AdWords For Beginners - Making Sense of AdWords Tracking and Conversion Rates

2009 January 19

presented by Karen Scharf: Helping You Improve Web Conversions

By Fabian Tan

The Google AdWords program makes it easy for anyone on any budget to advertise their web site, product or service (or all three) to a worldwide audience. One thing it doesn’t do is teach you the basics of the advertising industry such as what terms like AdWords tracking and conversion tracking are. Lucky for you this article was written with you in mind!

AdWords conversion tracking is the process of keeping a record of the conversions - clicks on your ads that result in your desired behavior. If your goal is to have people click and purchase, AdWords tracking records that. Likewise with web site signups, page views or lead generation as well.

A cookie is placed on the end user’s computer when he or she clicks on and AdWords advertisement. When and if they complete your conversion goal, the cookie is connected to your web page and Google AdWords tracking is enabled and records a conversion on your behalf. The good news is that this cookie will remain on the end user’s system for 30 days, meaning that though they may not convert immediately upon their first visit, the conversion tracking record will remain in place should they click through and convert in a few days. This means that the program can accurately record conversion rates even though if they don’t necessarily happen immediately.

With conversion and AdWords tracking you’ll have a complete and accurate record of how well your advertising is doing. Then you’ll be able to make the adjustments to your campaign as necessary.

About the author

Fabian Tan is an expert Internet marketer and the CEO of Unbounded Marketing Ltd, a powerhouse that has helped thousands of people worldwide increase their profits. His forte is in information marketing, direct response, affiliate marketing and article marketing. Fabian started actively marketing on the Internet in 2003 and went full-time in 2006.