Best practice to separate paid from organic conversions in Google Analytics
-
I have a PPC campaign for a client with standalone landing pages with a form, not reachable from the website (although in the same domain).
- I've added the AdWords conversion code to the "thank you" page and I also added a Goal in
Google Analytics whose counter is increased every time the thank you page is reached.
This way I can track conversions with both AdWords and Analytics.
Is that correct?
Should I import back in AdWords the goals from Analytics, as suggested in the AdWords account?
- I have another landing page with a form in the website, where I send users coming from
organic search, so I set up a second goal in Analytics for the thank you page of this form.
Is this the reason why I am supposed to import in AdWords the analytics' goals, so that I could see both kind of conversions in both accounts?
- But the most important question is: If I send both PPC/organic visitors to the same landing page is there still a way to separate PPC from Organic conversions?
Thank you very much for your advice.
DoMiSoL Rossini
- I've added the AdWords conversion code to the "thank you" page and I also added a Goal in
-
Hi DoMiSol,
- I've added the AdWords conversion code to the "thank you" page and I also added a Goal in
Google Analytics whose counter is increased every time the thank you page is reached. This way I can track conversions with both AdWords and Analytics. Is that correct?
Yes, as long as you have added the Google Analytics tracking code to the "Thank you" page so you can track that specific goal.
Should I import back in AdWords the goals from Analytics, as suggested in the AdWords account?
Linking your Analytics account with Adwords has a lot of benefits. The main reason to do so is to be able to see a more comprehensive view of your AdWords post/click activity such as:
- Bounce Rate: When someone sees only one page or triggers only one event.
- Avg. Session Duration: The average time someone stayed on your site.
- Pages/Session: The average number of pages viewed per session.
- % New Sessions: The estimated percentage of first-time sessions.
- Access to awesome Remarketing lists from Google Analytics
In terms of tracking AdWords conversions use one or the other, not both. Do not import any goals that you are already tracking through AdWords Conversion Tracking into AdWords, this can create double-counting and duplication, which would make your conversion data misleading and hard to interpret.
==================================
- I have another landing page with a form in the website, where I send users coming from organic search, so I set up a second goal in Analytics for the thank you page of this form.
Yes, you are simply tracking a new action from a different form.
Is this the reason why I am supposed to import in AdWords the analytics' goals, so that I could see both kind of conversions in both accounts?
_In theory yes (as explained above). But I would not import your organic goals into Adwords, there is no reason to. _To make it simple, remember this:
- AdWords tool will track ONLY your AdWords conversions.
- Analytics will track conversions from ALL your channels: Bing, Social, Email etc. As long as you have the proper tracking & tags implemented in your URL's.
=================================
3) But the most important question is: If I send both PPC/organic visitors to the same landing page is there still a way to separate PPC from Organic conversions?Yes, as long as you have auto-tagging enabled AND Adwords conversion tracking in the pages that you want to track. Google will track your PPC data separate from your organic - Google Adwords adds a "GCLID" (Google Click Identifier) to the Destination URL. This is a globally unique tracking parameter to pass information back and forth between Google AdWords and Google Analytics, this includes UTM parameters, click to conversion and cost data for your paid campaigns.
=================================
I hope this information is helpful.
Cheers,
~Barbara
- I've added the AdWords conversion code to the "thank you" page and I also added a Goal in
-
You should be able to go to Goal Overview > Source / Medium and see where the user came from.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does paid search get more traffic compare to organic search now?
does paid search get more traffic compare to organic search now? todays we have four ads link in google that cover all screen of mobile. should we invest more on adwords and organic isn't important like before??
Paid Search Marketing | | Pintapin1 -
Would you launch a paid search campaign with 'Exact Match' only keywords
Hi Mozzers, I'm building a new campaign for a business start-up, and search volumes with the industry are HUGE! I want to target high commercial intent keywords, to maximise the number of conversions / sales from my paid search campaigns. Using the forecasting tool in Adwords, it looks like I can [exact match] these high commercial intent keywords and still get the click volume I'm aiming for. Would you, therefore, use this approach - where you only match at an exact level to control the quality of traffic coming through from the paid search campaigns? I plan to achieve relevance by having ad groups broken down into clear themes with around 10 - 15 exact match keywords per ad group. Let me know your thoughts... Thanks!
Paid Search Marketing | | Zoope1 -
Looking at google shopping results from other country
Hi, I run shops in several languages out of London. One of our key revenue drivers is google shopping. It is important for me to look the the shopping search results for example in germany. Recently Google changed something so when I want to look at the german shopping results from here, eg. http://www.google.de/shopping it always shows me the english ones with prices in pounds. Is there a trick to still get the foreign results? Thanks in advance Dieter
Paid Search Marketing | | Storesco1 -
Google certification
Hi Just wondering what everyones thoughts on Google certification? I was wondering if anyone had any experience doing the analytics and adwords tests? Do you feel they give you a benefit or advantage to others in your field? And also what is the cost of the exams? Thanks in advance
Paid Search Marketing | | TheZenAgency0 -
Google Giving 404 Errors to Working Pages
We have a problem that just came up out of the blue with Google, in particular Webmaster Tools & our Merchant Center. We're getting a 404 errors for 1000s of pages in both of these applications, but the pages are working just fine. Our shopping campaigns have been hit hard as many of our top products have been suspended from our merchant feed. Webmaster tools is giving us 1000s of 404 errors to product & category pages alike. But every page returning a 404 error is working. We've contacted Google and they mention that they are not getting a 404 error, but their crawler seems to be. Has anyone ever experienced this? What could be causing this? Thanks for any input.
Paid Search Marketing | | paulcorrado30 -
Custom Filter: Organic Traffic Growth VS Paid Traffic Growth
Hi guys, I need some assistance. We recently removed and disavowed links to our site and I believe it has been about 3 months but I can't see much of a change. Can anyone help me with a filter for GA to be able to measure my organic traffic growth and my Paid search traffic growth. I was also wondering, because organic traffic is determined by variables like fresh, relavant and key phrase rich content constantly being posted, good seo practices etc is there any good way of measuring organic traffic growth vs paid? Please help out where you can.
Paid Search Marketing | | iBags0 -
A heads-up about problems with the new Google Adwords Keyword Planner tool
I noticed that when I was using this tool, the data in the tables would change, often by a lot (up to 50%) when I sorted the columns. (Did nothing else, just sorted.) Since I was starting a new campaign and really needed data, I contacted Google about this and was told: "I understand that the estimates are changing in the Keyword Planner tool when you sort the data. I reproduced this on my end as well and was able to confirm that this is a known technical issue on our end." "Unfortunately the information in the Keyword Planner Tool is currently not the best source of data for your analysis." They then went on to suggest I just test things blindly. So, what do you do to get information about keyword traffic and ppc estimates?
Paid Search Marketing | | Linda-Vassily0 -
Google Adwords Conversion Tracking - Recording Wrong Page
Hi Guys I have a problem with my Google Adwords conversion tracking. Basically whenever I check to see which page it is recording, it shows me the incorrect one. Now I probably checked a thousand time now and the conversion tracking code is not on this specific page, but is on the one that I really want to track. I have also checked that the code is correct and that there is nothing missing. But strangely enough when I look at historical data, it does show that is was tracking conversions on the correct page, but for some reason the past couple of weeks it's reporting conversions from another page, which is the incorrect one. If somebody could please give me some insight as to what could maybe be the cause of this, I would appreciate it. Thank You Dave
Paid Search Marketing | | DavidZA10