I find metrics and business intelligence to be extremely telling and cannot live without them. The ability to test, optimize, re-test and ultimately obtain the desired action of a user or customer at the best possible price is something only afforded to online advertising and marketing as long as you use the right tools.

I am sure you have heard of conversion tracking, and Google’s tools within AdWords and Analytics make it very easy. Here is my guide to setting up, finding the data, and understanding the differences between Google AdWords Conversions and Google Analytics Goals and Filters.

First Setup Google AdWords to talk to Google Analytics

Be sure to tie your Google AdWords account to your Google Analytics account. To do so you need to have the email that you use as your AdWords login the same as an email of a user of your Google Analytics. Once you have an email that is the same for both AdWords and Analytics you login to your Google Adwords account. On the top menu click the Analytics tab (see graphic below).

The Analytics account will be listed as long as your Analytics has a user with the same email as your AdWords account. Follow the steps and you will then see your Analytics reports available via the “Analytics” tab within Google AdWords.

How to Setup Conversion Tracking within Google AdWords

To set up the conversion tracking within Google AdWords click on the “Conversion Tracking” submenu underneath the “Campaign Management” tab.

You then “Create a New Action” and you need to name it, such as “Registrations”, other data can be associated to it also. Once you save the action you will be given code to put on the page.

You copy the code and paste it into the page that the user will see after they take your desired action. For example if you have a registration page named “register.php” and it collects their name and email with a button to “register” and the next page once registered is “welcome.php” then you put the code on the “welcome.php” page.

Example of how the flow of data works with AdWords: an individual searches on your keyword within Google, the Google network, or Content Network (depending on how you set up your AdWords campaign) then they see one of your advertisements (you can create many different variations) and go to your landing page, submit the information to register with you, then the next page which has the Conversion Tracking code is presented to the user “Thanks for Registering” and the code pings Google AdWords to register a conversion.

You will now see which Campaign, AdGroup, Keyword and Advertisement within Google AdWords generated that conversion. Cost per conversion and other useful information is provided as well.

How to Setup Conversion Tracking within Google Analytics

To set up the conversion tracking with Google Analytics you create what they call “Goals”. To set up a goal you first look under the “Website Profiles” and next to your Domain you will see the “View Reports” and “Edit” under “Settings”.

You will see under the “Conversion Goals and Funnel” heading a list of Goal Names, starting with sequential numbering of G1 G2 G3 etc. Click the “Edit” link under settings to set up a Goal.

Note: What is different about the Google Analytic Goal tracking code as opposed to Google AdWords Conversion Tracking is that you do not need to set up code on your pages for the Goal Tracking. However, you must have the generic Google Analytics code on all your pages for it to work.

There are a list of fields to fill out, the question marks provide information on what is needed. Two main items to understand, Goals and Funnels. Goals are set up by simply putting the URL of the page that as the Goal page. Every visit to that page will be counted so you need to be careful and assure that is a unique page that can only be accessed the way you want. For example if the Goal page is your home page because a new registrant is taken to the home page after registering you will not only have the total of new registrants but it will also show the total number of visits to the home page for that day. The total will be inflated. This is the major difference between the accuracy of the AdWords Conversion tracking and the Google Analytics Goal tracking. However, the Funnels, which are optional, assist in removing the inflated Goal counts.

To utilize Filters, which are incredibly helpful and powerful, you define the path you would like to see a person take. In other words your Goal may show 10 registrants, however you may want to know if they went to the Goal page by first going to the registration page as this would remove all the inflated visitors. For example, if the Goal shows 20 visits to the Goal page and only 10 came from the registration page then you know there were 10 registrants. Utilizing filters can be used for many purposes.

Here are two powerful uses of the Goals and Filters, for internal site development and optimization as well as external advertising campaign testing.

First, internally you can use the filters to show the paths that are taken to registration. Is it home page –> registration or content page –> registration, any path you may suspect or see within Analytics you can filter here.

Also, internally if you have a multi-page sign up process you can determine exactly which pages potential registrants drop off. You may have individuals drop off when you ask certain questions or on certain pages, great to be able to test.

Second, to monitor external advertising campaigns that use unique landing pages you create, you can show filtering from page1 –> registration or page2 –> registration etc. This is a great way to determine, in a process of pages, which campaigns work best.

Where to Find the AdWords Conversions within Google AdWords

You can also find the AdWords conversion data within AdWords. Total number of Conversions are listed by Campaign Name, by Ad Group Name within the Campaign, by Advertisement Variation and by Keywords. The data will always be listed under the “Conversions” column.

Where to Find the AdWords Conversions and Goals within Google Analytics

Before we discuss how to use the Goal and Conversions, here is where you find the data with Google Analytics. The image on the left shows the data for AdWords is found under the “Traffic Sources” menu item. While the image on the right shows the Goals information is shown under the “Goals” tab, a lot of great information.

Now You’re Ready!
That’s it, now you are up and running and know the differences between the Google Conversion tracking with AdWords and the Google Analytics Goals and Funnels. The above is meant to get you started, however does not even begin to touch on the various ways in which you can use the data. Begin to use the tools, use your imagination and you will be wondering why you never used them before.

If you use Google AdWords, the free download from Google is an amazing tool and time saver - known as the AdWords Editor. I will follow up with some reasons why this tool is so helpful.

Want to know where your visitors click on your page, or increase conversions? Check out Crazy Egg and their heat maps.

Wondering which of your split test (A/B) ads will perform better in the long run, or how they will perform? Got some initial click data? Check out this great tool: Split Tester, free and simple to use.

You may be able to regain part of your marketing spend on pay per click search engines. If you have been defrauded, not by the search engine but by others fraudulently clicking your advertisements, you may be able to get a refund but how?

To learn more about click fraud see our previous article here.

A product that over 4,000 advertisers are using is called Click Forensics to be their voice in the fight against click fraud. You can obtain a free trial subscription here.

It is simple to set up as they walk you through the process. For example to set up Google Adwords they explained the simple steps of:

• log into adwords
• click the upper right tab “Account”
• then the sub link “Account Preferences”
• then choose the “edit” link next to the word Tracking
• then choose the Auto Tag option and hit save
• then you grab the code they request you use and paste before your “body” link, if you do not maintain the code you simply enter your programmers email and the code is sent to them

It was that simple.

You can use their reports to send to the search engine and request a refund on any fraudulent activity. You can obtain a free trial subscription here.

Get the most from your advertising and marketing campaigns, particularly cost per click advertising. Protect yourself from click fraud. There is a new site that is empowering the little guy to assist in auditing and keeping the large networks honest. In all honestly it is not the networks defrauding anyone but those who are clicking on advertisements fraudulently.

The Click Fraud Network is here and the benefits are below. You can join their network for free and keep up to date.

• Create a community of advertisers to pool information, resources and ideas. This is the genesis of the Click Fraud Network. Members can discuss solutions, take advantage of free reports using their patent pending algorithm to track click fraud threat levels. The network will publish the Click Fraud Index, a site dedicated to educating advertisers on industry trends and information. They believe it does take a community to address the issue of click fraud.
• Define the industry standards for what an unwanted click looks like. They believe that there are certain characteristics or attributes that are common to a large percentage of click fraud. They are working with publishers and advertisers to agree on common ground and work together to expose it. Once this is developed it should be published so that the entire community can benefit from it.
• Agree on a format to submit reports to search providers. If they can improve the process of communication between the advertiser and the search provider, they believe that unwanted clicks can be identified much sooner. This process would allow for improved identification of those trying to beat the system as well as a fair forum to be sure advertisers are getting what they pay for.

They provide useful services such as:

Click Fraud Index:

They aggregate data anonymous data collected from our members and aggregated for the purpose of tracking industry trends.

Click Fraud Blog:

Articles and engage in discussion with other members of the Click Fraud Network.

If you are deciding whether or not to join take a look at these stats that they publish, you can join for free The here.

• The overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.2 percent for Q3 2007. This is an increase from 13.8 percent for the same quarter in 2006 and from 15.8 percent for Q2 2007.
• The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 28.1 percent in Q3 2007. That’s up from 25.6 percent for Q2 2007, 21.9 percent for Q1 2007 and 19.2 percent for Q4 of 2006.
• Over 60 percent of traffic from parked domains and made for ad sites was click fraud

These stats alone are reason enough to join and read about the Click Forensics click fraud tracking service to determine if you are being unfairly charged for fraudulent clicks.