Conversion events: GTM server-side quickstart

NOTE: This guide describes one method for uploading real-time conversion events. For all available methods, see Upload real-time conversion events. If you're uploading event data as part of the product catalog integration workflow, first complete Step 2: Upload product catalog data.

If you are a merchant or data provider sending audience or measurement data to The Trade Desk to monetize through the platform, this guide is for you. This guide walks you through the minimum steps to start sending conversion events using the Trade Desk server-side Google Tag Manager (GTM) template. For full implementation details, see Item-level event tracking tag.

Is this the right implementation for you?

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

Merchant ID (provided by your Technical Account Manager).
Event tracker ID (the ID of the tracking tag tied to your conversion event configuration).
TDID cookie value (the first-party ttd_TDID cookie required for identity resolution). For details on obtaining it, see Real-time ID tag.
A GTM account with a server container configured (separate from your web container).
A cloud-hosted server-side GTM endpoint.

Step 1: Map your event types

Map your site actions to The Trade Desk standard event names.

The following table provides the most common examples. For a full list, see POST /track/realtimeconversion. If needed, you can also create custom events.

Step 2: Install the GTM template

The Trade Desk server-side GTM template is available directly in the GTM template gallery. This is the recommended approach as gallery installations receive automatic updates when new versions are published.

1. In your GTM server container workspace, go to Templates in the left sidebar.
2. Under Tag Templates, click Search Gallery.
3. Search for The Trade Desk or Conversion Events Server-Side SDK.
4. Select the template and click Add to workspace.
5. Review the permissions and click Add.

NOTE: If you need a specific version or cannot use the gallery, you can install the template manually from GitHub. For details, see Manually import GTM template from GitHub.

Step 3: Configure GTM variables

Under Variables > User-Defined Variables > New, create the following Constant variables (static account IDs):

Step 4: Create and configure the tag

1. In your GTM server container, go to Tags and click New.

2. Click Tag Configuration and select the Trade Desk server-side template installed in Step 2.

3. Configure the tag fields using event mapping (for ecommerce conversion tracking):

   Tag field	Value
   Merchant ID	{{TTD Merchant ID}}
   Pixel IDs	{{TTD Pixel IDs}} (Enter multiple IDs as a comma-separated list.)
   TDID Cookie	{{TTD TDID Cookie}}
   Event Name	{{Event Name}}
   Order/Item data	{{Data Layer - Ecommerce Items}}

Step 5: Configure triggers

Create a trigger for each conversion event you want to track and assign all triggers to your tag.

Manually import GTM template from GitHub

If you need a specific version or cannot use the GTM template gallery in Step 2, import the template manually:

1. Download the template file from github.com/thetradedesk/conversion-events-server-side-googletagmanager.
2. In your GTM server container workspace, go to Templates in the left sidebar.
3. Under Tag Templates, click New.
4. In the template editor, click the menu (three vertical dots in the top-right corner) and select Import.
5. Upload the template file.
6. Click Save.

The new template appears in your Templates list and is available when creating new tags. Continue to Step 3.

Next steps

If you uploaded event data only for measurement, your integration is complete.

If you uploaded event data as part of a product catalog integration, the next step is to activate the data through your product catalog. To share access, continue to Step 4. Manage product catalog access. After an advertiser has access to the catalog, they can create product lists to build audiences and measure sales performance.