Analytics Goals more than Adwords

[convonix]

Need some help with a problem I am facing for the PPC campaign I am handling. The no. of conversions in Analytics are much higher as compared to those tracked in Adwords.

Goal Set in Analytics : “/checkout/onepage/success”(Head Match):- I had checked with the client and he had confirmed 'http://www.#*$!#*$!x.com/index.php/checkout/onepage/success/ ' Or 'http://www.#*$!#*$!xx.com/checkout/onepage/success/' as his final thankyou pages.

Specifically, for one day, Adwords tracked one conversion while 4 goals were tracked in Analytics. I found the exact names of the 4 products from the ‘Reverse Goal Path’ option and the client verified that he had indeed sold those products on that day. The ‘Total Conv Value’ parameter also has tracked the value of only the single product in Adwords. When we had sent the Adwords conversion code to the client initially, he had made some modifications to capture the ‘Total Conv Value’ parameter and this code has been pasted on the site.

It would be great if any of you could look into this and let me know what might be the issue in this case

[James_WV]

adwords and analytics track goals / conversions differently. Adwords attributes a conversion to the day of the first click by the user (within a 30 day time period) as this is when the cost is attributed to, whereas Analytics tracks it as the day the conversion was made.

So, if I clicked on your adwords ad yesterday, then came back and converted today analytics would register the goal on today's date and adwords would measure the conversion on yesterdays date.

They also have different tracking periods - Analytics is 6 months by default, Adwords is one month. So, if I use Adwords 5 months ago to find your site, don't visit again for 5 months, but then on the fifth month come back and convert:

Adwords wouldn't track the conversion as originating form Adwords

Analytics would mark a goal conversion today for Adwords

[RhinoFish]

these things need to be configurable.

further, for any one sale, detailed multichannel info needs to be made available.

[James_WV]

>>these things need to be configurable.
further, for any one sale, detailed multichannel info needs to be made available.

couldn't agree more - there are ways to configure analytics so that the 6 month period is different and so that it tracks users to the first click rather than the last - but adwords is totally set in stone

[convonix]

no the sale has already occurred with the client we checked .... and its already been more than 15 days since that date 29th Oct to be precise...so tat issue isnt there either

[James_WV]

those are just 3 ways that analytics differs from adwords in tracking - I'm sure there are probably more. Unless the numbers are hugely different you shouldn't worry about it - if they are then try contacting adwords?

[mustan9]

Most likely 3 of your visitors either did not come from your ad, or they returned later via a bookmark. They then completed the goal.

The problem with Google Analytics is that it tracks page performances rather then visitor performance. So it's not possible to trace the click path of a single visitor.

[edited by: encyclo at 4:08 pm (utc) on Nov. 12, 2009]
[edit reason] combined duplicate threads [/edit]

[convonix]

One of the flaws from my end was that the conversion tracking setting was kept as "http" by me while the client's page is on the "https" server...do you think that would make a difference ?

[chewy]

there will always be a difference between the 2. You can chase it down forever, there will always be a difference, for the multiple reasons cited above.

The key question is: how big is the difference?

I use a rule of thumb, that if it is over 10%, then maybe I should look further.

[convonix]

Almost double 18 in adwords...32 in analytics...think that's a pretty wide difference