Do you run a SEM campaign and also do SEO for your online business? Then I’m sure you’ve linked your Google Analytics and Google Adwords accounts to get the most out of your campaign. If not, hurry up and do it. In no time you’ll have both accounts ready to go and can make the most of the combination.
Linking them lets us connect interactions with Adwords campaign ads to what happens after users land on your online store. Since that’s a big topic, I’ll save it for another day; here I want to focus on the differences between the two tools’ metrics, in case you’ve already linked them…
Forewarned is forearmed: conversion metrics in Google Analytics (provided you’ve set up a goal to track conversions; otherwise this data isn’t visible) and Google Adwords usually differ. It’s not your fault, there’s no error in your eCommerce and you haven’t missed anything important… It’s simply that the two tools measure differently, which leads to different interpretations of the data.
When does a conversion count for you?
If I click a SEM ad for sneakers and make the purchase, Adwords will record the conversion. If I decide not to buy but two days later change my mind, search for the sneakers again and arrive organically, Adwords will still take the credit and count it as a conversion. Analytics won’t count it as an Adwords win and will attribute it to organic search.
Goals and conversions: In Analytics, goals are counted once per visit. In Adwords, however, if a user clicks, visits the goal page several times and eventually converts, it’s counted as conversions from “many clicks”.
Date and time
Along the same lines, Analytics records the conversion at the moment the user clicks to buy. Adwords works differently: it attributes the conversion to the moment the user clicked the ad.
If I decide to buy sneakers tonight at 11:45 and complete the purchase at 12:03, there will be a one-day difference in the conversions report.
Reports
Analytics is known for being faster: its data updates within a few hours. Adwords takes an average of 48 hours to show actual figures.
Until when?
When we set up a campaign with goals, data will be imported into Adwords as long as it occurs after the 30 days following the click. Import into Analytics depends on cookie expiration.
So where does that leave us? The answer isn’t simple, but as we’ve seen, each tool measures differently. If we master both, we’ll get the most out of them and they’ll help us build a successful strategy.
