Tracking guide

Tracking is how conversions get into PalDock. This page is the overview: which method to use, which identifier to send, and what to hand your advertiser. Every section links to the page that covers it properly.

The short version. Put the initiation pixel on every page and the conversion pixel on the confirmation page. Add an S2S postback as a cookie free backup. If you send leads through the API or an iframe, most of this gets simpler, because PalDock already knows the lead.

The methods

• Pixel: fires in the browser on the advertiser’s confirmation page. Quick to deploy, depends on cookies, can be blocked.
• S2S postback: sent server to server by the advertiser. Cookie free and reliable.
• Tracking API: PalDock calls the advertiser to ask about a conversion, or forwards results out.
• Manual import: upload conversions yourself when nothing automated is available.

Combine at least two. A pixel and a postback together mean a blocked pixel does not cost you the conversion, and PalDock keeps one conversion rather than two. See Deduplication based on advertiser’s ID.

Quick start

1. Initiation pixel on every page. It reads the identifier from the URL and stores it for your attribution window.
2. Conversion pixel on the confirmation page only. It creates the conversion and attributes it to the affiliate whose click was stored.
3. S2S postback from the advertiser’s system, as the backup that works when the browser does not.

Steps 1 and 2 get you live. Step 3 is what makes attribution hold up. See How to set up pixel tracking.

Which identifier to send

This is the decision that everything else depends on. A conversion that carries no usable identifier cannot be matched to anything.

• Origin ID. The ID of the click or lead that started the journey. Your affiliate link carries it as pcid, and the advertiser sends it back as origin_id. One value, two names.
• External ID with Advertiser ID. The advertiser’s own order ID. On its own it is not unique, in combination with the advertiser it is. This is the pairing to insist on when the offer uses a Pingtree, because several channels share one Origin ID.
• Conversion ID. The ID of the conversion itself. Used for updating a specific conversion when nothing else addresses it.

Ask for the external ID even when the Origin ID is being sent. It costs the advertiser nothing and it is what saves you when the pixel is blocked or the click ID is stripped. See Conversion IDs explained.

More than one commission on a type

When several commissions exist for the same conversion type, the request has to say which one it means, through commission_id. Without it, the first commission in order for that type is used. See Commission ID.

Cookie consent

A pixel stores the click ID in the browser, so consent rules apply to it.

• No consent obligation, or the cookie counts as essential: a pixel only setup is enough to start.
• Consent required: fire the pixel in the storage mode that matches the answer, and always send the S2S postback as well. Consent is granted in roughly two thirds of sessions, so a pixel only setup silently loses the rest.

One trap worth knowing before you build anything: localStorage and sessionStorage are not shared across subdomains. If the homepage is on the main domain and checkout on a subdomain, only a cookie carries the identifier across. See How to set up pixel tracking.

Sending leads through iframe or API

When the lead comes through PalDock in the first place, tracking is simpler. The lead already exists, so nothing has to be attributed after the fact. What you still need is the advertiser’s external ID stored from their response, so a later postback can find the conversion. See Connection Creator in Integration.

What to give your advertiser

Everything they need is generated for you in Tracking, Incoming Postback, and on the offer’s Tracking tab. Send them:

• The URL to call, and when to call it.
• Which identifier to send back, and that it should be returned exactly as received.
• The conversion type, so a prospect does not arrive as a sale.
• The result, and whether they will update it later.
• Anything else the commission needs, such as a value for percentage payouts. See Tracking parameters.

If the advertiser cannot change their parameter names to match yours, they do not have to. A scenario on the postback maps their names onto PalDock’s, using postback_id in the request. See Connection Creator in Tracking.

When it does not work

• The request never arrived: the tracking log is empty for it. Check the pixel, the CSP, or their firewall.
• The request arrived but did nothing: read the result. See Tracking errors and reasons.
• The conversion exists but there is no payout: the conversion log, then How PalDock picks a commission.

Full detail on every method is in the Tracking section.