Parallel tracking

With parallel tracking — Google's default — a click sends the visitor straight to the final URL while the browser requests your tracking template in the background. The visitor never waits for the tracker. TrackCrown supports it on every click path without configuration.

What happens on a click#

1. The visitor clicks the ad. Google opens the landing page with gclid appended (on iOS: gbraid or wbraid).

2. In the background the browser requests the tracking template. Google replaces {lpurl} in that request with a Google address instead of your landing page:

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   GET /c/KEY?gclid=Cj0KCQjw…&force_transparent=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fasnc%2FAH4h… HTTP/1.1
   Host: trackcrown.com

3. The tracker records the click and answers with one 302 to that address:

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   HTTP/1.1 302 Found
   Location: https://www.google.com/asnc/AH4h…
   Cache-Control: no-store

4. Google's endpoint ends the background chain.

GET, HEAD and POST receive the identical redirect (background requests may be sent as POST; the body is never read). Other methods get 405 with an Allow header and no Location.

The google.com/asnc exception#

Google's endpoint is accepted on every tracking link whatever your allowlist contains, under strict conditions:

Nothing else on google.com is accepted, and http://google.com/asnc/… is refused. A tracker that refuses the asnc address breaks every background call: Google's Test reports Tracking chain terminates and clicks are lost.

Sequential clicks#

Some clicks still follow the template in the foreground. Then {lpurl} is the real landing page and the visitor passes through the tracker:

GET /c/KEY?gclid=Cj0KCQjw…&url=https%3A%2F%2Fshop.example.com%2F%3Fa%3D1
→ 302 Location: https://shop.example.com/?a=1

The redirect never depends on caps, targeting, offer status or the visitor; those are recorded on the click for reporting only.

Click mode#

Every click stores a click mode:

Use it as the Click mode dimension (group Google Ads) in the report builder. The Parallel tracking tab of the Google Ads page shows three cards: Parallel share, last 24 h, google.com/asnc calls and All clicks, last 24 h.

One gclid counts as one unique click per link within 30 minutes, so a background request and a repeat of the same ad click are not counted twice.

Attributing on-site conversions#

Because the visitor did not pass through the tracker, your landing page has the gclid but not the TrackCrown click ID. Use one of these.

Landing-page SDK#

Add the SDK to every landing page:

<script async src="https://trackcrown.com/sdk.js" data-offer="OFFERCODE"></script>

It sees gclid (or gbraid / wbraid) in the page URL, asks the tracking domain for the click recorded by the background request (POST /lp) and keeps that click ID. Conversions fired with the SDK call ArcTrack.conversion(…) and links decorated with the click ID then attribute normally. The SDK waits up to 5 seconds for the answer before falling back to a click ID stored earlier. See SDK reference.

Postback by gclid#

Store the gclid (or gbraid / wbraid) with the lead or order and send it instead of a click ID:

https://trackcrown.com/pb?gclid=GCLID&event=sale&amount=49.90&txid=ORDER-1001&token=TOKEN

The latest click of your workspace with that identifier is used. The join does not expire with the page: it works whenever the postback arrives, within the offer's attribution window. A repeat with the same gclid is recorded as a duplicate. Postback parameters: Server-to-server postback reference.

Click ID on the URL#

With Append the click ID to transparent redirects on (Settings → Workspace → Tracking), sequential clicks reach the landing page with click_id=<id>. Parallel clicks never do — the visitor does not pass through the redirect — so combine it with the SDK or a gclid postback.

Offline import#

Conversions recorded in TrackCrown go back to Google Ads through an offline conversion feed or the Google Ads API connection; both match by gclid, gbraid or wbraid.

Template levels#

Google takes the most specific level that has a tracking template: Keyword › Ad › Ad group › Campaign › Account. The Final URL suffix and every custom parameter are resolved the same way, independently of the template. A forgotten campaign-level template therefore silently replaces your account template for that campaign. The simulator lets you enter every level and shows which one applied.

Troubleshooting#

Checklist#

• The tracking domain is certified (or the account used it before 28 Aug 2023).
• The template uses /c/ and ends with force_transparent=true&url={lpurl}.
• Every landing-page host is allowed; google.com/asnc needs no entry.
• Simulator: parallel mode Chain reaches google.com/asnc, sequential mode Page found.
• The SDK is on the landing page, or the advertiser sends gclid in postbacks.