Comments on: AdWords conversion tracking – you probably didn’t know this

By: James Svoboda

James Svoboda — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:52:31 +0000

Good post. This is a big step in the right direction for AdWords, but we still need to be able to tell which conversions were caused by unique visitors or repeated by the same. Also, it would be nice to have 90 or 120 day cookies.

By: SEOWebHelp

SEOWebHelp — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:56:32 +0000

Interesting post. I never understand how they change so much but produce so little. Occasionally I will tell a client about their conversions and they just stare at me. Lol Now I’m sending them to this post to confuse them even more.

By: Jodie

Jodie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:47:45 +0000

I agree.. my head is spinning. But you have done a great job of breaking it down. Thank you.

By: Aaron Weiner

Aaron Weiner — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:18:47 +0000

Richard and Linn, you touched on a similar question. In my example, all the people who purchased downloaded first. No one purchased first or only purchased. This is why you have a zero under the (1-per -click) column for the purchase action. Everyone hit the page with the download conversion tracking action prior to purchasing.

The data becomes really interesting when people also purchase first and then download as well as download and then purchase. Confused.

Also, Google’s conversion tracking is only a small glimpse into what is actually happening. Out of those 200 who downloaded, some may have actually purchased from a different computer. Or they may have only purchased beyond the 30 day window. The Google cookie only lasts for 30 days.

By: Thomas Wetzel

Thomas Wetzel — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:34:07 +0000

Hi Dave,
If you drill down to the keyword which was used to create this conversion then the summarized number is cut into pieces and you will have a better overview how your customers behave.

By: Linn

Linn — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:30:08 +0000

God, my head is spinning!
So the reason for it being 0 1-per-click conversions on purchase is that everyone who bought something downloaded something first!?

Maybe it’s English being my second language but AdWords is “pure Greek” to me “Many-per-click” – I don’t get how they come with these names…
And also, will new 1-per-clicks be counted during the time frame I’ve chosen, or after the cookie has died?

Is like the Visitors/Visits crap all over again…
OR the aggregating (!!) Goal percentage – 400 % of my goals where fulfilled, yeah right! I had one apple and because my customer looked at it, touched it, smelt it and then bought it, I am 400% happy?!

Ok, ’nuff rambling! Insightful post, as always!

By: Richard Purvis

Richard Purvis — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:15:40 +0000

The other big question it doesn’t answer is how many who downloaded also bought, could those 59 people have just clicked and purchased or is the download an absolute in it’s influence.

Thats why you need to combine with goals and path to purchase date from other sources.