Pay Per Click Tracking and Conversions

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August 6th, 2008 by Click Consult

When people bring campaigns to us as PPC (Pay Per Click) specialists, one thing we always recommend is conversion tracking. Conversion tracking provides the transparency of spend that is so appealing about PPC (Pay Per Click) as a marketing tool. Regardless of this, we often find conversion tracking being mis-placed or used with poor effect.

Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft Adcenter all have specific conversion tracking systems. While each system differs in execution, all work on the same principle of cookies and a code placed on the conversion page of the web site. This can be the first tripping point for many pay per click advertisers.

The conversion codes supplied by each pay per click platform are different, but all need to be place on the same page to offer usable results. The conversion page is the page the directly follows an action completed by the user, that is valuable to your business. This action is not solely confined to online sale transactions. Conversion tracking can be used to track leads from completed enquiry forms, sign ups to news letters, downloads or even page views.

What is important about this page is that it can only be accessed by the user or potential customer once they have completed that action that is valuable to your site. Common mistakes have been placing the codes on the form page rather than the pages following or even placing the code on the home page! Data from mis-placed codes can be lead to a false impression of success and often waste money and time.

Once the code is placed it is recommended that it is tested. To ensure you can trigger the conversion code the site would need to be accesses via one of the pay per click ads. Once conversion start showing in your PPC accounts, you can be confident the tracking is working.

Tracking the conversions is important as it can be an identifier as to how successful your campaigns are, but conversion tracking can be used as a tool to improve your campaigns performance and overall return on investment (ROI). From Campaign to keyword level changes can be made to increase the likelihood of conversion and more conversions for your budget spend. Either increasing converting areas or reducing areas of spend with little or no conversions. As data build and an understanding of the conversion process is reached, pay per click campaigns are sure to bring in better and better results.

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