trusting overture?

log files and overture results vary

[werty]

I am using tracking urls.

www.domain.com/?source=overture

in my referral logs i got i think 62 clicks that come up.

on overture it says that i paid(recieved) for 300.

have any of you experienced results like this? is overture scamming me? other possible reasons?

thanks

[Brett_Tabke]

There will always be some differences. Some times, people will abort a click while some part of the web is slow. Overture registers the click, but that person can't get to your site.

Nothing on the order you are describing though. I would back up, double check your logging software and make sure it is coming in right. Then double check what Overture is listing for clicks and ask your acc rep for a hand check if you still think there is something wrong.

[skibum]

With 3rd party ad serving (redirects) Overture is spot-on 99.999999999% of the time when Ad serving results and Overture tallies are compared.

We've never had any problems with click counts but are also not in the casino, $ex, travel, or other deathmatch categories at the moment.

[heidibear]

I have been working with Overture (and numberous other PPC engines) for over two years and rarely do our click numbers match exactly. Typically if I see a difference of more than 15% on my high traffic terms, I talk to my account rep and we do a little investigation.

Most of the time the difference is due to drop-off before people hit the site. However, it could also depend on what your logs are tracking. If you are tracking by unique IP address, keep in mind that millions of AOL users share the same small number of IP addresses so 20 clicks may only register in your logs as one unique IP address.

[sem4u]

Also proxy servers can get in the way. You will never get a 100% match up with your logs and PPC data.

[webdiversity]

Working on that basis then (and I agree that there will always be an element of noise in the results), what size do you consider a discrepancy (as a percentage) big enough for you to take the time to investigate the difference to see if you are being spooked?

Going back a little while I was doing it for the odd one here and there. Now, because success is measured by ROI, these things are factored into the overall results.

Ultimately, if the PPC's are getting significant wasteage then it will show in advertisers signing up or not and staying with them or not.

I don't think any of the bigger PPC's can be in the position of being that arrogant that they wouldn't care (I don't think the partners would allow them), and none of them seem to be.

[heidibear]

Like Webdiversity said, you need to determine what % discrepancy you are willing to have before becoming vocal.
I bid on terms that are searched often and fairly high in cost, so a 10% discrepancy is expensive.

If the discrepancy you have isn't very expensive, I would not get Overture involved and instead investigate your logs vs. Overture reporting to see if there is a common theme among what isn't tracking.