Scenario 1:
I have account 1 and there are campaigns 1, 2, 3 for 3 different clients (everyone in different area, so no keyword "colisions"). I have activated Conversion tracking (Sale) for client 1 and placed the code to his page. No conversion tracking code was placed on the pages of client 2 and 3.
Everything is OK for client 1.
After a few months I can see that client 2 has 1 conversion and client 3 has 2 conversions. But there is no conversion code on their pages!
My explanation of this is here:
A user clicked on the ad of client 2 and during the months (before the cookie expired) went to the page of client 1 and bought something there. The user did not clicked on the ad of client 1, so the client 2 received "conversion" even when there is no conversion code on his page.
It makes no problem to me, the clients 2 and 3 do not want conversion data and it is only a few cases a year.
But today I looked into the tracking code and I have noticed that there is no CampaignID and also no ClientID and this leads me to the CRUCIAL QUESTION:
Is the scenario described above possible not only between campaigns in one account but between different acounts?
I am afraid, it is possible.
If I generate the code in different acounts, it is all the time the same code (no customer ID).
So the
scenario 2
may happen:
I have account 1 and ANYONE ELSE has account 2. We both activate Conversion tracking (e.g. Sale). A user clicked on MY ad but bought nothing. Then the user went to HIS page (not via adWords) and bought something there. User did not clicked on HIS ad, but the tracking code was shown and the user has my Adwords cookie, so I got "conversion".
Please persuade me I am wrong in scenario 2!
You can do a simple test I imagine with the help of someone else who has their own adwords account.
Although it can also be very useful if a merchant uses the "common" conversion code so all their affiliates can use tracking.
-V
All conversion data at the adgroup level has disappeared overnight in my campaigns. Current and historical data has been replaced by strings of zero's...
Not sure if our problems are directly related though...
Syzygy
When someone clicks on your ad, a cookie is placed that associates that user with that account. So, while your landing page doesn't have a customer ID in it, it doesn't matter because the cookie has that info.
The other reason that was stated as to why the code doesn't have one is that it makes it so competitors/others can't pull any account info from your site code or use your conversion data script on another page (that you don't own) to mess up your stats.
At the adgroup level all conversion data is gone, no matter which time frame you look. This is a major #*$!up that needs to be corrected ASAP. Reports seem to work fine, at least this morning they were.
This is NOT account specific as I checked at least 5 different clients in the last 20 minutes and they are all lacking conversion stats at adgroup (keyword) level.
AWA ring the alarm bell!
It is the same here Robsp. All conversion data is missing from the Ad Group level stats.
Hi all - I just checked in with WebmasterWorld between a couple of meetings and saw this thread. Thanks for the info, and I have just pinged the tech folks. I'll be back later with what I've learned.
AWA
Turns out there is an issue, as flagged here earlier (thanks!). Engineers were already working hard on it when I pinged them, and are treating it as a highest priority.
The really excellent news is that all data is intact, and the actual tracking of conversion info is running as normal. So once the issue is resolved, no info will have been lost.
I'll post again when I learn more. It's another week with lots of meetings, so I'll be as present here as much as I am able. ;)
AWA
We'll let you know when it is back up again.
We'll let you know when it is back up again.
Heheh. No doubt about it - all ya'll notice stuff fast!
;) AWA
Thanx
"If you use other advertising channels — like Overture, email campaigns, and banner ads — you can set up cross-channel tracking to analyse and compare all your online advertising efforts through your AdWords account."
Sounds cool, but would ya trust it? ;-)
-V
Does this integrate into the Adwords reporting in such a way that you can have keyword stats over multiple campaigns?
Overture has had a similar tracking tool for 6+ months (which works great, btw)
What a joke. I'm sorry I ever got clients hooked on Overture's Marketing Console. Unfortunately, I don't think AdWords' new cross-channel stats will be a replacement, since they don't even claim to measure Overture costs (so much for ROI tracking, in other words).
