Is there a simple solution?

[rightliner]

I've posted a similar question before, but let me try and really simplify it, and hopefully there's a simple answer...

I want to get a tracking service that can tell me:
1. Where each visitor came from and with what keyword
2. Track that customer through my site and determine if they clicked on an add, or an affiliate link (both things I don't control)

That's all i want to be able to do - can anybody help!? Please...

[Philosopher]

That really wouldn't be that difficult. I don't know of any off-the-shelf products off hand, but what you would need to do is setup a redirect script for your adverts and aff links instead of straight links. This will allow you to track when a visitor clicks on one of the adverts or aff. links.

Once you have that setup, it's easy enough to then use a log-tool to generate the kind of tracking you want.

It's the redirect script that is necessary as there isn't really any way to know what a user has clicked on unless it is routed through your server first.

[rightliner]

Ok, that'll work for my affiliate links, but not my google adsense ads

[Philosopher]

ahh...adsense...that's a different matter entirely as you have no control over the iframe that the adsense code is found in and Adsense TOS doesn't allow altering of the code.

You might want to check out this thread [webmasterworld.com] that dealt with developing an adsense tracking script through some ingenious js scripting that apparently does NOT break the Adsense TOS.