Plan Your SDK Integration

The first step in setting up Singular attribution is integrating the Singular SDK into all of your apps.

Before you or your development team starts tackling the integration, we recommend reading the Singular SDK/S2S FAQ for Project Managers.

Then make sure you have answers to the following questions:

• Which user actions and events do you want to send to Singular (if any)? What will you call each event? Which custom arguments do you want to send with each event? For help and a suggested event list template, see Defining In-App Events.
• Do you want the app to support deep linking through Singular Links? If so, you need to decide which app screens or user experiences these deep links will open, and then implement deep link handling appropriately when you integrate the Singular SDK. See detailed instructions in How to Create Deep Links.

[DEVELOPERS] Integrate the SDK/S2S

Singular has SDK versions for iOS, Android, Unity, and React, as well as for websites, and a server-to-server integration option. The developers' documentation at Getting Started with the Singular SDK/S2S to point you to:

• A step-by-step integration guide for your chosen version
• Instructions for testing your integration after each step of development
• Sample apps for Unity, iOS, and Android that you can review to see a full implementation of the SDK using best practices.

[DEVELOPERS] Test your SDK/S2S Integration

For some customers and implementations, it's easier to test the SDK integration after every step of development (i.e., implement sessions and test them, then revenue events and test them). Other customers prefer to test the integration after it's done.

Regardless, to test your integration, you will be running your app on a test device and triggering sessions, purchases, and other user events. You will use Singular's SDK Console (a testing tool available inside the Singular web app) to make sure the SDK is reporting events to the Singular servers properly. For full instructions, see our SDK integration testing guides.

Configure App Settings in Singular

After you integrate the Singular SDK and send events to Singular, your app should be added automatically to the Apps page in the Singular web app. This is where Singular keeps an up-to-date list of all your apps and their configuration.

Before you start running marketing campaigns for your app, go to the Apps page (Settings > Apps), find your app site, and configure the Store URL and other optional settings, such as alternative tracking link destinations and deep links. For a detailed guide, see the section Configuring Your App for Attribution Tracking with Singular in the Apps FAQ.

Configure Google Ads as a Partner (If Relevant)

Singular can track how many times your app is installed as a result of advertising in Google Ads (that includes Adwords UAC campaigns and YouTube campaigns).

To set up Google Ads as a partner:

1. In your Google Ads account, generate a Link ID (see Google’s instructions).
2. In Singular, go to Partner Configuration and add “AdWords”.
3. In the settings window, enter the Link ID you have generated, and then configure your attribution settings. For example, you can enable or disable view-through tracking.

For more details, see our Google Ads guide.

Configure Facebook as a Partner (If Relevant)

Singular can track how many times your app is installed as a result of advertising in Facebook and Instagram.

To set up Facebook as a partner:

1. Get your Facebook App ID from your Facebook App Dashboard.
2. In Singular, go to Partner Configurations and add “Facebook”.
3. In the Enable Integration window, confirm you have signed the Facebook Advanced Mobile Measurement agreement.
4. In the settings window, enter the Facebook App ID, and then configure your attribution settings. For example, you can enable or disable view-through tracking.

For more details, see our guide to setting up Facebook.

Configure Other Partners

Start tracking installs with the rest of your advertising networks by configuring attribution settings for each network.

To configure a network as a partner:

1. In the Partner Configuration page, add the network.
2. In the settings window that opens, select your app and app site, and configure the attribution and postback settings.

For more details, see How to Configure Partner Settings and Postbacks.

(Optional) Configure Internal Postbacks

Create Tracking Links with Singular Links

For networks that aren't "self-attributing networks" (SANs), you need to create a tracking link to run a marketing campaign.

Tracking links are the URLs that are triggered when the user clicks an ad (or views it, if it's an impression-based campaign). They lead the user to the app store, but they also let Singular know that the user interacted with the ad. If the user then downloads and installs the app, Singular uses the information in order to attribute the install to the correct ad network (a similar process happens with re-engagement attribution).

To create tracking links, go to Attribution > Manage Links. For help, see the Singular Links FAQ.

Test Tracking Links

Configure Fraud Prevention

Singular’s Fraud Prevention Engine protects your marketing efforts using a mixture of out-of-the-box detection methods and custom user-defined rules to prevent attribution fraud. The Engine evaluates installs before finalizing the attribution or reporting it to the partner, thus preventing excessive billing for CPI/CPA campaigns.

For an introduction to Singular's fraud prevention mechanism, see Singular Fraud Prevention. To configure your fraud prevention settings, see Configuring Fraud Settings and Configuring User-Defined Fraud Rules.

Run ROI Reports

Once your campaigns are up and running, you can start running reports in Singular to analyze your ROI and measure campaign KPIs. Try these sample reports to get a taste:

• Day 3 ROI per Source in the last 3 months
• ROI per sub-campaign for Facebook

For more details, see the Reports FAQ.

You can also run creative reports to see your actual creative assets, including images and videos, next to their performance metrics. Try these sample reports:

• ROI per creative
• Creative CTR

Learn more in the Creative Reports FAQ.