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Custom stack - Outbrain

Send every Custom stack event to Outbrain, server-side

Q: Why are my attribution rates lower than other platforms?

Outbrain does not support enhanced matching with hashed personal data, so attribution relies solely on the obclid click ID. If a visitor clears cookies, uses a different device or the click ID expires after 30 days, the conversion cannot be attributed.

Q: Do event names need to match exactly?

Yes. Event names are case-sensitive and must exactly match the conversion name configured in your Outbrain Amplify dashboard, so check the spelling in Amplify, Conversions before configuring Upstack.

Q: Which events does Outbrain receive?

PageView as PAGE_VIEW, ViewContent as Content_View, AddToCart as AddToCart and Purchase as Conversion.

Q: Which customer parameters are sent to Outbrain?

Outbrain does not support matching on hashed email, phone or other personal data: attribution relies solely on the obclid click ID, which Upstack stores in a first-party cookie for 30 days. Events without a click ID are skipped.

Q: How do I check that Custom stack events are reaching Outbrain?

Upstack marks the destination Healthy, and the Conversions page in the Outbrain Amplify Dashboard shows recent events. Test with a real ad click and purchase: test events do not show up, because conversions only register when someone clicks your ad.

Each event is resolved to a person against a 750M+ device graph before it reaches Outbrain, with restored click IDs, deduplicated conversions and delivery you can audit.

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US device IDs in the graph: 750M+
Match rate on events: 90%+
Identity window, per customer: Lifetime
Most brands are live: <20 min

How it flows

How a Custom stack event reaches Outbrain. Captured on the server, resolved to a person, then sent.

01 Capture

Captured from Custom stack

Not on the list? Send events to Upstack from any stack over webhook or direct post, with the same schema and the same resolution.

See the Custom stack integration

Custom stackWhat it sends

event_namewhatever you choose to call it
user identifiersany of email, phone, external ID
value / currencyif the event carries revenue
custom propertiesany attribute in your own schema

02 Understand

Resolved to one person before it leaves

Every Custom stack event is matched against a 750M+ device graph, so a phone browse and a desktop checkout resolve to one customer rather than two strangers.

How resolution works

Resolved before it is sent

IdentityMatched against a 750M+ device graph, so a phone browse and a desktop checkout resolve to one customer.
customer_typeNew or returning, resolved before send.
DeduplicationBrowser and server copies of a purchase are matched on its order ID, so it is counted once.
Bot and fraud filteringAutomated traffic never reaches the model, because what you keep out of the training set matters as much as what goes in.

Ad platforms accept almost anything and tell you very little. These controls exist so you can see what was sent and what was accepted, rather than inferring it from a reporting gap.

03 Activate

Delivered to Outbrain

Send conversions to Outbrain with the click ID recovered from the graph, so native placements are judged on orders rather than on sessions.

See the Outbrain integration

OutbrainWhat it receives

hashed email / phoneidentity matching on arrival
ob_click_idcredit the click that drove it
external_idstable person across sessions
orderIddedupe browser and server purchases
value / currencyvalue-based bidding

Which events reach Outbrain

Each Upstack event is mapped to the Outbrain event below before it is sent.

Upstack event	Sent to Outbrain as	Key data on the event
Page view	PAGE_VIEW	None beyond the click ID (disabled by default)
Product view	Content_View	productId, productValue (disabled by default)
Add to cart	AddToCart	productId, productValue, currency
Purchase	Conversion	orderValue, currency, orderId

Outbrain does not support matching on hashed email, phone or other personal data: attribution relies solely on the obclid click ID, which Upstack stores in a first-party cookie for 30 days. Events without a click ID are skipped.

The catch

The freedom to name your own events is also the risk: an ad platform expects specific event names and parameter shapes, and anything outside that is accepted and ignored.

Mapping happens before send, not in the platform.

Where to check in OutbrainDelivery you can audit

Outbrain Conversions Tracking

Server-reported conversions list the click ID they matched against.

What changes

What changes when Custom stack feeds Outbrain. Two gains on the Outbrain side, two on the Custom stack side.

Outbrain

Server-side delivery

By default Upstack sends events to Outbrain from its servers as well as through the Outbrain tag, so an event an ad blocker or browser privacy setting stops in the browser still arrives from the server.

Outbrain

Identity-resolved events

Events sent to Outbrain carry the resolved customer whenever Upstack can identify one, matched against a 750M+ device graph.

Custom stack

Any stack, any framework

Headless, custom checkout, native app or a platform we haven’t listed: if it can make an HTTP request, it can send to Upstack.

Custom stack

The same event schema

Custom events are resolved, filtered and forwarded exactly like a Shopify order.

Setup

Post directly from your backend so nothing depends on the browser.

You need admin access to an Outbrain Amplify account and active campaigns with click ID tracking configured.

Upstack dashboardExample

Custom stack Data source Connected

Outbrain Destination Healthy

Read the full Outbrain setup guide

01

Connect Custom stack

Not on the list? Send events to Upstack from any stack over webhook or direct post, with the same schema and the same resolution.
02

Add the Outbrain destination

Add obclid={{ob_click_id}} to every campaign’s URL suffix, then under Destinations add Outbrain with your Marketer ID, a 32 character hexadecimal string from Settings, Tracking in Amplify.
03

Check conversions in Amplify

Upstack marks the destination Healthy, and the Conversions page in the Outbrain Amplify Dashboard shows recent events. Test with a real ad click and purchase: test events do not show up, because conversions only register when someone clicks your ad.

FAQ

Questions about Custom stack and Outbrain.

Why are my attribution rates lower than other platforms?

Outbrain does not support enhanced matching with hashed personal data, so attribution relies solely on the obclid click ID. If a visitor clears cookies, uses a different device or the click ID expires after 30 days, the conversion cannot be attributed.

Do event names need to match exactly?

Yes. Event names are case-sensitive and must exactly match the conversion name configured in your Outbrain Amplify dashboard, so check the spelling in Amplify, Conversions before configuring Upstack.

Which events does Outbrain receive?

PageView as PAGE_VIEW, ViewContent as Content_View, AddToCart as AddToCart and Purchase as Conversion.

Which customer parameters are sent to Outbrain?

How do I check that Custom stack events are reaching Outbrain?

Upstack marks the destination Healthy, and the Conversions page in the Outbrain Amplify Dashboard shows recent events. Test with a real ad click and purchase: test events do not show up, because conversions only register when someone clicks your ad.