Attribution via landing page (Advanced integration)

Besides the ability to track standard links, Steam Data Suite also allows you to track visitors to your websites. This is a great tool if you use a website or landing page to promote your game as a visit to your page can be an attribution source.

Include the Javascript library on your page

Our JS library enables you to send any call you may need to the SDS endpoints. It also has helper functions to make it easy to populate the necessary data object.

Download and self-host the library. It has no dependencies. Include it in the html of the desired page, preferably near the end.

<script src="path-to-file/SteamDataSuite_web.js"></script>
        

Initialize the library

Run the initialization code with create() anywhere after including the library. The game-specific key needed for this can be found on the Dynamic Links page.

<script>
sds.create('1b5c2b980b5942b08faf7ff9fbba0000')
</script>
        

Execute an event

There are two events you can trigger, representing different ways of applying tracking. Firstly a Send event sends a click-like signal to Steam Data Suite to register any non-click event for later attribution. Secondly the Update event allows you to update all links on a page with the appropriate Steam Data Suite campaign parameters.

Parameters used in sending an event can be fixed numerical values, based on the values on the Dynamic Links page, string values, or parsed parameters from the current url, if necessary converting it along the way.

Send event (for pageviews)

Sends a click-like signal to register any non-explicit click for later attribution. You can trigger this either when your website visitor performs a specific action, or on loading the page.

<script>
sds.send({
type:       1, // Represents 'Sales/Installs'
channel:    5, // Represents 'Ads other'
name:       sds.fromurl( 'utm_campaign', 'unknown' ), // Gets the value for utm_campaign from url, uses 'unknown' as fallback
variant:    sds.fromurl( 'utm_medium', 'organic' ), // Gets the value for utm_medium from url, uses 'organic' as fallback
})
</script>
        

It is not uncommon to configure fixed numerical values for type and channel, only using the name and variant field for campaign specific string values. By doing this

Link update event

Calling this finds all Steam Data Suite links on the page and replaces the URL to a version with the correct tracking parameters. More info

<a href="https://steam.gs/aRc74/">Buy now!<a>

<script>
sds.update({
type:       1, // Represents 'Sales/Installs'
channel:    5, // Represents 'Ads other'
name:       sds.fromurl( 'utm_campaign', 'unknown' ), // Gets the value for utm_campaign from url, uses 'unknown' as fallback
variant:    sds.fromurl( 'utm_medium', 'organic' ), // Gets the value for utm_medium from url, uses 'organic' as fallback
})
</script>
        

Test

If everything is configured properly you should see your own activity in the Campaign overview page. Some remarks;

• All activity is mentioned in the Campaign overview in the column 'clicks', although this may as well be a non-click event.
• The column 'clicks' counts unique events, so during testing from the same/similar systems only one event will be counted.

Triggers

create( gamekey, debug )

Initializes the library. Only after this is done Triggers and Helper functions can be used.

sds.create('1b5c2b980b0942b08faf7ffffbba0000')
        

The game-specific key will be used for all requests, and allows us to understand for which game the request is intended.

send( { type:type, channel:channel, name:name, variant:variant, } )

Sends a non-click campaign event to Steam Data Suite servers

<script>
    sds.send({
        type:       1,
        channel:    2,
        name:       sds.string( 'Event landing page' ),
        variant:    sds.string( 'Buy now button footer'),
    })
</script>
        

update( { type:type, channel:channel, name:name, variant:variant, } )

When triggered finds all Steam Data Suite links on the page, and replaces the destination of that link to include the fed campaign parameters. Links are processed if they are <a> elements with a href starting with https://steam.gs/.

<script>
    sds.update({
        type:       1,
        channel:    2,
        name:       sds.string( 'Event landing page' ),
        variant:    sds.string( 'Buy now button footer'),
    })
</script>
        

Helper functions

fromurl( name, default, conversion table )

Reads a URL parameter value from the current page URL, for use as one of the campaign values for any of the triggers.

<script>
    sds.send({
        type:       1,
        channel:    sds.fromurl( 'utm_medium', 13, {'facebook':2, 'google':1, 'reddit':4} )
        name:       sds.fromurl( 'utm_channel', 'organic' ),
        variant:    sds.fromurl( 'utm_content' ),
    })
</script>
        

string( value )

Helper function that can be used to URL-encode any text value. Should be used for all manually provided thus non-encoded string. String() does not need to be used for a parameter where you are already using sds.fromurl() as it's safe to say the values we collect from the URL are already URL-encoded.

<script>
    sds.send({
        type:       1,
        channel:    5,
        name:       sds.string( 'Maybe/søme,funky...characters!' ),
        variant:    sds.string( 'Or just a string with spaces'),
    })
</script>