AdWords users know that Google offers conversion tracking; however one limitation has been that this conversion tracking did not distinguish between certain types of conversions. For example, if you had 2 offers, newsletter sign up and contact us form, AdWords conversion tracking could not determine which action was taken. In order to see this, you would need to then look into your Google Analytics and cross reference to see which goal was completed. It would even take a few more steps to determine which keyword got the conversion.

With the ability to import Google Analytics goals into your AdWords reporting, there is no need to continue to bounce back and forth between the two platforms to determine where the conversion came from. If your AdWords and analytics accounts are linked, it only takes a few simple steps to import your goals. Then you will easily be able to determine which keywords, ads and campaigns are generating specific conversions. This will help to tailor each campaign to reach your desired goal completion target.

There is no need to install AdWords conversion coding any longer. In fact, conversions could be counted twice if both the engine conversion coding and the analytics goal are recording the same event.

You can also integrate analytics goals with Conversion Optimizer, which is a tool that helps AdWords users get more conversions based on desired cost per acquisition(CPA). Leveraging all of the tools that are available, using them to interpret data and making informed decisions will help any online advertising reach its maximum potential.

If you’ve ever managed a Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaign you probably ran into the situation where your campaigns were tracking to go over budget.  Google, for example, allows up to 20% increase in ad delivery on high traffic days for AdWords campaigns.  If you experience a few of these days during the early part of the month, you could be faced with making decisions on how to stretch out your ad delivery in the month’s final days.  Do you turn off your campaigns altogether and wait for the next month to start?  Do you only run the most profitable keywords; if so, what are they?  Do you change the ad delivery so your ads only run during the day or night, weekday or weekends?  A good way to determine which strategy is best is to analyze your Google Analytics (GA) data (assuming you have a GA account).

You can leverage the data captured in Google Analytics to identify your top producing keywords.  In addition, you can run specific reports in Google Analytics to identify what times of the day your PPC keywords convert the best.  Google Analytics can help you identify the optimum time to run your ads, the best mix of keywords for Return on Investment (ROI), and the geo-targeting areas to deliver those ads.

Next time you need to make decisions about your PPC campaign when targeting a budget, take advantage of the market intelligence Google Analytics can provide.  Here are three reports that can help you make smarter campaign decisions:

1. In the Google Analytics main dashboard, click on Visitors Map Overlay to identify the local, state and or national areas to focus your campaign.  If your budget requires a more narrow focus, this report can help you geo-target your ads.
2. In the Google Analytics main dashboard, click on Traffic Sources Google/cpc choose the Dimension “Keyword” to help identify your top producing keywords.  Whichever metric you feel is most representative of success (E-commerce, lead generation, site usage) can be sorted in descending order for a quick reference of your best keywords.
3. In the Google Analytics main dashboard, click on Goals Total Conversions or Conversion Rate and at the top right of the main graph click on the Clock Icon to see the peak times your campaigns convert.

Once you have the business intelligence from these reports, you can make sharp decisions on which keywords to pause and which to keep running when you are up against a firm budget. In addition, you can focus your ad delivery to specific geo-target locations and dictate the times of day to run your ads.  These campaign changes can help maximize your advertising dollars when you need to find ways to stay within your monthly budget.

Late last week, I was speaking with a client about their campaign performance by using Google Analytics.  Since this client only services one specific part of the country, I was able to show them a state view which indicated how many visitors arrived from each city in the area.  It occurred to me that many advertisers are not getting as deep of a level of information as they could be.

Not only does Google Analytics allow advertisers to track both paid and non-paid search engine marketing efforts, but it also allows insight into user patterns and trends.  For example, by comparing goal conversions to amount of visitors, an advertiser can see which days result in higher conversions.  From this information, it is even possible to then determine which days may require a larger budget than others.

Google Analytics data is also helpful in assessing which countries, states or cities result in goal conversions and sales.  For example, an advertiser who sees that specific states have significantly lower conversions and higher bounce rates compared to other performing states may use this information to exclude the non-performing states or cities.

I always recommend to my clients to use their Google Analytics or at least play around with it.  The level of detailed information available with Google Analytics plays an important role in shaping your online efforts.  There is more to look at than only the Google Analytics dashboard; try clicking around and see what types of campaign information you discover.  Remember, you are not going to break it, so explore the wonderful world of Google Analytics for yourself.