What Is Yahoo Ads Offline Conversion?

Yahoo Ads is a comprehensive digital advertising platform that helps businesses reach audiences through display, native, video, and mobile ads across Yahoo's network and third-party sites. It offers advanced targeting options and campaign management tools to optimize ad performance. With its Demand-Side Platform (DSP), advertisers can access a wide range of data-driven insights to refine their strategies.

The Yahoo Offline Conversion API allows advertisers to attribute offline actions to their online ad campaigns. By uploading offline transaction data (e.g., customer emails, phone numbers, and sales details), businesses can match this information with online interactions to measure the full impact of their ads.

What are the benefits of integrating MetaRouter with Yahoo Ads Offline Conversion?

Accurate Attribution: Enables precise tracking of online conversions using Yahoo's click IDs, ensuring reliable post-click attribution.
Versatile Event Tracking: Supports tracking a range of online events, including page views and purchases, through adaptable mapping.
Privacy-Compliant: Uses click IDs instead of third-party cookies, aligning with modern privacy regulations.

Capabilities and Considerations

Offline Conversion API Workaround: The integration uses Yahoo's Offline Conversion API to track online events like page views, product interactions, and purchases. This workaround adapts the API, intended for offline conversions, to handle standard site events and attribute them to Yahoo ad campaigns.
Conversion Tracking: Tracks online events such as product views, add-to-cart actions, and completed purchases, associating them with Yahoo ad campaigns to effectively measure their performance.
Attribution: Enhanced attribution is achieved by sending post-click online event data (e.g., page views or purchases) through the API. The system collects click IDs (vmcid), which are mapped through the playbook to the appropriate event, ensuring privacy-compliant attribution without the need for third-party cookies.
Custom Data Mapping: The playbook allows for flexible mapping of key fields like product IDs, transaction amounts, and user actions. Events are captured and sent to Yahoo Ads with detailed information that aligns with campaign goals.

Limitations

Dynamic Ads & Retargeting: The integration does not support dynamic ads or retargeting, which would require additional configurations to deliver personalized ads or re-engage users based on behavior.
Audience Insights and Targeting: The integration does not utilize Yahoo’s advanced audience insights or targeting features, which are typically handled through Yahoo DSP.
Cross-Device and Multi-Channel Attribution: While the integration tracks online events, it is not designed to support cross-device or multi-channel attribution.

Getting Started - From Your Yahoo Ads Account

Obtain the following keys and IDs:

Client ID and Client Secret - Please refer to the instructions here.
Pixel ID
1. Log in to your Yahoo Ads account.
2. Go to the Conversion Tracking section.
3. Create a new tracking pixel or select an existing one.
4. The Pixel ID will be provided as part of the pixel setup. Copy this ID for use in your integration.

Getting Started - From Your MetaRouter Account

Adding a Yahoo Offline Conversion integration.

From the integration library, add a Yahoo Offline Conversion integration. Then, fill out the Connection Parameters:

Connection Parameter	Description
`OAUTH2_REQUEST_URL`	Default value to include: `https://id.b2b.yahooinc.com/identity/oauth2/access_token`
`CLIENT_ID`	The unique ID for the app registered in the Yahoo Developer Network, used for OAuth2 authentication.
`CLIENT_SECRET`	Secret key for the app, used in OAuth2 to securely authenticate the integration.
`PIXEL_ID`	Unique ID for the Yahoo Ads tracking pixel, used for conversion tracking.

Adding a Yahoo Media Sync

To gather the vmcid value and yahoo_id value, you must add a Yahoo Media sync.

From the Pipelines page, find the pipeline associated with the web property you’d like to add a sync to. Hover over the three dot dropdown and select “Build AJS File.”
In the Identity Syncs section, select the Yahoo Media sync.
Fill out the following fields:
1. Consent Type
2. Client ID - The unique ID for the app registered in the Yahoo Developer Network. See instructions above.
3. Cookie Lifetime (in days) - 365 days default
Scroll down and click the Save and Build File button.
Deploy your AJS file to propagate changes to your web property.

Event Mappings

MetaRouter provides all of the event mappings that Yahoo Offline Conversion integrations typically require. You may add custom events, parameters or mappings in accordance with Yahoo Offline Conversion’s API documentation.

Global

Global mappings will be applied to all events. If your parameter names do not match the Expected Inputs provided, you will need to overwrite the Inputs provided with your own.

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`event_time` Required	String: UTC event time in milliseconds	`timestamp`
`action_source`	String: Source of the action, e.g., WEBSITE, APP	N/A - Expression
`action_source_url` Required	String: URL associated with the event	`context.page.url`
`user_data.vmcid` Required	String: Click ID for attribution	`context.providers.yahooMedia.vmcid`
`user_data.yahoo_id` Required	String: Unique identifier for Yahoo attribution	`context.providers.yahooMedia.yahoo_id`
`custom_data.el`	String: Event label or identifier	`event`

Event Specific

Page

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`custom_data.el`	String: Event label or identifier	`context.page.title`
`custom_data.ec`	String: Event category, e.g., UserFlow	`Enrichment - UserFlow`
`custom_data.ea`	String: Event action, e.g., ViewPage	`Enrichment - ViewPage`

Cart Viewed

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`custom_data.product_id`	String: Product ID associated with the event	N/A - Expression
`custom_data.gv`	Number: Value of the cart viewed	N/A - Expression
`custom_data.ec`	String: Event category, e.g., Ecommerce	`Enrichment - Ecommerce`
`custom_data.ea`	String: Event action, e.g., ViewCart	`Enrichment - ViewCart`

Product Added

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`custom_data.product_id`	String: Product ID associated with the event	N/A - Expression
`custom_data.gv`	Number: Product price	`properties.price`
`custom_data.ec`	String: Event category, e.g., Ecommerce	`Enrichment - Ecommerce`
`custom_data.ea`	String: Event action, e.g., AddToCart	`Enrichment - AddToCart`

Product Viewed

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`custom_data.product_id`	String: Product ID associated with the event	N/A - Expression
`custom_data.ec`	String: Event category, e.g., Ecommerce	`Enrichment - Ecommerce`
`custom_data.ea`	String: Event action, e.g., ViewProduct	`Enrichment - ViewProduct`

Order Completed

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`custom_data.product_id`	String: Product ID associated with the event	N/A - Expression
`custom_data.gv`	Number: Total order revenue	`properties.revenue`
`custom_data.ec`	String: Event category, e.g., Ecommerce	`Enrichment - Ecommerce`
`custom_data.ea`	String: Event action, e.g., Purchase	`Enrichment - Purchase`

Products Searched

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`custom_data.user_defined.query`	String: Search query	`properties.query`
`custom_data.ec`	String: Event category, e.g., Ecommerce	`Enrichment - Ecommerce`
`custom_data.ea`	String: Event action, e.g., Search	`Enrichment - Search`

Product List Viewed

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`custom_data.product_id`	String: Product IDs associated with the event	N/A - Expression
`custom_data.ec`	String: Event category, e.g., Ecommerce	`Enrichment - Ecommerce`
`custom_data.ea`	String: Event action, e.g., ViewProductsList	`Enrichment - ViewProductsList`

Required Identifiers

These identifiers must be mapped to Yahoo Offline Conversion API in order for successful user matching to occur. Without these IDs, any events sent to Yahoo Ads may not be accurately reflected in reporting. For your convenience, required and recommended IDs are mapped as Global parameters to ensure they are added to every event.

Attribute	Example	Sync Injector Required?
vmcid Required	CC1234xyz5678abc9012	Yes
yahoo_id Required	123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000	Yes

Additional Yahoo Offline Conversion Documentation