The day is fast approaching: March 15. Google announced back in September that the “Converted Clicks” reported in AdWords would soon be removed, and what was then “soon” is now imminent.
Advertisers should instead be using the Conversions metric for bid and campaign optimisation, as well as reporting, Google advises.
The difference? Converted clicks counts the number of clicks that lead to one or more conversions. If the same person, having clicked on your AdWords ad, completes more than one conversion, there will still be only one converted click.
Not so with Conversions, which counts the total number of conversion actions (those you specify) resulting from the click. Conversions also include Google’s estimate as to the conversion actions that are likely to have occurred on another device, browser, in a store, or over the phone (“cross-device conversions”). Cross-device conversions are tracked for AdWords ads traffic on Google Search pages and the Google Display Network but not for app install conversions, nor with imported goals from Google Analytics or AdWords Conversion Import.
Why should you care?
If you’ve still been reporting Converted Clicks, you’ll soon be unable to do so. However, our recommendation remains to import select conversions from Google Analytics (GA) rather than use Google AdWords tracking — if you’re already doing so, then the loss of Converted Clicks reporting will not be an issue.
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Jeremy is a Partner and Senior Consultant at SureFire. Jeremy has been working in search since 1996, when he joined the Australian search engine, LookSmart. After relocating to San Francisco, he was instrumental in the development of the company’s paid search ad platform. At analytics company Coremetrics (now owned by IBM) he established an in-house search agency managing campaigns for Coremetrics clients such as Macy’s, Bass Pro and Lands End. At Acxiom he managed members of the pioneering SEO firm Marketleap and worked with clients such as Capital One, American General Finance and Kaiser Health. Joining SureFire in 2009, he is the head of Paid Search Advertising and oversees the delivery of AdWords and other PPC campaigns. He also helps clients make sense of their website data.
