The Cheaters Guide for Integrating Google AdWords & Analytics. Part 2: AdWords Referral URLS that say more than just Google!

December 14, 2006

Possibly, the second most frustrating experience (solution to most annoying) with Google AdWords & Analytics for me, is that referrals from the Content Network only show up as Google[cpc] and nothing more. What’s the big secret? Why isn’t this data more revealing? Well I can’t tell you why, but I can tell you how!

Yes, that’s how you too can get a taste of this mysterious data that Google seems to be stashing away from Joe Public. Again, I must thank the chaps at GA-Experts for their hard work in proving they truly are market leaders in the field of anything related to Google Analytics.

Let’s See a Quick Example

The GA-Expert’s referral data filter displays not only the Pay per Click source, but the website that shows your sponsored ad.

google, www.tripadvisor.com[cpc]
ysm, www2.nuseek.com[ppc]
msuk, search.msn.co.uk[ppc]

And the Filter

Simply follow the steps that have been kindly supplied by GA-Experts:

1) Create a new profile that is a copy of your existing one.
IMPORTANT: This filter should be ringfenced in its own profile, as you only want this filter applied to PPC referrals.

2) Add a filter to show only PPC referrals in this profile. This screenshot shows how.

3) Add the filter that shows the Search & Content Network referrer, as per this screenshot.

4) Wait for the data. All referral reports will now show the exact PPC referrer.

What does this mean?

An obvious use of this data is to exclude certain sites from your Pay per Click campaigns that are not performing and not providing a satisfactory ROI. This can be done for the Google Content Network Network, but I do not think this is currently available with Google Search Network and with Yahoo.

Another great benefit is if you have or plan to setup an affiliate program. We all know PPC can be a great keyword research tool for SEO, but did you know it can be a really useful for scouting potential affiliates as well? Website owners who have AdSense on their site are obviously commercially aware and Google has categorised such sites as being relevant to your site too.

By setting up Goals in Google Analytics and applying the above filter it is easy to see which websites from the Google Content Network are performing well. You can then review and anticipate if such sites will provide better ROI and greater Net Return as part as part of your affiliate campaign or remain as part of your Google Content Network. This has certainly helped wanders for one of my clients!

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