Forum Moderators: martinibuster

Message Too Old, No Replies

Ad Links income not included in URL channels

It's documented (sort of) but caught me by surprise

         

bumpski

1:17 pm on Dec 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



If you use URL channels and also use Ad Links, the income from Ad Links is not included (ever) in the URL channel data! It is documented, but it surprised me.

[google.com...]

I have an Adlinks unit on almost every page of my site(s) and since you cannot create a URL channel for your home page (only a custom channel(s)), I had been assuming some income was due to clicks on Ad units and Ad Links on my home page(s), not so.

I finally got around to adding custom channels to my home page(s) only to discover additional unaccounted income (not complaining). If you want to document what pages Ad Links income comes from you have to creat a custom channel for every page you have an Ad Links unit on! Sort of makes URL channels less useful. I must say Ad links can be a significant source of income and now I've learned it's difficult to track the source (makes sense, at least partially, now that I understand).

Also note the comment about Ad unit, not page, impressions in Google's help. The Ad unit impressions shoot up to the number of Ads shown on the Ad Links landing page, typically 10, after a click on the Ad Links unit.

Anybody look at Ad Unit impressions anymore?
If so, what do you use them for?
How do Ad Unit impressions affect smart pricing versus Page Impressions?

Anyway learned something new today!

berto

3:11 pm on Dec 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I, too, discovered several months ago that URL channels don't track AdLinks activity. Since I rely so heavily on AdLinks, it rendered my 100+ URL channels nearly useless. (I also run wide skyscraper ads on those pages, and the URL channels did track that activity.)

So, now, I have custom channels (not URL channels) set up to track AdLinks activity on a few, select, high-traffic and high-earning pages. As for the other 95+% of the site's pages, I track their AdLinks statistics in the aggregate, but I have no page-by-page breakdown. Bummer.