Google AdWords™ for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 15. Slashing Your Costs with Conversion Tracking

In This Chapter

• Setting up conversion tracking

• Understanding the numbers

• Creating and automating reports

• Keeping track of your ads' and keywords' ROI

• Adjusting your ad campaigns to improve ROI

Say you're split-testing two ads, and one gets a click through rate (CTR) of 1.00%, while the other attracts only 0.77%. The first ad is definitely a keeper, right? Without conversion tracking, you might think so. But what if the first ad attracts lots of nonbuyers, while the second ad gets clicks from buyers? Remember that a click on your ad means one thing: You just paid Google. When you think about it this way, your AdWords strategy shifts from trying to get the highest CTR to enticing only the most qualified prospects to your site. In order to tell which ad leads to sales and not just clicks, you need to install conversion tracking.

By conversion, Google simply means an action that you want a visitor to take on your Web site. When you can track a visitor's actions on your site, you know what clicks lead to sales. Conversion tracking also allows you to bid more intelligently on keywords. You may find that a high-traffic keyword that's costing you a lot of money isn't actually generating leads and sales. You can then lower your bid, change your offer, or fire the keyword. Without conversion tracking, all your campaign-management efforts are shots in the dark, tinkering with inputs without really knowing what's happening at the other end. ...