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  • Open your campaign in Outbrain Amplify Dashboard.
  • Navigate to the Tracking or URL Parameters section.
  • Add obclid={{ob_click_id}} to your URL suffix or tracking template.
  • Save and verify URLs include the click ID on ad clicks.
This step is critical. Outbrain does NOT support enhanced matching with email or phone. Attribution relies solely on the click ID (obclid). Without this parameter in your campaign URLs, Upstack cannot attribute any conversions to Outbrain — all events will be skipped.
What is the Outbrain click ID?The click ID (also called ob_click_id or obclid) is a unique identifier that Outbrain generates for each ad click. When a user clicks your ad, Outbrain appends this ID to your landing page URL. Upstack captures and stores this ID in a first-party cookie, then includes it with every conversion event so Outbrain can match the conversion back to the original ad click.

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Prerequisites

Before you start, you need:
  • Access to an Outbrain Amplify account at amplify.outbrain.com
  • Campaign edit permissions
  • Active or draft campaigns to update

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Steps to configure click ID tracking

1

Sign in to Outbrain Amplify

Sign in to Outbrain Amplify at amplify.outbrain.com.
2

Open your campaign

Navigate to Campaigns and select the campaign you want to configure.Click Edit or Settings to access the campaign configuration.
3

Find the URL parameters section

Look for Tracking, URL Parameters, URL Suffix, or Tracking Template in the campaign settings.This is where you add parameters that Outbrain will append to your landing page URLs.
4

Add the click ID parameter

Add the following to your URL suffix:
obclid={{ob_click_id}}
If you already have other tracking parameters (like UTM tags), append the click ID with an ampersand:
utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=native&utm_campaign={{campaign_name}}&obclid={{ob_click_id}}
The {{ob_click_id}} placeholder is a dynamic macro that Outbrain replaces with the actual click ID when a user clicks your ad.
5

Save the campaign

Click Save or Apply to save your changes.
6

Verify the configuration

To verify the click ID is being appended:
  1. Preview your ad or click on it from a test placement
  2. Check the landing page URL in your browser’s address bar
  3. Confirm you see obclid=v1-abc123... (a long alphanumeric string starting with v1-)
Example URL after click:
https://yourstore.com/products/widget?utm_source=outbrain&obclid=v1-abc123xyz789def456ghi789jkl012
7

Update all active campaigns

Repeat steps 2-5 for all your active Outbrain campaigns.
Any campaign missing the obclid parameter will not have its conversions attributed. Make sure to update all campaigns, including existing ones.

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How Upstack captures the click ID

Once your campaigns are configured:
  1. User clicks ad → Outbrain appends obclid=v1-... to the landing page URL
  2. Upstack Pixel loads → Captures the obclid from the URL and stores it in a first-party cookie (_obclid)
  3. User converts → Upstack includes the stored click ID with the conversion event
  4. Event sent to Outbrain → Outbrain matches the conversion to the original ad click
The click ID cookie expires after 30 days, matching Outbrain’s attribution window.

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Alternative parameter name

Outbrain also recognizes ob_click_id as a URL parameter name. Both work identically:
  • obclid={{ob_click_id}} ✅ Recommended (shorter)
  • ob_click_id={{ob_click_id}} ✅ Also works
Upstack captures both parameter names automatically.

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Troubleshooting

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Click ID not appearing in URL

If the click ID isn’t being appended after clicking your ad:
  1. Verify the URL suffix is saved correctly in the campaign settings
  2. Check for typos — the macro must be exactly {{ob_click_id}}
  3. Clear your browser cache and try clicking the ad again
  4. Contact Outbrain support if the issue persists

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Conversions not being attributed

If you’ve configured the click ID but conversions aren’t appearing in Amplify:
  1. Verify the Upstack Pixel is loading on your landing pages (check browser dev tools)
  2. Confirm the _obclid cookie is being set after ad clicks
  3. Check that your Upstack destination shows Healthy status
  4. Wait 5-10 minutes — conversions aren’t instant
Next step: How to configure the Outbrain destination in Upstack Data