Problems with AdSense URL channel stats

[Marketing Guy]

I noticed a glitch in Adsense reporting over the past week - stats being reported, then being removed. I put it down to the URL reporting being introduced and some bugs with it.

This week I've seen channel stats being reported one day, then they went blank the next.

Also, there is some buggy reporting if you select an URL channel and custom channel that over lap.

For example:

URL channel: www.yoursite.com/widgets
Custom channel placed only on page: www.yousite.com/widgets/widget_sales.htm

In this example, if you selected BOTH at the same time, the data would be counted twice for the widget_sales.htm page.

I don't know if this has been fixed, but when I came across this, it showed MORE income, impressions etc for these channels than the aggregate data showed.

My point is that it this could be interpreted as being "adjustments" in CTR, etc. Ie, you see $100 earnings for a day via channel reports, but aggregate only shows $90, so the assumption is made that you "lost" $10. In fact you made $90, but $10 of earnings was counted twice somewhere.

Scott

[Jenstar]

In this example, if you selected BOTH at the same time, the data would be counted twice for the widget_sales.htm page.

Yes, it would definitely overlap, since you are selecting two channels with data common to both. I don't think that is a bug at all. I don't use the overall channel data earnings to see what I made for the day, but use the aggregate totals. URL channel totals will also not include such things as clicks on a cached copy (although it would with the custom channels). Aggregate totals will always be the accurate one if you are trying to determine daily earnings.

As for the deductions, there is no reason to contact Google, they obviously know it's there ;)

[Marketing Guy]

I think in terms of usability, Google could stand to add some sort of mechanism to prevent overlapped information. Perhaps by not allowing conflicting channels to be selected at the same time (or simply posting a message saying it's a possibility)?

When I came across this, I had URL channel selected, but it had been scrolled down so I didn't notice it was still selected. Then there was the 10 mins of confusion as to why my 1 page earned more money that day than my entire site *including* the page! :P

Maybe just a "select none" option in the select boxes would help?

Scott

[HitProf]

It's very confusing to see the data added up, as the the total line still says "total". Now it's like you've earned twice as much.

added: reporting in different columns would solve the problem

I second MG's suggestion for a "select none" button because it's now impossible to change from one type of channel to another unless you make a detour via general data.

[icedowl]

I second MG's suggestion for a "select none" button because it's now impossible to change from one type of channel to another unless you make a detour via general data.

All you have to do is click on the title inside the box (Active URL Channels) and it clears the rest inside that box.