If you’re a small or mid-size business with some web presence, chances are that you’re on AdWords and are probably relying on Google Analytics for your metrics. This is going to get you pretty far, but there are 3 ways that Google Analytics is failing paid search marketers.
- Useless Comparisons – One of the great features of Google Analytics is that it gives your data context by pairing it with related data and allowing you to graph comparisons with the over/under the average chart (this icon:
). Naturally, as you start to dive into the AdWords results, you’re going to want to comparison of return on investment and revenue per click among ad groups is going to help you get a sense of your which areas are winning and which need more analysis. Sadly, Google Analytics forces you to chart these data against the site average, a meaningless contrast since many of the visits (like Direct Traffic) have no associated out-of-pocket cost.
- Not Friendly For Creative Testing – Once your AdWords campaign is setup and results are pouring in, you’re going to start tweaking to boost your paid search campaign performance. Perhaps you’re going to follow Brad Geddes‘ advice over at SearchEngineLand and tweak your ad creative. Well, now you have a problem. When you segment ad groups by ad content, Google Analytics only shows the title of the ad.
If your testing elements below title and you want to see the impact within Google Analytics, you’re out of luck. - We Don’t Need No Stinking Cost Data – It’s largely a Google World out there, but you might be dabbling in Yahoo and MSN as well. Conversion and revenue data is great, but where are the costs associated with that revenue? The answer: through the individual engine interfaces. Tying all of the pieces together is time consuming and better left to a machine (according to Google, they are working on it).
As a paid search leader, I would hope that Google Analytics will address these in their next version. In the mean time, if Google Analytics is the only thing you’re using to measure your paid search campaigns, then make sure you also tag your confirmation page with AdWords converison tracking (basic info here and a complete guide here).
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great points here Alex. I’m a big critic of Google and this is a very interesting item. BTW
Thanks for the comment! I think Google will address these issues in time. I’m actually impressed with the frequency of releases from Google Analytics. It’s certainly faster than other analytics packages.
I hate the number 2, also they dont show you the real word you are paying for, that sucks to.