Find solution
How to track clicks of ads in email using google analytics?

Can anyone explain why there is a disparity in Paid Search Clicks vs. Visits in Google Analytics and other analytic platforms?

  • We are very familiar with the reasons detailed here: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55610 None of the issues in the above "Google Adwords Help link" apply to our campaigns as they all were taken into consideration.  The disparity between "paid clicks" and "visits" is an issue across all our campaigns even with every ad being individually tracked.  The numbers are staggering with there being anywhere from a 18-35% difference in the clicks paid for, versus what was delivered as "visits" in any one month across many accounts we manage.  In a specific instance we have PAID for 988 clicks over a 30 day period in one campaign. Our analytics platforms tracked just 659. The 988 clicks we were billed for was after Google filtered for "invalid clicks". This is not a singular event, it has been ongoing for quite some time and is impossible to explain to clients. In particular, we see a higher disparity in the clicks paid for vs. "visits" with banner ad placements.  It should be noted however we only buy banners on higher quality mainstream sites, i.e ESPN in a specific local.  This issue is not limited to Google, we also see the problem from Bing text ads as well, just not as dramatic. Facebook however ads track spot on.  Finally, this is not an isolated incident.  We build standalone Word Press sites isolated specifically for PPC in sub domains with NO organic referrers. Does anyone have any insight?

  • Answer:

    The main reason this happens is that each tool uses its own criteria for what it calls visits, page views and nearly any other measure you care to name. Unlike accounting, there is no "dollar" in analytics, only relative measures. The second reason is that generally a provider of ad impressions will not see an upside in giving you an easy way to note the disparity between what they are charging you for and what you are actually getting on your site. Sometimes having a third party analysis will help validate, and I have known cases where the ad network was forced to acknowledge the disparity. There is a tool called TagMan that claims this ability to quantify disparities as one of their key deliverables to customers who use it.

Andrew Edwards at Quora Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

Here is a quick overview of web metrics hierarchical structure - Impressions - Impression metrics is at the highest level and it captures each instance of ad loads on the website. Impressions are highest in volume. Clicks - Clicks are generated from multiple impressions and for a display ads the CTR typically ranges anywhere from 1-2%. For paid search, the CTR can vary significantly depending on the ad relevancy. Visits - Visit is another counter metric and the counter is executed when a user visits a website, and either shuts off the browser window or is inactive for 30 minutes. Visit metric cookie duration is limited to the user activity on the website in a given session. Multiple clicks can result in one visit because of the criteria mentioned above. Unique visitor - Unique visitor cookie is a lifetime cookie. Unique visitor can provide better insights on the website traffic but the biggest issue with the unique visitor metric is it changes with the time period i.e. summation of 30 daily unique visitor number will not equate monthly unique visitors because of the calculation method. Sameer Khan Rackspace Search & Analytics Manager Blog:: http://Keywebmetrics.com Company:: http://Ninja-Marketing.com Linkedin:http://www.linkedin.com/in/ninjamarketing Twitter:: http://www.twitter.com/ninjamarketer Google+:: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101959442082341956489/

Sameer Khan

Hello Anna, I'm with you, but we have taken this into account.  If you include the returning visitors we still can't get to the proper # of clicks we are charged for.  I would love to check the IP addresses but since the total # of clicks we are being billed for are never hitting the site we can't collect them.  The scary thing is that Google knows this is a problem because they have a page dedicated to it, and what's worse is that they show you the invalid click counts but don't show you the actual clicks that you paid for unless you use a calculator while in the clients billing tab

Jeffrey Tognetti

There are a lot of reasons I see issues with tracking. Once that I've been noticing more recently is that Google seems to have changed some of the ways GA parses valuetrack. If you are using GA tracking codes on AdWords links, GA use to track those just fine. Now it seems that some of them are ending up in the AdWords section and others are ending up in the campaigns section. I personally think the most common problem is that @ mentioned, multiple clicks from the same person in the same session.

Brad Geddes

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.