallel tracking:

  1. Visitor clicks on your ad.
  2. Google Ads loads their click tracker.
  3. Tracking URL loads.
  4. Third party click trackers load.
  5. Visitor reaches your landing page.

The intention of parallel tracking is to drive visitors to your landing page as quickly as possible.

Should I use parallel tracking?

Parallel tracking is already enabled and required for Search, Display and Shopping campaigns and will be available for Video campaigns later in 2019. All advertisers that are eligible to use parallel tracking for Video campaigns should enable this feature when this feature is available. Note that Google states this feature is currently not available for Hotel campaigns.

Important note: If you are using third party click measurement tools such as TruEffect or Firebase, be sure to check that your third party tool is compatible with parallel tracking to ensure that the feature will work properly for your campaigns.

How do I turn on parallel tracking?

As mentioned earlier, parallel tracking is already required for Search, Display and Shopping campaigns. This feature will be made available to Video campaigns later in 2019.

Below are instructions on how to enable parallel tracking in your Google AdsDisplay campaigns:

  1. Sign in to the Google Ads user interface.
  2. On the left-hand navigation menu, click All campaigns > Settings.
  3. Click on Account Settings > Tracking to turn on parallel tracking, as shown below:

Now that you know about parallel tracking and how to use it, we encourage you to enable this feature in your Google Ads account to enable this for your Display campaigns today and for your Video campaigns later in 2019!