tracking AdSense clicks with Google Analytics

[abkaiser]

(I've decided to re-post this question here, as I originally asked in the Supporters forum. Now realized that I should be posting to this forum, as the question may be too specific for the Supporters.)

I've been explicitly told by AdSense tech support that inserting Google Analytics code into the AdSense script (in order to track clicks), is NOT against the TOS. I plan on implementing this, but wanted to first ask:
Anyone else done this yet?

My only goal here is to be able to track what pages are generating what clicks. I have too many to easily track using channels.

Thanks,

Andy

[leadegroot]

Can you be clearer on what you are planning to do?
I understood that fiddling with the code at all was against TOS
(Sorry I can't help!)

[Ganceann]

I had suggested to google that they should make analytics work in harmony with adsense - to enable publishers to check which outbound links were getting the clicks. Never got any answer.

[abkaiser]

>Can you be clearer on what you are planning to do?

I want to open Google Analytics, and be able to see on what pages people are clicking AdSense ads. Something like:
Page1.htm - 20 clicks
Page2.htm - 10 clicks
Page3.htm - 5 clicks

>I understood that fiddling with the code at all
>was against TOS

It is. However, this isn't changing the AdSense code, it's adding code to the existing script. And yes, I was worried about this too, which is why I asked two different AdSense techs. Both said this was legal.

[Hobbs]

>adding code to the existing script

now I'm lost
how exactly will analytics detect ad clicks?

Analytics code usually goes at the bottom of the page, are you saying that you will place it within the AS code?

[wileystudios]

It is not against TOS to add Analytics code to the same PAGE as adsense but how would you modify the Adsense code with Analytics code and where in the Analytics reports would you see adense clicks? The two do not work togther. It would be a great feature but right now Analytics does not work with Adsense. If you have some sample code to show I think we all would be interested in seeing it.

[abkaiser]

>how exactly will analytics detect ad clicks?
>Analytics code usually goes at the bottom of the page,
>are you saying that you will place it within the AS code?

The basic Analytic code does indeed go at the bottom of the page. But there is additional code you can use to detect what outbound links users click on:

[google.com ]

[abkaiser]

>If you have some sample code to show I think we all would
>be interested in seeing it.

So would I. :)

This has been in the back of my mind, and only recently am I trying to get this working. If I do, I'll post the how-to here.

Andy

[dolly22]

Are you sure, they did understand what you are trying to do? Tracking adsense with urchinTracker in onclick event would mean modifying adsense javascript (pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js), host this script somewhere and also modify generated adsense code to reflect this new script url -> which sounds like clear TOS violation to me.

But it's possible to "track" adsense clicks with passive tracking javascript and report them to google analytics without any code change. However it's not possible to track adclicks from adlinks this way.

I'm using such script to track MFA ads on my site, to monitor common navigational patterns leading to adclicks and also to track which Adlink terms are my visitors most interested in.

wileystudios: you can use almost all google analytics reports if you setup adsense click as your goal. You can even set your EPC as goal value to have some basic overview.

[frakilk]

abkaiser -

I am tracking AdSense clicks passively (no modifying of the AdSense code) and viewing the data in Google Analytics. Let me tell you it is really powerful. You can tell which are the top converting pages, top keywords that convert and even silly stuff like the top browsers that result in clicks.

Stickying you the link now :)

[jmatthew3]

"wileystudios: you can use almost all google analytics reports if you setup adsense click as your goal. You can even set your EPC as goal value to have some basic overview. "

How do you set 'adsense click' as a goal?

[jomaxx]

You CANNOT change the AdSense code, for the sake of Google Analytics or anything else. That link you posted was describing how you would track a conventional HREF link, and will not work with AdSense.

As mentioned previously, there are tracking scripts that do not change the code (or the functionality) at all, and they could be configured to with with Google Analytics.

[WolfLover]

I am tracking AdSense clicks passively (no modifying of the AdSense code) and viewing the data in Google Analytics. Let me tell you it is really powerful. You can tell which are the top converting pages, top keywords that convert and even silly stuff like the top browsers that result in clicks.

Stickying you the link now

frakilk, would you mind stickying me with that link as well? Thanks!

[TheFlipguy]

I am tracking AdSense clicks passively (no modifying of the AdSense code) and viewing the data in Google Analytics. Let me tell you it is really powerful. You can tell which are the top converting pages, top keywords that convert and even silly stuff like the top browsers that result in clicks.
Stickying you the link now

I'm interested in this too. Can you please sticky me too? Thank you in advance frakilk.

Flip

[celgins]

Can't all of this page/click tracking be done with channels?

Setting up channels for all ads on a page will reveal the number of clicks.

[Mohamed]

I am tracking AdSense clicks passively (no modifying of the AdSense code) and viewing the data in Google Analytics. Let me tell you it is really powerful. You can tell which are the top converting pages, top keywords that convert and even silly stuff like the top browsers that result in clicks.
Stickying you the link now

I am interested too. would you please sticky me too?

Thank you in advance

[trillianjedi]

I am interested too. would you please sticky me too?

For anyone interested in this, any variety of the obvious google searches for it will reveal it.

TJ

[abkaiser]

>You CANNOT change the AdSense code, for the sake of
>Google Analytics or anything else. That link you posted
>was describing how you would track a conventional HREF
>link, and will not work with AdSense.

I'm seeing the complexity of the Analytics integration now... Perhaps both AdSense techs I spoke to didn't fully understand either, or I didn't communicate well enough.

>As mentioned previously, there are tracking scripts that
> do not change the code (or the functionality) at all,
> and they could be configured to with with Google
>Analytics.

As there seems to be concern about TOS violations, I'll pull back and use the existing tracking scripts. I don't even want to do anything that has a small chance of being a violation - I've worked too hard on getting this far!

Thanks to everyone for their input. It's sites like this that make this Internet worthwhile.

[ArtistMike]

There are passive tracker codes that you can put on your page that will tell you which ad was clicked on. Not just what page was exited, but which ad was clicked out of an adblock.

The same tracker code will track what phrase was used to find your page from a search engine, what page they were on just before they came to your page.

This is all possible without changing the Google code.

Mike

[leadegroot]

I have a page on seobook.com bookmarked which talks about how to use analytics to track adsense.
Googling should find it