Web attribution

With Adjust’s web attribution solution, you can accurately track and attribute your web users' activities in Adjust. This lets you analyze marketing campaign data from both mobile apps and websites in one place.

Here, you’ll find information about how to set up web attribution in Adjust, reporting, and FAQs. For instructions on how to set up tracking for web campaigns, use this article. 

Before you begin

Here’s what you need to know before getting started. 

Requirements

• Integration of the Adjust web SDK
• Adjust trackers used in your campaigns

Availability

• Web attribution package
  • Contact your sales representative for more information

Helpful information

• Adjust supports click-based attribution for web, not impression-based or fingerprinting

How it works

To identify unique web users in Adjust, our web SDK generates an ID known as  web_uuid whenever it tracks a session. The ID is created per subdomain and per browser: this means if a user switches from Chrome to Safari, there would be two web_uuid’s for the device. The identifier follows the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) format.

• Example: web_uuid=4d1615ab-ee78-49aa-a10f-d57035322a42

To persist (or “carry”) this ID in the browser, Adjust uses IndexedDB or, if unavailable, falls back to localStorage. These respect a same-origin policy to safeguard privacy. As a result, Adjust does not support cross-subdomain tracking and does not use cookies. 

Browser support

Adjust’s web attribution solution requires a user’s browser to support IndexedDB or localStorage. most modern browsers already have this functionality. Check different browsers’ support for localStorage here. Our minimum support level for Internet Explorer is IE 10.

If a browser does not support localStorage, our web SDK does not initialize. This helps to prevent the overcounting of web users. If a browser is running in incognito mode and IndexedDB or localStorage, our web SDK initializes but can only persist information (our web_uuid) until the incognito session is closed.

Set up in Adjust

The steps listed below assume you have already activated the Web Attribution package and your website (the web base URL) is added to Adjust’s internal interface. Both of these steps must be actioned by Adjust. For more information, please contact support@adjust.com.  

To get started with web attribution, follow these instructions. 

1. Integrate the SDK

Use our Github developer guides to integrate the web SDK into your web app. Once complete, test the integration. 

Testing

There are 3 ways you can check the web SDK is functioning correctly.  

1. Check the web SDK logs
2. Use the Adjust Testing Console
3. Use the Adjust Developer API

• Find your web_uuid in your Javascript Console: select Application (or Storage if using Safari) > IndexedDB > adjust-sdk > as > u:[your web_uuid]

 2. Set up your app & update trackers

There are two options to set up an app for web attribution in Adjust. 

• Add a new app with web as its only platform 
• Add web as a platform to an existing mobile app

Depending upon your setup method, you can expect different behavior from both your new and existing trackers. 

Check the information below to see the applicable information for your setup. 

Note: In these examples, we assume that your website (the web base URL set by Adjust within our internal interface) is https://www.mywebsite.com.

Tracker behavior for single platform web apps

The web base URL is used as the default redirect. This sends all users to https://www.mywebsite.com

To override the default tracker behavior, append a general or OS-specific redirect parameter.

Tracker behavior for multiplatform apps

The web base URL is used as the default fallback. This means that if, for example, iOS and Web are set up for the app:

• An iOS user is sent to the App Store to download the app 
• A non-iOS user is sent to the web base URL and web events are attributed to the tracker

To determine which users should be sent where, append the following parameters to your tracker. 

Tracker behavior for cross-platform trackers

The web base URL is used as the default fallback. This means that if, for example, a tracker contains one token for an iOS mobile app and one token for web:

• An iOS user is sent to the App Store to download the app
• A non-iOS user is sent to the web base URL and web events are attributed to the web tracker

To send non-iOS users to a different page of your website, append a fallback parameter to the tracker. These users will still be attributed to the web tracker.

Important cross-platform tracker deeplink & redirect behavior

Tracker example: https://app.adjust.com/abc123_xyz456?deep_link=xxxxx&redirect=https://mywebsite.com

If an iOS user who does not have the app installed clicks a cross-platform tracker with both a deeplink and redirect parameter:

• The user is sent to the web base URL
• The click is attributed to the iOS mobile tracker
• The web install/session is attributed to Organic of the Web

If an iOS user who does have the app installed clicks a cross-platform tracker while eligible for reattribution:

• The reattribution is awarded to the iOS mobile tracker

Additional tracker customization

No matter how you have set up your app for web tracking, you can always change your users’ webpage destination. There are two options:

1. Append the full website URL to a redirect-related parameter, such as redirect, fallback, redirect_macos

• Tracker example: https://app.adjust.com/abc123?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mywebsite.com%2Fxmas%3Fproduct%3Dshoes%26category%3Dboots

2. Use the placeholder {base_url} with a redirect-related parameter. The placeholder is automatically replaced by your web base URL - this makes it quick and easy to change the URL when you want. 

• Tracker example: https://app.adjust.com/abc123?redirect={base_url}%2Fxmas%3Fproduct%3Dshoes%26category%3Dboots

3. Set up dashboard reporting

With Adjust’s KPI Service, you can group your data by Platform. To do this, add grouping=platforms. 

You can also use the KPI service to pull platform-specific data. To do this, use the query parameter platforms. For example: platforms=web

• The available values are: mobile app, web, undefined

All post-install activities related KPIs are grouped into mobile app or web. All other activities, such as impressions or clicks, fall under undefined.

In the dashboard, you can use the Platform filter to view your installs and sessions according to web or mobile app. 

Important: When you first integrate the Adjust web SDK, you may see a high volume of "new" users from web. This is because Adjust is seeing their web_uuid for the first time. 

4. Set up callbacks

There are two placeholders available for post "install" activities. Add these to your callbacks to start receiving web attribution information in your raw data.

FAQs

What counts as an install on web?

Adjust counts the first session as an install for web users. We consider the user reaching the landing page as the conversion, and any additional actions - such as clicking buttons or searching the page, as events. 

How does attribution work for web?

Adjust does not use an attribution waterfall for web attribution. We use the reftag, an Adjust-generated click ID, for device matching. 

Can I set an attribution window for web clicks?

No, there is no customizable attribution window for clicks. This is because when a user clicks an Adjust tracker, they are immediately redirected to the page with the web SDK. Unlike with the native app environment, no meaningful gap between click and ‘install’ occurs. 

How does reattribution work for web?

You can define an inactivity window for reattributions between 0-365 days. Since there is one inactivity window setting in the dashboard at the app level, for multi-platform apps this setting will apply to all platforms (native in-app and web). 

If you are on the Enterprise plan or above, you can edit the inactivity window at the individual tracker level. This makes it possible to create trackers for web use only, which have a different inactivity window than the parent app setting.

Can I redirect users to a site address that doesn’t contain the web base URL set in Adjust’s internal interface?

You can, but Adjust will not be able to attribute. We use the web base URL to determine whether to append the reftag (that is used for attribution) to a destination URL. If the web base URL is not present, we will not append the reftag and no attribution can be made. 

Which of Adjust’s fraud filters work for web attribution?

Adjust uses its Anonymous IP filter for all web attribution data.

Can I send S2S web attribution events?

Yes! You can send S2S events to Adjust by including the adid or web_uuid as the device identifier. Given you have access to the same browser storage as our web SDK, you can retrieve the web_uuid via a javascript ping to your backend. For more information, read about sending S2S events here. 

How does GDPR work with web tracking?

We allow GDPR forget and disable tracking using SDK or S2S requests. Using one of these methods, you can notify the Adjust backend if a user no longer wishes to be tracked. For more information, read about our GDPR support here.