Google AdWords Help Center [Protected by-ps.anonymizer.com]

Note: Your daily budget applies to individual campaigns, not your total advertising spend. For example, if you have three ad campaigns, each with US$5.00 daily budgets, your maximum daily advertising spend would be US$15.00.

We recommend daily budgets based on historical data for the same or similar keywords as you. We also consider additional factors-such as variations in language and location and Google Network activity.

The daily budget we recommend will ensure your ads appear for all relevant searches, increasing your visibility and reach to potential customers.

Remember, setting your daily budget to the amount we recommend is optional-you're always in full control of your AdWords account. You can edit your campaign's daily budget as often as you'd like, and to whatever amount results in the most appropriate return on investment for you.

AdWords delivers even more impressions for your ads when demand for them is greatest.

With our flexible display approach, we may fulfill more of your budget in the morning, afternoon, or evening, depending on user traffic patterns. As always, our goal is to provide the most effective advertising possible within your budget.

Once you've selected your keywords, you'll see a recommended daily budget. If you set your daily budget to this value, you will maximize your ad's visibility and activity throughout the entire day. If your daily budget is lower than the recommended amount, Google will deliver your ads when the demand is greatest; however, your ads may not appear every time they otherwise could if your daily budget permitted. Learn how to view and edit your daily budget.

The best place to start your keyword search is on your own website. Reading through your web pages will help you identify the key themes and terminology associated with your business or product lines.

Then, take a minute to try to think like your customers (your target audience). What are the terms your customers would use to describe your product or service? Often these colloquialisms are overlooked, yet they are valuable alternatives for your keyword list.

Finally, the Keyword Tool can provide you with terms. It will give you common search queries including or pertaining to your keywords or any website URL you enter.* You can use the relevant results to supplement your list. And you can add any irrelevant terms to your keyword list as negative matches.

* The option to generate site-related keywords is only available for English language users at this time.

Sorting keywords by relevance within the tool helps ensure that you see the keywords most likely to be successful for your Ad Group first.

1. When creating your list, think like a customer. What terms would your customers use to describe your products or services? Once you've generated some appropriate keywords, expand your list to include as many relevant variations as possible. Add alternate spellings (e.g. light, lite), plurals, and synonyms. To help you brainstorm, use our Keyword Tool.

2. Refine (or 'scrub') keywords that may be too broad or irrelevant. Using words that are too broad can generate many ad impressions but few clicks. To avoid this, get rid of generic terms that could relate to a wide spectrum of products or services. Add descriptive language to make your keywords more specific. For instance, using the generic keyword bags to describe luggage goods could generate impressions [?] for irrelevant search queries such as tea bags and vacuum bags. Making your keywords relevant to your goods or services helps you receive more qualified clicks.

3. Target your keywords by using keyword matching options [?]. You can choose four different keyword matching options to target your ads to users: broad, phrase, exact, or negative match. With some options, you'll receive more ad impressions; with others, you'll get fewer impressions but potentially more clicks. By applying more focused matching options to your keywords, you can reach the most appropriate prospects, reduce your cost-per-click (CPC) [?], and increase your ROI [?].

Can I generate keywords from a webpage URL?

If you're an English language user (ex: US, Canada, UK) you can use the Keyword Tool to generate additional keywords for your campaigns by submitting any webpage URL. Our system generates keywords based on the words found on the webpage you provided. Typically, the best URL to use would be your destination URL, ensuring that our system returns keywords that reflect your business or service.

Also, our system will only generate additional keywords based on existing text on the page; therefore, words within images or other non-text formats won't be recognized. You may also find that your webpage keyword results don't necessarily include words found on the webpage provided. This is because our system takes the words found on your webpage and generates additional words related to those keywords.

To generate keywords based on a webpage URL, click the Site-Related Keywords tab on the Keyword Tool page and enter the URL in the box provided. To include content up to one link beyond your initial URL in your search, you can also check the box labeled Also use content on the pages linked from this URL. (This applies only to links within the same original domain of the URL.)

Note: Our system doesn't recognize URLs as actual keywords; therefore, Google AdWords ads won't display for keywords in the form of a URL (http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/www.domain.com, for example). If a user searches for your domain URL, your website will appear in the Google search results, but no ads will appear. We recommend that you select keywords that are relevant to your products and services and refrain from using URLs as keywords.

What statistics can I see for my Keyword Tool results?

The Keyword Tool allows you to view and sort by various statistics for your generated keywords. This information can help you pick the keywords most likely to return quality leads within your budget before you actually add them to an Ad Group. You'll see the most relevant keyword results, and you can scroll further down to see additional keywords that may trigger your ads.

I. Keyword Match Type

The tool automatically produces results based on the broad match variation of the keyword(s) entered. All views include a Match type column. You can change the match type shown and add other keyword matching variations directly to an Ad Group. However, changing the match type via this column won't actually change the broad match statistics shown, and is intended only to assist you in managing your keyword list.

II. Keyword Tool Views

The following views are accessible from the Keyword Variations and Site-Related Keywords tabs.* Just select one of these options from the drop-down menu in the top right-hand corner of the keyword table.

Keywords only: Review only the list of returned keywords, with no statistics. Within this view, you'll automatically see your keywords sorted by relevance to the keywords you entered, or by relevance to the content of a given webpage when you enter a URL.
Keyword popularity: Review statistics for advertisers bidding on the same keyword (Advertiser Competition), as well as user searches for that keyword on Google (Search Volume). The green bars shown represent a general low-to-high quantitative guideline to help you choose your keywords.

It's important to remember that keyword selection for your campaigns should be based on quality versus quantity; more relevant keywords are more likely to get you results. Therefore, higher search volume keywords or keywords with higher advertiser competition don't necessarily always provide more qualified leads and can result in higher costs with less return on your investment.

Global search volume trends: Review global trends and traffic histories for your keywords (Avg. Search Volume) and fluctuations in traffic for a twelve month period (Search Volume Trends). The graph represents traffic trends during the last twelve months. Each bar in the graph is shown relative to the keyword's overall performance for the twelve month period. (The baseline for search volume is considered to be an average of 100%.) You can also see in which month a given keyword received the highest volume of traffic during the twelve month period (Highest Volume Occurred In).
Cost and ad position estimates: Review the predicted status, average cost-per-click, ad position, and search volume values for ads appearing for your keywords. (The estimates provided are based upon the maximum CPC you enter. Therefore, if the maximum CPC entered is below the minimum bid required for a particular keyword, the keyword status may be predicted as inactive for search.)
Possible negatives: Review keyword results (Keywords) based on your search. For any keywords that aren't relevant or specific to your business or service, you can add the corresponding negative keyword (Possible negative).

* The Site-Related Keywords tab is available for a limited number of languages. Click here to learn more.

What are the AdWords keyword status changes?

We've simplified our keyword status system and introduced quality-based minimum bids, giving you more control to run on keywords you find important.

How it works

Each keyword now has a minimum bid that is based on the quality (also called Quality Score) of your keyword specific to your account. If your keyword or Ad Group's maximum cost-per-click (CPC) meets the minimum bid, your keyword will be active and trigger ads. If it doesn't, your keyword will be inactive for search and not trigger ads for search results.

Key changes

The keyword statuses normal, in trial, on hold, and disabled have been replaced with active (triggering ads) or inactive for search (not triggering ads on Google or its network of related search sites). In addition, accounts are no longer slowed.

New keywords are no longer disabled and don't have a minimum clickthrough rate (CTR) threshold. Instead, your keywords trigger ads as long as they have a high enough Quality Score (determined by your keyword's CTR, relevance of ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors) and maximum CPC.

Ad Rank, or the position of your ad, is based on the maximum CPC and quality (also called the Quality Score).

Remember: The higher the Quality Score, the lower the CPC required to trigger ads, and vice versa.

You can move an inactive keyword to an active state and show ads by (1) improving its Quality Score through optimization, or (2) increasing its maximum CPC to the minimum bid recommended by the system.

Managing your account

Quality remains the most important factor in determining your keyword performance. To ensure your ads are performing, monitor your account's statistics, such as your keyword's status, CTR, and minimum bid. Additionally, we suggest you continue to improve your keywords and ad text for relevancy.

Here are some resources that will help:

If you have any disabled or deleted keywords in your account that you'd like to run on, you can add them back to your account. Simply run a Keyword Report for deleted or disabled keywords via your Reports tab. Then, add them back to the appropriate Ad Group. When adding keywords to your account, we'll list the minimum bid required to activate them.

For more information about your keyword performance, please visit our Improving Your Account's Performance FAQ.

Lesson: Selecting Keywords

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Selecting Keywords": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Can I run on any keyword as long as I pay a high enough CPC?

Not necessarily. While we'll show ads for keywords as long as you pay the recommended minimum bid, your keyword is still at risk to stop performing and showing ads. We place a lot of weight on the quality of your keywords. So if we find that your keyword is not performing well, the Quality Score of your keyword will decrease, increasing your minimum bid. In addition, your position on a search results page may drop. If there's a more relevant keyword running against yours - even at a lower price - it will likely outrank your ad. The best way to ensure a high ad placement is to increase both your ad's quality and cost.

Can I see which of my keywords generate the most content network ads?

On Google's content network, ads are not triggered by specific individual keywords as they are on search sites. Instead, an advertiser's entire keyword list is taken into consideration. Google's advanced technology scans the content of the web page and matches that content with ads that feature the most appropriate keywords overall.

For example, if users look at a Web page containing brownie recipes, they may see your ad if you simply have brownie-related keywords such as 'chocolate brownies' or 'delicious dessert recipes.'

Since individual keywords don't trigger your ad, your Ad Group statistics will not show a keyword-by-keyword breakdown. Instead, you'll see an overall total of all clicks that ad has received on our content network.

Are keywords case-sensitive?

No. Keywords are matched without regard to upper-case or lower-case letters. For example, you don't need to enter 'real estate' and 'Real Estate' as keywords; just 'real estate' will cover both.

How do I manage the number of keywords in my account?

To ensure that accounts do not place unnecessary load on our advertising servers, we ask that you keep the overall number of keywords in your account to a manageable size. When you approach an unmanageable amount of active keywords, we'll place a notice within your account and request that you refine your keyword list and remove unnecessary keywords. In most cases, a handful of well-targeted keywords will deliver the majority of your relevant clicks, and there is no need to create hundreds or thousands of keywords.

By default, our ad system does the work for you by displaying your ad on variations of your keywords, including misspellings and similar keywords. This means that one keyword can serve the purpose of several related words or variations. Adding the additional variations separately won't necessarily increase your visibility by much.

Regardless of whether or not your account contains a small or large number of keywords, you can always take advantage of a 'well-scrubbed' keyword list that focuses on your most targeted keywords. We recommend that you build your keyword lists with the following in mind:

Do ...

Use our keyword matching options.

Use our Keyword Tool to select your keywords and see which related searches will trigger your ads.

Review our FAQ on making your keywords work for you.

Get more steps for creating a targeted keyword list.

Don't ...

Include these variations: misspellings (french cusine), capitalization (French cuisine), incorrect spacing (french cui sine), hyphens (french-cuisine).
Use variations that are more than three words long (best for unique markets and product names).
Use a three-word keyword in multiple matching variations at one time: [buy red bicycle], "buy red bicycle," buy red bicycle.

Is the Ad Group keyword tool different from the standalone tool?

Yes, there's a difference in the data you'll receive from using either tool:

Ad Group level tool: When you access the keyword tool from within any Ad Group, the keyword performance information displayed is based on the existing settings for the Ad Group's campaign, and will reflect your account performance history. This means that settings like language/country targeting and maximum cost-per-click will be taken into account for your results.

For example, if you generate keywords from two different Ad Groups with the same ad text and keywords, but different country/language targeting, we'll display different search volume information for those keywords. You might see a marked decrease or increase in these numbers, depending on the region.

When you're finished building your keyword list, you'll be able to add your keywords directly to the same Ad Group you accessed the tool from.

Standalone tool: When you access the keyword tool from the Tools link on the Campaign Summary tab, the tool will provide keyword results without taking your performance history or settings into account. When you're finished building your keyword list, you can download the list and use it later to supplement existing Ad Group keyword lists, or to create new ones. (You'll need to download the file, and copy and paste the keywords from the file directly into the Ad Group keyword list.)

Why are my keyword traffic estimates low?

When you access the Traffic Estimator and analyze your keywords, you'll see, among other information, the approximate ad position and number of clicks you might receive each day. By simply increasing your maximum cost-per-click (CPC), you can often improve your results. However, you may encounter situations where increasing your CPC has little effect on your estimates. This may occur for the following reasons:

Historical ad performance

The Traffic Estimator includes samples of historical ad performance (for your ads and other ads using similar keywords) in its calculations. If the overall clickthrough rate (CTR) for this sampling is consistently low, you'll see lower click estimates reflected in the displayed estimates. In this situation, you may wish to improve your CTR, which will, in turn, increase your estimates in the future.

Query analysis

In order to provide accurate traffic estimates, the AdWords system monitors keyword and search query patterns. Any low estimates you receive may be due to a lack of queries for your specific keyword or keyword phrase.

In this situation, you may wish to try different keywords or keyword combinations. To do so, please access our Keyword Tool. (You can also get ideas for additional keywords by clicking alternate keywords to the right of your traffic estimates.)

Google Network policies

Search and content partners on the Google Network have different policies governing what types of ads may appear on their pages or products. For example, some search and content partners only accept family-safe ads. The traffic estimator accounts for these policy variations among Google Network partners, and displays estimates accordingly. Therefore, while advertising on the Google Network can increase your exposure to new qualified prospects, you may not necessarily see a significant change in traffic estimates.

Can I use a URL as a keyword?

Our system doesn't recognize URLs as keywords; therefore, Google AdWords ads won't display for keywords in the form of a URL (http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/www.domain.com, for example). If a user searches for your domain URL, your website will appear in the Google search results, but no ads will appear. We recommend that you select keywords that are relevant to your products and services and refrain from using URLs as keywords.

However, if you're an English language user, you can use our Keyword Tool to generate additional keywords for your campaigns based on the content of any webpage URL you submit. Our system generates keywords based on the words found on the webpage you provided. Typically, the best URL to use would be your destination URL, ensuring that our system reviews content regarding a service or product your business actually provides.

Can I generate keywords from a URL in my language?

The Keyword Tool includes the 'Site-Related Keywords' tab, which allows users to generate keyword lists based on a submitted website URL. This feature is available in limited release for the following languages: English (US, Canada, UK), Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Turkish. Please remember that it's still important to review any keywords returned by this feature for relevance, particularly non-English results.

Check back in the future to find out if this feature has been made available for your language. Other language users can still access the other tabs of this powerful tool, which allows you to build extensive, relevant keyword lists from one easy, simple interface. Generate keyword lists, review traffic estimations for existing and new keywords, and add keywords directly into your Ad Groups from the same page.

To access this tool from within your Ad Group, click Keyword Tool above the keyword table for the Ad Group you wish to edit. Or, click here to try our standalone tool.

Can I get keyword traffic estimates without creating or editing an ad?

Yes, you can. Here's how to use our standalone keyword traffic estimator:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click Tools on the Campaign Management tab.
Click Traffic Estimator.

Enter your keywords: In the field provided, enter your keywords so that each word or phrase appears on its own line.
Choose a currency: Select your currency. Enter a specific maximum cost-per-click (CPC) for your estimates, or let us suggest a value. Our suggested value should deliver your ads at the top position a majority of the time.
Choose your target language(s): Select which language(s) you'd like to target.
Choose your target countries: Select which countries you'd like to target.

Click Continue when you are finished.

Why do some generated site-related keywords appear irrelevant?

It's possible to submit a URL for a particular ad and receive results unrelated to your initial ad content. For example, you may have created an ad for 'tennis shoes' and received keyword results that include 'sports apparel.' This is far enough removed that it may prove irrelevant to users searching for 'tennis shoes' in particular. The list below addresses some reasons for why you may have received results that appear irrelevant to your keyword search.

Our automated system review of your webpage will include additional search statistics beyond those apparent to users who visit your webpage. If you have a lot of text advertisements for sports apparel at the bottom of the page, though the main product list on your page focuses on 'tennis shoes,' you would find keyword variations based on these text ads within your keyword results.
If you opted to include pages linked from the initial URL you provided, our system also reviewed pages with content that may not have been directly related to the initial page you submitted. Try unselecting the checkbox for this option when you submit your URL.
The primary content of the webpage URL you submitted is not related to the content of your ad. Therefore, if your ad refers to 'tennis shoes,' and the webpage you submit includes far more references to 'boots, sandals, and high-heeled shoes,' your keyword results may not include keyword variations relevant to your ad.

Does the Keyword Tool take my country and language settings into account?

For the most part, both the standalone and the Ad Group keyword tools have the same language and country targeting specifications.

The Standalone Keyword Tool

The standalone (accessible from the tools page) doesn't apply your account's targeting settings to your keyword results. However, you can edit the language and country targeting while within the tool to see keyword results for those settings. The tool will automatically default to your account's median Ad Group targeting information. And while you can add keywords from the standalone tool directly to an Ad Group, the language and country target settings you choose within the tool won't be applied to that Ad Group.

The Ad Group Keyword Tool

When you access the tool from within an Ad Group, your keyword results are based on your unique performance history within AdWords, including your campaign's language and country target settings. This is limited to the country, not the region (therefore if you are targeting a city or state, only the country targeting will be reflected).

Language and Country Targeting Within Each View

Target settings for keyword performance data is as follows:

Keywords only / Possible negatives: Keyword results are shown specific to language and country targeting. (The Search Volume statistic is the same for each view.)
Keyword popularity: Advertiser Competition data is global and Search Volume is specific to your Ad Group's country targeting.
Cost and ad position estimates: Estimated Avg. CPC and Estimated Ad Position are scaled to your Ad Group's geo-targeted locations (specific cities or regions).
Global search volume trends: The keyword results themselves are specific to your targeting settings. The keyword performance data (Avg. Search Volume, Search Volume Trends, and Highest Volume Occurred In) is global. This means that, for every 12 months, we display how much traffic you would have received on a keyword if you targeted all countries and all languages.

More About Global Data: Global data represents keyword performance as though you targeted all countries and all languages. In some cases we may not have data for a given keyword; the tool will note this in the keyword results.

Working with My AdWords Account : Keywords : Troubleshooting

What do I do if my keywords are inactive for search?

Your keywords may be marked 'inactive for search' and stop showing your ads on search results if they don't have a high enough Quality Score and maximum cost-per-click (CPC). This is another way of saying that your keyword or Ad Group's maximum CPC doesn't meet the minimum bid required to trigger ads on Google or its search network partners. This typically occurs when keywords aren't as targeted as they could be, and the ads they deliver aren't relevant enough to what a user is searching for.

Remember that keywords marked inactive for search are inactive only for search. They may continue to trigger ads for content sites if you have the Google content network enabled for that campaign. This is because the AdWords system analyzes all available keywords to best match your ads with sites that have similar themes and topics. Thus, a keyword marked as inactive for search may continue to generate clicks and charges on the content network.

If your keyword is inactive for search, you have the following options:

Increase your keyword's Quality Score by optimizing for relevancy.
Optimization, which is a technique for improving the quality of your keywords, ad, and campaign, is the best way to increase your keyword's performance without raising costs. Try to combine your keyword with two to three other words to create a more specific keyword phrase. This will result in better targeting, and potentially, better performance. For example, make single keywords more targeted by turning them into descriptive phrases ('car' to 'car buying service'). You can also narrow your targeting options (such as to regional targeting) or matching types (like exact match). We also suggest adding your keyword to your ad text. Visit our Optimization Tips page for more suggestions.

Increase your keyword's maximum CPC to the recommended minimum bid.
Your keyword's minimum bid is the amount required to trigger ads on Google and is determined by your keyword's Quality Score. When your maximum CPC falls below the minimum bid, your keyword will be inactive for search. For this reason, you can simply increase your maximum CPC to the minimum bid to re-activate your keywords. Learn the different ways to increase your maximum CPC to the minimum bid.

Delete the keyword.
To start from scratch, you can simply delete all your keywords that are inactive for search. If you delete an inactive keyword and then add it back to your account in any other format or any other location (placing it in another Ad Group, for instance), our system will still take the keyword's past account-wide performance into consideration. A poor performer can affect an entire Ad Group and/or campaign, if it is used multiple times. For this reason, we recommend you regularly review your account's performance and either optimize your keyword or increase its maximum CPC to the minimum bid.

Do nothing.
Let the keywords stay inactive for search. If search behavior works in your favor -- such as if more users search for your keyword, thus increasing its relevancy -- your keyword might be re-activated. However, we recommend you choose one of the preferred options above to keep your keyword performing well and triggering ads.

Remember that keywords marked inactive for search may still continue to generate impressions on the content network.

ADVERTISERS USING THE BUDGET OPTIMIZER:

If you're using the Budget Optimizer and some of your keywords are inactive for search, here's what you can do:

Increase your target budget or maximum CPC.
This is the best option if only a few of your keywords are inactive for search and have a low minimum bid. By increasing your overall campaign spend, these keywords are more likely to become fully active. Remember that your maximum CPC must be more than the minimum bid listed in order for your keywords to run.

Delete or optimize your keywords.
This is the best option if there are many keywords in your campaign that are inactive for search and at least a few of them have a high minimum bid. Try one or a combination of the following ways to handle this situation:

You can try deleting just the keywords (inactive for search or active) with a very high minimum bid. This will help distribute your budget to those keywords with lower minimum bids and give them a better shot of running.

You can also try optimizing keywords with high minimum bids to be more targeted. Either add another word or phrase to the keyword or move these keywords to a campaign with more specific targeting settings. For more tips, please visit our Optimization Tips page.

Test and refine your campaign.
Try a combination of the above options. For example, try both increasing your overall campaign spend while optimizing your keywords for relevancy. Then, test the results. If you find that your keywords are still inactive for search, then continue tweaking your campaign until you get the results you're looking for. When in doubt, simply delete poorly performing keywords.

What does 'inactive for search' mean?

Inactive for search is a state we assign to keywords that are not likely to perform well or trigger ads on Google search pages. An active keyword state, on the other hand, usually means that your ads will appear when a user searches on your keyword. For best ad performance, we suggest you aim to have all your keywords in an active state.

If one or more keywords are listed as inactive for search during the sign-up process, you can do one of the following things:

Nothing: You can complete the sign-up process and try to activate the keyword(s) after you finish creating your new AdWords account.

Delete the keyword(s): Click the 'Back' button to return to the previous 'Choose keywords' step in the wizard. Then, enter your keywords -- except for inactive ones -- in the text box.

Increase your maximum cost-per-click (CPC): Your keyword performance is based on its quality and maximum CPC. Therefore, increasing your maximum CPC will help an active keyword perform on Google.

Edit your keyword list: More specific keywords can increase quality and lower costs. Use multi-word, specific keywords in place of singular and/or general keywords (such as by changing hotel to London hotel). This will help them perform better and move them into an active state. To edit your keyword list, click the 'Back' button to return to the previous 'Choose keywords' step in the wizard. Try using the Keyword Tool box to view keyword variations.

Lesson: Troubleshooting Keyword-Specific issues with Ad Visibility

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Troubleshooting Keyword-Specific issues with Ad Visibility": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Why is my inactive keyword still generating clicks and charges?

In the AdWords system, each keyword has a minimum bid that is based on the quality (also called the Quality Score) of the keyword as it is used in your account. The higher the quality, the lower the minimum bid needed. If the price you set for the keyword (or for your Ad Group overall) meets the minimum bid, your keyword will be active and trigger ads. If it doesn't, your keyword will be inactive for search and will not trigger ads on Google or its search network.

Keywords marked inactive for search are inactive only for search. They may continue to trigger ads for content sites if you have the Google content network enabled for that campaign. This is because the AdWords system analyzes all available keywords to best match your ads with sites that have similar themes and topics. Thus, a keyword marked as inactive for search may continue to generate clicks and charges on the content network.

To be sure that a keyword will not trigger ads either for search or for content, you should delete it from your Ad Group. To learn how, please see How do I edit my keywords?

Why have my keyword tool results changed?

You may notice occasional changes in your Keyword Tool results for a given keyword or website URL*. As part of our ongoing effort to improve the Google AdWords program for advertisers and users, we periodically update our keyword index to give you more relevant and current keywords.

Learn more about building an effective keyword list.

* The option to generate site-related keywords is only available for English language users at this time.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Image Ads : Image Ad Overview

What are image ads?

AdWords image ads are graphical ads which appear on select content sites in the Google Network. Image ads combine two powerful features: graphics and proven AdWords targeting technology.

Unlike traditional online graphical ads, image ads can be matched to a page's content. This targeting makes image ads more attractive and relevant to anyone browsing the site. Therefore, image ads offer you yet another effective way to increase your business exposure and reach new prospects.

You can run image ads on content sites in both keyword-targeted and site-targeted campaigns. (Please review the editorial guidelines for image ads.) Animated ads in .gif and Flash format are accepted for both site-targeted and keyword-targeted campaigns. Search results pages, such as those on Google.com or on Google's search partners, will not accept animated ads.

See examples of image ads and placement options.

Can I target my image ads to different languages?

Yes. Currently, you may target your image ads to the following languages:

Chinese (simplified)

Danish

Dutch

English

Finnish

French

German

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Norwegian

Polish

Portuguese

Russian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

We look forward to offering more language options in the future.

Where will my image ads appear?

Image ads currently appear on selected content sites and products in the Google Network, not on Google search results. Content providers must opt in to the image ads program before image ads can appear on their site.

What do image ads look like?

Image ads are graphics that you upload into your campaign. We recommend that you include text -- such as a brief product description or a call to action -- within the image to reinforce your ad's message. Animated image ads and Flash format ads are allowed.

You have five size and placement options: Banner (468 x 60), Leaderboard (728 x 90), Inline Rectangle (300 x 250), Skyscraper (120 x 600), and Wide Skyscraper (160x600). We may resize your images in some cases.

See examples of image ads and placement options.

How do you decide whether to show my image ad or my text ad?

If you have a text ad and an image ad in the same Ad Group, the AdWords system will analyze multiple factors on each Google Network content site page to determine whether your text ad or image ad is more appropriate for that page.

If your image ad is more relevant, it will appear. If not, your text ad may appear in its place. This targeting model ensures that you reach your prospects with the most effective ads. (Note: Image ads can appear only on the pages of content publishers who have opted in to the image ads program.)

If you'd like to make sure all of your ads are as compelling as possible, you can review our Optimization Tips page. Here you'll learn how to refine your daily budget, edit keyword lists, and improve your overall advertising presence.

When can I expect to see clicks on my image ads?

During this beta launch, content publishers may still be opting into the image ads program. Therefore, you may experience some lag time in between loading your image ads and receiving clicks on them. As participation in the program grows, however, you should notice increased impressions and clicks within a few days.

To view your image ad performance statistics:

Log in to your account.
Click Reports at the top of your page.
Click Ad Image Report.
Complete the report request fields, then click Create report.

Where are my images stored?

All images for Google image ads will be stored on our secure servers.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Image Ads : Image Ad Pricing

How much do image ads cost?

As with text ads, each advertiser determines the cost of their own image ad campaign. Your price depends on the keywords on which you choose to advertise, how much you bid, and how successfully you design your ads. You set your own daily budget, which will control your overall spending. There is a nominal, one-time activation fee for Google AdWords, but there is never a minimum spending commitment.

Image ad bids generally are slightly higher than those for text ads, but prices for individual keywords will vary.

Please click here for more information on ad pricing and daily budget. Or learn how to control your costs even more.

Is image ads pricing different than text ads pricing?

No. Image ads pricing is the same as text ads pricing. For keyword-targeted ads, you may choose a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) from US$0.01 to US$100.00 or the local currency equivalent. For site-targeted ads, you may choose a maximum cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) from US$0.25 to US$100.00 or the local currency equivalent.

To discover your local currency equivalents, please see the account fees finder.

Your daily budget can go as high as you like. You may change your amounts within these ranges at any time, and there's no minimum spending commitment.

Does smart pricing apply to image ads?

Yes. Remember, image ads are priced, targeted, and ranked in the same manner as AdWords text ads.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Image Ads : Guidelines and Requirements

Will you resize my image?

Google image ads can include two added elements: your URL to fortify your branding, and a feedback link that gives publishers and users a way to request improvements from Google.

We may resize your image vertically by 11 or 22 pixels (depending on the image format you've selected) to make room for these elements while still maintaining the standard overall image sizes. We will not, however, resize your image horizontally. When these elements are added, your image's proportions will appear slightly different from your original file.

If you'd like to maintain the original proportions of your images, we recommend that you resize them (or recreate them in the appropriate sizes) before you upload them. Your resized options are:

Banner: 468x49

Leaderboard: 728x79

Inline rectangle: 300x239

Skyscraper: 120x578

Wide Skyscraper: 160x578

Note: Animated image ads and ads with Flash animation are not resized in this manner. They should always be submitted in the full format size.

What are the requirements for Flash ads?

Flash is a plug-in for web browsers that allows animation to be added to Web page components, including AdWords ads. Flash advertising is allowed for all AdWords advertisers, with some technical restrictions.

Flash ads must be 50K or smaller in size and utilize Flash versions 4 - 6. All Flash creatives should support the clickTAG variable. The clickTAG is the tracking code assigned by Google to an individual ad. It allows Google to register where the ad was displayed when it was clicked, and helps advertisers determine the effectiveness of their campaign. On any click, Flash creatives should redirect to the URL specified in the clickTAG argument; there should be no other redirection inbetween.

]The variable name must be spelled "clickTAG" (upper-case TAG; no space between click and TAG) and not "click tag," "Click Tag," or any other form. This is the proper code for the clickTAG parameter.

   on (release) {
   if (clickTAG.substr(0,5) == "http:") {
   getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/clickTAG, "_top");
   }
   }

Flash ads must follow the same editorial guidelines as all other image ads. Please review those guidelines at https://adwords.google.com/select/imageguidelines.html. Flash ads may not be resized before submission; they must be submitted in full format.

As always, our goal is to provide highly effective AdWords products that enhance the advertiser and user experience. Thanks for your interest in Google image ads.

What's the maximum number of image ads I can have in my account?

You may create a maximum of 50 image ads and distribute them any way you like throughout Ad Groups in your account. (Please note that this maximum number includes all image ads, even if they're not currently showing.)

If your account has reached this limit, you may not create another image ad until you delete one or more of your existing image ads.

What's a CMYK color format?

CMYK is an acronym for the basic colors, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, that are used in four-color printing. Digital images, including the ones you're attempting to upload for your image ads, are occasionally composed of a mixture of CMYK.

However, display devices often use red, green, and blue colors, or RGB. The process by which CMYK is converted so images will appear naturally on RGB devices is called color matching.

Color matching is a challenging process. Any images that aren't properly converted appear as broken links or error messages. Given all of the requirements and time involved with color matching, Google AdWords is currently unable to accept any CMYK images for image ads.

How did this happen?

There may be a number of reasons why your images are currently in a CMYK format. However, the most common explanation is that many image editing applications automatically output images in CMYK. The application you used to scan or create your images likely falls into this category.

What can you do?

You may wish to try an image editing program that gives you the option to save images in an RGB color mode. Simply load your current image into this program and save it again in the proper format. Please note that changing an image's color mode may also affect its file size. Make sure your image does not exceed 50k.

Why is there a limit on the file size of my image ad?

We've found that, by implementing a 50k file size limit, the AdWords system performs optimally.

What image formats can I use?

Acceptable image formats are .gif, .jpg and .png (portable network graphics).

468 x 60 banner
728 x 90 leaderboard
300 x 250 inline
120 x 600 skyscraper

All sizes are measured in pixels. See samples of the four ad sizes.

For related information, please see the image ad Editorial Guidelines.

Can I create an Ad Group containing only image ads?

Ad Groups in keyword-targeted campaigns must include at least one standard AdWords text ad. This ensures that the ad will be eligible to appear on search results pages. If all text ads are disapproved or deleted, any image ads in this Ad Group will not show. To prevent this, we recommend that you monitor and improve the performance of your text ads whenever possible.

Ad Groups in site-targeted campaigns aren't required to have an active text ad. They can contain image ads only, text ads only, or both.

If you'd like to learn how to improve your text ad(s), please review our optimization tips.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Image Ads : Creating Image Ads

How should I name my image?

When you load your images, providing descriptive image names will help simplify your reporting and communication with our client services team. Here are a few restrictions and tips for naming your ad images:

Do not exceed 50 characters.
Consider including:

An image description in the name of the image file.
The campaign or Ad Group name in the image file name.

How do I create an image ad?

Before you can create image ads for a keyword-targeted campaign, the campaign must be set to show ads on content sites in the Google Network. To verify this:

Click the campaign that will contain your image ad(s), then click Edit Campaign Settings.

Make sure you've checked the box next to content network below the heading Where to show my ads.

There's no need to do this with site-targeted campaigns, which are automatically enabled to show ads on the Google content network.

Once you've verified your settings, follow the steps below to create image ads:

Click the campaign that will contain your image ads.
Click the Ad Group that will contain your image ads.
Click Create New Image Ad.
Browse for your image file.
Name your image file.
Enter your display and destination URLs.
Click Save New Image Ad.
Repeat this process to create additional image ads (maximum: 50).

Where can I find appropriate images? How do I create an image of my own?

You can find or create graphic images in a variety of ways. For example, you can:

Re-use graphics from your other advertising campaigns, as long as they fit the Google image ads size requirements and editorial guidelines.
Design images with an online image creation tool, many of which are free.
Design images with an image editing software application of your choosing.
Partner with a graphic designer or other creative agency to build your images for you.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Text Ads (default) : Creating Text Ads

What is an expanded text ad?

An expanded text ad is a text ad that fills an entire ad unit on its own, rather than being grouped with other text ads. Expanded text ads have the same character limits and editorial guidelines as typical text ads, but are displayed solo and with text enlarged.

Any AdWords text ad can run as an expanded text ad. No special arrangements are needed: a text ad is expanded automatically whenever the AdWords system determines that its price, relevance, and other competitive conditions make it a good candidate to take the entire space itself.

Expanded text ads appear in all standard AdWords size formats, in both site-targeted and keyword-targeted campaigns. They appear only on content partner pages; search results pages, such as those on Google.com or on Google's search partners, do not run expanded text ads.

How much text can I have in my ads?

Ads can contain 25 characters for the title, 70 characters for the ad text, and 35 characters for a display URL (http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/including spaces). On Google, this is displayed on four lines: a title, two lines of ad text, and a URL line. However, the format may differ on Google partner sites. America Online, for instance, shows the title and ad text all on one line.

If your ad text contains any wide characters (for example: capital letters, lower case 'm' and 'w', and certain punctuation marks such as '@', '&' and '%'), fewer characters may fit on the line. Also, some of Google's syndication partners may not display non-standard characters if you include them in your ad.

If you create text ads using non-Latin characters, please be aware that the character limit may vary. Ads in languages with double-byte characters, such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, can contain the following number of characters, including spaces: 12 characters in the title, 17 characters in each line of ad text, and 35 characters in the display URL.

If your Display URL is longer than 35 characters, you may consider using a shortened version of your URL, such as your homepage. Please be sure that your Display URL accurately represents your Destination URL, the page within your site to which users are taken via your ad.

Also, please note that your Display URL must be an actual web address, appearing in the form of a valid URL. It must include the extension (such as .com, .net, .org, etc.). It does not need to include the prefix (such as http:// or www).

Can I create multiple ads for a set of keywords?

Yes. For each Ad Group you create, you can create as many ads as you like. Because they are triggered by the same keywords, these ads will rotate for your keywords. You can choose to have your ads automatically optimized, or show them evenly regardless of their performance:

Ad optimization selected: When you create a new campaign, this feature is already selected. For all new Ad Groups within this campaign where multiple ads are created, our system will favor ads with higher clickthrough rates (CTRs), showing them more often than ads with lower CTRs in the same Ad Group. Learn more about ad optimization and how to change your settings.

No ad optimization selected: If you choose not to take advantage of the ad optimization feature, multiple ads will appear evenly on a rotating basis within an Ad Group. Google automatically keeps track of the CTR for each of your ads; you can determine which ads perform best by logging in to your account and viewing your campaign reports. You can then refine or delete poorly performing ads.

If you want different ads to appear for different keywords, you can create multiple Ad Groups or campaigns. Once you've finished picking keywords and prices for the first group of ads, you'll have an opportunity to create additional Ad Groups and campaigns. Your ads will rotate if you use the same keyword in different Ad Groups so you don't have multiple ads on the same page.

How do I create a new text ad?

To create a new ad in one of your existing Ad Groups, follow these steps:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the campaign that contains the Ad Group you want to edit.
Click the appropriate Ad Group.
Click the Create New Text Ad link at the top of your keyword table.
Enter your new ad title, description lines, Display URL, and Destination URL as needed.
Click Save Changes.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Text Ads (default) : Editing Text Ads

How do I edit my ad text?

To change your ad text:

Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.
Click the campaign that contains the Ad Group you want to edit.
Click the appropriate Ad Group.
Locate the appropriate ad above or below the keyword table.
Click Edit next to or below the ad.
Enter your new ad title, description lines, Display URL and Destination URL as needed.
Click Save Changes.

When you edit your ad, it's immediately eligible to appear on Google. Also, it's automatically resubmitted for review to appear on search and content sites and products in the Google Network.

You can also easily edit ads throughout your account with our Find and Edit Ad Text tool, available under Advanced Search and Editing on your account's Tools page.

How do I edit my Display URL and Destination URL?

To edit your Display URL and Destination URL:

Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.
Click the campaign that contains the Ad Group you want to edit.
Click the appropriate Ad Group.
Locate the appropriate ad above or below the keyword chart.
Click Edit next to or below the ad.
Change the URL fields as needed.
Click Save Changes.

You can also easily delete multiple keyword-level destination URLs throughout your account with our Find and Edit keyword tool available under Advanced Search and Editing on your account's Tools page.

How do I delete an ad?

You can delete an individual ad at any time.

To delete an ad, please follow the steps below:

Log in to your AdWords account.
In the Campaign Summary table, click the ad campaign containing the ad you want to delete.
In the Ad Groups table, click the Ad Group containing the ad you want to delete.
Click View all below next to the topmost ad above the Ad Group chart.
Click Delete below the ad you want to delete.

Campaigns and Ad Groups can be undeleted, but a deleted ad can't be. However, you can always view deleted ads on the Ad Group details page by clicking the box next to 'Include deleted items that were active in this date range.' (Make sure the date range is set to include the time when your deleted ad was active.) You can then, if you like, create a new ad with the same text.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Local Business Ads : Local Business Ads Overview

What are the benefits of local business ads?

Whether you're advertising one business location or 100, local business ads are a quick, easy way to connect you with customers searching for your products and services in your area. Here are a few key benefits:

Reach more customers.

With your ads appearing for relevant queries on both Google and Google Local, you'll reach even more customers looking for your products or services in your geographic area. Learn how local business ads are targeted to users.

Show customers more information.

On Google Local, local business ads are associated with visual map markers on your business location. In addition to the description lines and URL that appear in text ads, local business ads can display your business name, address, phone number, and an image related to your business. This information appears in the window that expands when users click on your ad title or the associated map marker. Without any extra cost to you, the image and address will help promote your business brand, products, and services, and associate your business with a specific location of interest to the user.

Simplify your campaign structure.

Each local business ad is associated to a single business location, so you can easily target multiple locations within a single Ad Group. For example, if you run a business with two physical locations, you might like your ad to show for customers located near each location. You could set up two locally-targeted campaigns, each with its own targeting settings, daily budget, ad text, and keywords. Or you could simply create two local business ads in a single Ad Group, using the same keywords. Each ad will only show for users searching for the business location that you specify for that ad.

For example, if you're advertising hotel locations in San Francisco and New York, your Ad Group would just need 'hotel' keywords. Users who search for 'san Francisco hotel' could see your San Francisco hotel ad, and users who search for 'new york hotel' could see your New York hotel ad.

Learn more about how local business ads appear on Google Local.

How do local business ads appear on Google Local?

Up to three local business ads may appear as 'Sponsored Links' below the Google Local search results. They display in two parts: a highlighted listing in the search results column, and a map marker that expands to show additional business details when users click on the local business ad or on the map marker associated with the ad.

The highlighted listing includes your URL and the business name and address as collected from the Google Local listings. It also contains two description lines that you choose when creating your local business ad.

The map marker denoting the location of the business includes an icon that you can choose when creating your local business ad. The info window that expands from the map marker can display a phone number and an image, in addition to the business information in the listing.

How are local business ads targeted to users?

Users in any location worldwide may see local business ads on Google Local, in addition to text-only versions on Google.com, Google.co.uk, Google.ca, and other search network sites. Here's how local business ads are targeted to users on Google Local, compared to Google and the search network.

Local business ads on Google Local

On Google Local, users will see local business ads whenever they submit relevant, location-specific queries for geographical areas that have eligible local business ads. As with Google Local natural search results, the user's IP address isn't considered.

For example, if users in London search for 'New York hotels' on Google Local, they'll see any local business ads for New York hotels that are eligible to appear.

Local business ads on Google and the search network

On Google and the search network, the user's IP address is considered (when it's available). A text-only version of your local business ad may appear if a user with an IP address read as located near your business searches on a relevant query. For example, if a user in New York searches for 'hotels,' text-only versions of local business ads for New York hotels may appear among the search results.

For search queries including city names within the United States, we'll target ads on Google.com and search network sites based on the search query instead of the user IP address. As a result, text-only versions of local business ads may appear on Google.com and search partners when any user worldwide enters a search query for a location within the United States where there are eligible local business ads.

For example, any user searching for 'New York hotels' on Google.com may see text-only versions of local business ads for New York hotels. We're working to introduce this feature for more countries in the near future.

Learn about the language and location targeting requirements for campaigns with local business ads.

How are local business ads priced?

Local business ad pricing is the same as text ad pricing. You're only charged for clicks to your website, whether the click occurs on Google or a search network site (including Google Local). On Google Local, you won't be charged for clicks on your ad title that expand the info windows on the map interface.

To learn more about ad pricing in your location and currency, please see the account fees finder.

How are local business ads ranked?

As with other AdWords ads, local business ads are positioned according to their Ad Rank. Up to three local business ads may display below Google Local search results. If more than three local business ads are eligible, the top three ads will display on the first page of search results and the remaining ads will show on subsequent pages. After we cycle through all eligible local business ads, the first three ads will show again.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Local Business Ads : Guidelines and Requirements

How do I prevent other advertisers from advertising on my business locations?

Advertisers may choose to run local business ads for any business location included in the Google Local listings. As with all Google Local ads, local business ads and the associated info windows will be clearly marked as 'Sponsored Links' to minimize any confusion with the regular local listings.

As always, AdWords advertisers are responsible for the keywords they select to show their ads. If you'd like to prevent your trademarked term from appearing in other AdWords ads, including local business ads, please refer to our trademark policy.

What are the requirements for my local business ads?

To set up local business ads in your keyword-targeted campaign, your campaign must have the following settings:

Location targeting:
- If you're using country or territory targeting, your campaign must target All Countries, Canada, the United Kingdom or the United States.
- If you're using city, regional, or custom targeting, your campaign must target areas within Canada, the United Kingdom or the United States only. (Learn how local business ads are targeted to users.)
Distribution networks:
- In order for your local business ads to show on Google Local (and for text-only versions to show on other search network sites) your campaign must be opted in to the search network. We recommend this option for the full exposure these ads can provide you.
- If you choose to show ads on Google search only, text-only versions of your local business ads will show on Google, and your ads will not show on Google Local.

Here are some additional guidelines for creating your local business ads:

Each local business ad must be associated to a business location within the campaign's targeted region. For example, if your campaign targets Manchester, England, you may not create local business ads for businesses in London.
An Ad Group may contain several local business ads for different locations. Each Ad Group may contain a maximum of 50 ads.
You may create multiple local business ads for one business location.
If you edit the headline of your local business ad, it must accurately reflect your business name as it appears in Google Local. Learn more about editing your ad headline.
If you choose to display an image in the info window for your ad, the image must meet these requirements.

How do I add my business to the Google Local listings?

Google Local is a Google service offering powerful mapping technology and local business information-including business locations, contact information, and driving directions. In order to create a local business ad, your business listing needs to be included in Google Local. You can add or edit your business information in Google Local at any time, for free.

Learn more about adding your business, or go directly to the Local Business Center. Once your new listing is verified, you will be able to target local business ads to that location.

If you have more than ten business locations to input, please send us a data feed. Read the instructions here or go directly to Google Base.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Local Business Ads : Creating Local Business Ads

How do I create a new local business ad?

You can create a new local business ad at any time by following these steps:

Log in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.
Click the keyword-targeted campaign that contains the Ad Group you want to edit.
Click the appropriate Ad Group.
Click the Create New Local Business Ad link.
Identify the Google Local business listing you want to advertise. If you don't have a listing, learn how to add your business to our local listings.
Enter your description lines and URL. (The business name, address, and phone number of your business will be automatically taken from Google Local.)
Choose a business icon. The icon you choose will appear for all local business ads in the campaign.
Optional: Upload a business image to appear in the info window that expands from your map marker.
Click Save Ad.

You can create a new keyword-targeted campaign or a new Ad Group for your local business ads, then follow the steps above to create your ads.

Note: At this time, local business ads and text ads appear identically in your campaign reports. To view separate reports for your local business ads, create a separate campaign or Ad Group.

How do I edit the headline of my local business ad?

The headline of your local business ad must accurately reflect your business name. Your ability to edit the headline depends on the length of your business name as it appears in your Google Local listing.

If your business name is 25 characters or fewer, it will automatically become the title of your local business ad. You can change the business name as it appears in your ad only by changing your business listing in Google Local. If you make this change, your existing local business ad will not be updated automatically. After your edited business listing in Google Local has been confirmed, you can delete your old ad and create a new ad with the updated information. (Changing your business listing in Google Local may take four to six weeks.)

If your business name is longer than 25 characters, you will be prompted to edit it so that it meets the 25-character limit. Please be aware that edits will be reviewed by AdWords Specialists. Your new ad headline must accurately reflect your business name and follow our Editorial Guidelines.

How do I include an image in my local business ad?

Each local business ad can include an image. The image you upload for your local business ad will display in the info window that expands from the map marker associated with your ad.

Please follow these guidelines and requirements for local business ad images:

Dimensions: 125x125 pixels maximum
File size: 20k maximum
File types: JPG, GIF, PNG
Format limitations: All images must be static (no animation, flash or other rich formats)
Other restrictions: The image may be a logo or photo that relates to your business. All images will be reviewed by an AdWords Specialist. Regardless of your business type, images must be appropriate for all audiences.

Can I include an icon in my local business ad?

The map marker for each local business ads contains a business icon. You can choose an icon from a list provided during local business ad creation. The icon is set at the campaign level, so all ads within one campaign will display the same icon.

When will my local business ads appear?

As with all AdWords advertising, your local business ads will compete with other ads for space on Google Local, Google, and search network sites.

On Google Local, local business ads have priority over text ads. If no local business ads are eligible to appear, eligible text ads will be displayed. Up to three local business ads may appear below the search results on Google Local. If there are more than three eligible local business ads, the remaining ads may show on subsequent search results pages. Learn more about how local business ads are targeted to users.

On Google and other search network sites, text versions of local business ads compete with other ads on the basis of their Ad Rank, which is a combination of various factors including maximum cost-per-click (CPC) and Quality Score. Learn more about how ads are ranked.

How do I view reports for my local business ads?

At this time it isn't possible to view a report solely for your local business ads. Local business ads and text ads appear identically in your reports. To view a report only of your local business ad performance, we recommend setting up an Ad Group or campaign that contains just local business ads. We're working to provide more detailed reporting options in the near future.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Troubleshooting Ads : Troubleshooting Ads Overview

Why do the ads in my Ad Group have different 'Served' percentages?

If the ad served percentage (%) is different for each ad in your Ad Group, please keep in mind that it is normal for ads to appear with varying frequency. The following factors influence how often a given ad appears.

Ad optimization*: If one ad has a higher clickthrough rate (CTR), it will show more frequently than the other ads in your Ad Group. Our system automatically favors those ads with higher CTRs within an Ad Group by showing them more often than those ads with lower CTRs. This means that when you create multiple ads per Ad Group, the ads that are proven to drive more traffic to your site will appear with greater frequency than ads with lower CTRs.
Time: If an ad is created late in the day, it will have a lower ad served percentage at the end of the day than the existing ads. This difference will decrease over time.
Approval status: If an ad has yet to be reviewed and approved by AdWords Specialists, it'll only appear on Google.com. If it isn't yet generating impressions on the Google Network, an ad will have a lower ad served percentage.

*Note: When you create a campaign, optimization is already selected. If you choose not to take advantage of this feature, ads within an Ad Group will be shown in even rotation. Please note that without ad optimization, ads with lower CTRs will be served as often as your better performing ads, which can lower your average position and result in less relevant clicks.

You can view or change your ad optimization settings at the campaign level by doing the following:

Log in to your AdWords account.
In the 'Campaign Summary' table, select the checkbox(es) next to the campaign(s) you wish to edit.
Click 'Edit Settings' in the header row of the table.
Check or uncheck the box next to 'Show better ads more often.'
Click 'Save Changes' at the top or bottom of the page.

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Troubleshooting Ads : Troubleshooting Text Ads

Why do 'inactive for search' keywords remain active for content?

The Google AdWords system uses all the keywords in your Ad Group to help match your ads with relevant content network sites. In some cases, keywords which have proven ineffective when triggering your ad for search turn out to be very effective when triggering content impressions. In other cases the keyword is simply useful as context in helping the system determine the overall subject areas of your ads.

This is why keywords that are marked inactive for search may occasionally still generate impressions, clicks and charges for you on the content network. If you don't want a keyword to be considered for content impressions, you should delete it from any applicable Ad Group. If you'd like to remove a keyword from all your account Ad Groups at once, try the ''Find and Edit Keywords' tool under the Tools page in the Campaign Management section of your account.

Why does the name of a region appear underneath my ad?

With regional targeting, users in your targeted areas will see the city or region name (whichever is more specific) displayed beneath your ad. This lets those users know that your product or service is especially relevant to them, which helps you reach more qualified users.

We show the name of the region or city based on the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the user. For example, if you target both Madrid and Barcelona, a user located in Madrid sees the word 'Madrid.' A user in Barcelona sees 'Barcelona.'

If you'd like others to also see your ad without a region name, try running a similar country- and territory-targeted campaign with region-specific keywords and ad text. This is the surefire way to reach other qualified users who might not be physically located in your targeted geographic area. Learn more

Working with My AdWords Account : Ads : Troubleshooting Ads : Troubleshooting Image Ads

I'm receiving an 'incorrect image size' message. What now?

Your image can be submitted in one of five acceptable sizes, which match the five image ad shapes we offer:

468 x 60 Banner
728 x 90 Leaderboard
300 x 250 Inline
120 x 600 Skyscraper
160 x 600 Wide Skyscraper

An 'incorrect image size' message means that the image you've submitted does not match these dimensions. You'll need to resize your image, or create a new one, then submit it again through the AdWords campaign management tool.

For more details, see the topic Will you resize my image? or the topic How do I create an image of my own?

Working with My AdWords Account : Ad Groups

How do I create a new Ad Group?

To create a new Ad Group:

Log in to your AdWords account.
In the Campaign Summary table, click the ad campaign that will contain your new Ad Group.
Click Create New Ad Group above the table.
Enter an Ad Group name and click Continue.
Choose Text Ad or Image Ad. Enter your text or image, along with the URLs for your ad, then click Continue.
Enter your keywords in the field provided. Click Continue when you are finished.
Enter the maximum CPC you are willing to pay, and (if you wish) use the Traffic Estimator to check cost and position estimates. When you're satisfied, click Continue.
Review your selections and click Save Ad Group.

How do I pause an Ad Group?

To pause an Ad Group:

Log in to your AdWords account.
In the Campaign Summary table, click on the ad campaign containing the Ad Groups you want to pause.
In the Ad Groups table, select the checkbox(es) next to the appropriate Ad Group(s).
Click Pause in the first row of the Ad Groups table.

Shortcut: If you want to pause all of your Ad Groups quickly, select the checkbox next to the Ad Group Name or the Campaign Name header in the top row of the table. This will select all Ad Groups at once. Then, click Pause.

Lesson: Ad Groups, Ads, and Maximum Cost Per Click

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Ad Groups, Ads, and Maximum Cost Per Click": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

How do I delete or undelete an Ad Group?

Here's how to delete an Ad Group:

Log in to your AdWords account.
In the campaign summary table, click on the ad campaign containing the Ad Groups you want to delete.
In the Ad Groups table, select the checkbox(es) next to the appropriate Ad Group(s).
Click Delete.

Shortcut: If you want to delete all of your Ad Groups quickly, select the checkbox next to the Ad Group Name or the Campaign Name header in the top row of the table. This will select all Ad Groups at once. Then, click Delete.

To undelete an Ad Group:

Log in to your AdWords account.
In the campaign summary table, click on the name of the campaign containing the Ad Groups you want to undelete.
In the Ad Group summary table, click on the name of the Ad Group you want to undelete.
Click Undelete Ad Group next to the Ad Group title and status at the top of the page.

How do I resume a paused Ad Group?

If you want to resume running ads in a paused Ad Group:

Log in to your AdWords account.
In the Campaign Summary table, click the ad campaign containing the Ad Groups you want to resume.
In the Ad Groups table, select the checkbox(es) next to the appropriate Ad Group(s).
Click Resume at the top of the Ad Groups table.

Shortcut: If you want to resume all of your paused Ad Groups quickly, click the checkbox next to the Ad Group Name or Campaign Name header in the top row of the table. This will select all Ad Groups at once. Then, click Resume.

What are the features of the Ad Group page?

The Ad Group detail page is the basic management page for an individual AdWords Ad Group.

To reach an Ad Group detail page, log in to your AdWords account and select a campaign. Then click the name of an individual Ad Group from the list on the campaign page.

At the top of the Ad Group page you'll see the Ad Group name and your current ad. If you have created more than one ad for this group, the best-performing ad will be featured here. Next to the ad are links allowing you to pause or resume the Ad Group. A pull-down menu offers helpful tools and the option to delete or undelete this Ad Group.

Lower on the page, on the display table, you can choose from several Ad Group tabs. Each tab presents a different aspect of your account.

Summary. This tab displays the performance totals for your Ad Group. Totals are divided into search and content impressions (if applicable), with overall totals listed on the final line. To see statistics for a different period of time, click Change range at the top of the statistics table. Available statistics include the total numbers of impressions and clicks for the Ad Group, along with related details like the costs and average positions for your ads.

Keywords. If this campaign includes keyword-targeted ads, you'll see a Keywords tab with details on the performance of each keyword in this Ad Group. This includes the status, current bid, settings, and a breakdown of clicks, impressions and costs for each keyword. Along the top of the table are a row of helpful links. Quick add is a speedy way to add new keywords to this Ad Group. Keyword tool helps you discover new potential keywords for your ads. Edit keywords lets you add, edit or remove keywords and change your default bids. Search this list helps you scan all the keywords in the group by several variables.

Sites. If this campaign includes site-targeted ads, you'll see a Sites tab with details on the performance of each targeted site for this Ad Group. This includes the total impressions, clicks, and costs for each site, along with other details. Click Edit sites and CPMs to add or remove sites or change your bid for the sites you have selected. A click on Add sites will take you to the site tool, where you can find new sites to target for this Ad Group.

Ad Variations. This tab displays all the ads you have created for this Ad Group. You can edit or delete each existing ad, or create new ads. Remember that you can create multiple ads for any Ad Group. We recommend that you experiment with multiple ads to see which messages work best for you. The AdWords system will optimize your ads automatically, showing the better-performing ads more often.

To view all the settings and statistics for this Ad Group at once, click the View all tabs at once link below the table. This will open all tabs at once, stacked atop each other on the same page. To return to the tab view, click Condense tables into tabs.

A final note: If you're interested in more in-depth statistics about your Ad Groups, we suggest you try AdWords Reports or Google Analytics. Both can be found on separate tabs at the very top of your account pages.

What has changed on my Ad Group pages?

As AdWords has developed more features for advertisers, the Ad Group pages have begun to overflow with data. We've redesigned the page to display more information and present it in a way that's easy to grasp.

These changes do not affect the performance of your ads or of your account. The only change is in the way Ad Group details are displayed to you.

Your account statistic tables are now presented on separate tabs, which can be found along the upper right edge of the table. These are the available tabs:

Summary displays the performance totals for your Ad Group.
Keywords shows you how individual keywords are performing, and allows you to add new keywords or edit existing ones. This tab appears only in campaigns with keyword-targeted ads.
Sites shows you how your ad is performing on individual sites you have selected. You can add new sites or change your bid for existing ones. This tab appears only in campaigns with site-targeted ads.
Ad Variations displays all the ads you have created for this campaign. You can add, edit or delete ads here.

At any time, you can view the information from all your tabs on a single long page. To do so, click the View all tabs at once link below the display table. To return to the tab view, click Condense tables into tabs.

The date range selection tool for your statistics has also changed significantly. It previously was displayed along the right edge of the table. The date range is now shown along the top left of the table. Click the new Change range link to choose different dates.

You'll also notice changes to these other features on the page:

The Create New Ad links have been moved to the Ad Variations tabs.
The Edit Sites and CPMs feature has been renamed Edit Site Settings.
The keyword tool links, formerly at the top of the table, have been moved to the Keywords tab.
The Delete Ad Group function has been moved to the pull-down menu on the Summary tab.
For clarity, the Filter keywords function has been renamed Search this list.

To learn more about the new Ad Group page, please visit this Help Center entry: How do I use the Ad Group page?

Working with My AdWords Account : Campaigns

What are the 'Search' and 'Content' totals in my account?

Search Total and Content Total, which appear in your Campaign Summary and Report Center reports, are the two types of sites where your keyword-targeted ads can be displayed within the Google Network.

Search Total shows the impressions and clicks your ad has received from search results pages generated by Google and by Google Network search partners. On these sites, your ads are displayed alongside the results from searches matching your keywords. (If you opt out of Google Network search sites, then the Search Total numbers will reflect results only from searches generated by Google.)

Content Total shows the impressions and clicks that your ad receives on content sites or products in the Google Network. On these sites, your ads are displayed alongside content relevant to your keywords. Your ads may appear on news sites, personal web pages, emails or many other types of content sites and products.

See examples of where your ads may appear on the Google Network.

When you create a new keyword-targeted AdWords campaign, your ads are automatically 'opted in' to run on the entire Google Network. You can opt out of the Google Network at any time by editing your distribution preferences. Since selecting both search and content sites allows your ad the broadest possible exposure, we recommend you remain opted in. However, the choice is entirely yours.

How do I choose a daily budget for my cost-per-click campaign?

Choosing a maximum cost-per-click

The pre-filled amount highlighted in blue is our recommended maximum cost per click (CPC). Matching this amount ensures maximum ad exposure and clicks for all of your keywords. Once you have decided on a maximum CPC, click 'Calculate Estimates.'

Assess your cost, click, and position estimates

The Traffic Estimator returns estimates of how much you might pay per day for the keywords you have chosen. In this example, the average cost per day is US$16.14 with an average CPC of US$1.62. You'll also see the average position of your ad. Here, the average position is 1.5.

You may decide that the Traffic Estimator predicted too many or too few clicks at too high or low a CPC. If so, you can enter a new maximum CPC in the maximum CPC field and click 'Recalculate Estimates.'

You'll now see a new list of estimates. In this example, lowering the maximum CPC to US$1.50 from US$2.41 resulted in an average CPC that was, on average, US$0.86 lower. However, the average position dropped from 1.5 to 2.3 and the average clicks per day dropped as well.

If cost is more important to you, you may choose to go with this recalculated option. If position and exposure are more important, you may try option 1.

What can I do with campaign management tools?

AdWords offers a variety of tools to help you quickly and effectively manage and modify your campaigns. Use our campaign management tools to instantly implement changes across your entire account. Or, simply take advantage of the search capabilities each tool offers to pinpoint specific ads and keywords.

Click the links below to learn more about the benefits and best uses of campaign management tools.

Find and Edit Max CPCs
Find and Edit Ad Text
Find and Edit Keywords

How do I create a new keyword-targeted campaign?

You can create a new keyword-targeted campaign at any time. To do so, please follow the steps below:
- Log into your AdWords account.
- On the Campaign Summary page, click keyword targeted in the 'Create a new campaign' section near the top of the page.
- At the start of the signup wizard you'll have the option of using the one-page signup wizard, which allows you to copy and edit settings from an existing campaign. To switch to the one-page wizard, use the pull-down menu to select an existing campaign to copy, then click 'Go' and follow the instructions on the next page. To use the full multi-page signup wizard, ignore the one-page signup option and continue with the full signup wizard.
Create a Campaign and Ad Group
- Enter a name for your new campaign.
- Enter a name for your first Ad Group.
- Select your target language(s). (These are the languages your customers speak.)
- Select the geographic areas where you'd like to advertise.
- Click Continue.
- On the next page, follow the instructions to select the specific areas where your ad will appear, then click Continue.
Create Your Ad

To create an image ad:
- Click Create Image Ad at the top of the page.
- Use the Browse function to locate and upload your image ad from your computer.
- Name the image.
- Enter the URL to be displayed with your ad.
- Enter the Destination URL - the page where users will be sent when they click on your ad.
- Check the box authorizing Google to adjust your image size if needed.
- Click Continue.
To create a text ad:
- Enter a headline.
- Enter the two lines of descriptive text for your ad.
- Enter the URL to be displayed with your ad.
- Enter the Destination URL - the page where users will be sent when they click on your ad.
- Click Continue. If you'd like to build additional text or image ads immediately, select Create new image ad or Create new text ad and repeat the procedures above. You can also create additional ads later, once you've finished creating the campaign.
  Note: Every ad and keyword in our program is reviewed by an AdWords Specialist to confirm that they meet our guidelines. Please click on the AdWords Editorial Guidelines link before creating your ad and check to be sure that your ads and keywords comply with our guidelines.
- When you are finished, click the Continue button.
Select Keywords
- Select keywords that will best target your ad to Google searchers and enter your keywords in the field provided.
  
  Note: It is important that you submit keywords that are relevant to the products and services you offer on your site, and that you avoid general keywords. When creating your keyword list, ask yourself: 'If I were searching on Google for my products/services, what search terms would I enter?' Users are much more likely to type in 2 to 3 word combinations to find a product or service.
  
  Because our keyword default is broad matching, your ad may appear for a number of keyword variations. Our system also allows you to designate keywords as exact or phrase matches, and to submit negative keywords to limit the display of your ad on irrelevant queries.
- Click Continue when you are finished.
Choose Maximum Cost-per-Click
- Enter the maximum CPC you are willing to pay, then click Calculate Estimates.
  
  Note: Your CPC influences the position of your ad on our search results page. Our AdWords Discounter will automatically monitor your competition and reduce your actual CPC so that you do not pay more than necessary to maintain your ad's position.
- Click the Get New Estimates button after entering a new amount to view your adjusted average CPC and cost estimates.
- Click the Continue button when you are finished.
- If you would like to create another Ad Group with a different maximum CPC, click the Create Another Ad Group button.
Choose Daily Budget
- A recommended daily budget will appear highlighted in the daily budget box on the next page. This is the amount necessary for your ad to appear every time on your keyword. However, you can increase or lower this amount by typing in your desired daily budget.
  
  Note: This amount controls how often your ad appears on Google; we will spread the delivery of your ad throughout the day to stay within your alternative budget setting. Matching the recommended daily budget helps ensure maximum exposure.
- Click the Continue button.
Review Your Selections

Look over your new campaign. Click Edit beside any portion of the campaign to change that content. When you're satisfied, click Save Campaign.

How do I delete or undelete an ad campaign?

Here's how to delete an ad campaign:
- Log in to your AdWords account.
- Click the checkbox next to the campaign you want to delete.
- Click Delete at the top of the Campaign Summary table.

Shortcut: If you want to delete all of your active campaigns quickly, select the checkbox next to the Campaign Name column header on the Campaign Summary table. This will select all campaigns at once. Then, click Delete.

To undelete a campaign:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the name of the campaign you want to undelete. This will load the campaign details page.
Click Undelete next to the campaign name and status.

How do I pause an ad campaign?

To pause an ad campaign:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Select the checkbox next to the campaign you want to pause.
Click Pause at the top of the Campaign Summary table.

Shortcut: If you want to pause all of your active campaigns quickly, click the checkbox next to the Campaign Name column header on the Campaign Summary table. This will select all campaigns at once. Then, click Pause.

How do I resume a paused ad campaign?

If you want to resume running ads in a paused ad campaign:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the checkbox next to the campaign you want to resume.
Click Resume at the top of the Campaign Summary table.

Shortcut: If you want to resume all of your paused ad campaigns quickly, click the checkbox next to the Campaign Name header in the top row of the Campaign Summary table. This will select all campaigns at once. Then, click Resume.

Lesson: Campaign Management Overview

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Campaign Management Overview": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Can I have my ads run at particular times of day?

At this time, it isn't possible to specify particular hours or days of the week for your Google AdWords ad to show. If you'd like your campaign to run only during certain hours, you can pause it during the hours that you do not want it to show and resume it when you want it to run again.

You can pause your ad campaign at any time. You won't accrue charges while your ads are paused, and they'll remain paused until you resume them.

Can I move keywords or ad text to different locations in my account?

Yes. Use the Copy or Move Keywords and Ad Text tool to copy or move keywords and ad text to existing campaigns or Ad Groups in your AdWords account.

Here's how to use the Copy or Move Keywords and Ad Text tool:

Log in to your account at https://adwords.google.com/select.
At the top of your Campaign Management screen, click Tools.

On the next screen, click Copy or Move Keywords and Ad Text.

Step 1: Choose a search option
Select to search for keywords or ad text.
Step 2: Choose an action
You may move or copy ad text or keywords. Moving keywords or ad text removes them from the current location, and adds them to a new location. Copying keywords or ad text does not affect the current location; a duplicate will be placed in a new location.
Step 3: Find the keywords you'd like to copy
Tell the system where to search and what to search for by setting filter(s). The system will find keywords that match all of your filters. You may leave any filter blank, and if you'd like to find all keywords in your account, simply skip the entire step.
Step 4: Select the items you'd like to move
Check the boxes next to keywords you'd like to move to a new location, or check Move all at the top of the page to move all matches. Then, click Continue to proceed with your changes.
- If you'd like to move associated ad texts, be sure to check the box under Do you also need to copy or move associated ad texts? before you click Continue. You will then be able to choose ad texts to copy or move in the following step.
Step 5: Choose a destination
Select one location to which you'd like to move the selected information. From the list, click campaign names to view Ad Groups. Then, make your selection and click Continue.
Step 6: Save your changes
Review the summary of your request, and click Save Changes when you are ready to complete the process.

How do I schedule an end date for my campaign?

After setting up your campaign, you can change its end date at any time (your campaign will start at 12:00 AM Pacific Standard Time on your start date and will end at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on your chosen end date).

To schedule your campaign's end date:
- Log in to your AdWords account.
- Select the checkbox(es) next to the campaign(s) you wish to edit.
- Click Edit Settings at the top of the table.
- Use the drop-down boxes on the Edit Campaign Settings page to select your end date.
- Click Save All Changes.
- Repeat this process for any additional campaigns.
How do I change the name of my campaign?

To change the name of your campaign:
- Log in to your AdWords account.
- In the Campaign Summary table, click the ad campaign you want to rename.
- Click Edit Campaign Settings above the table.
- Enter the new name in the Campaign Name field.
- Click Save All Changes at the top or bottom of the table.
How do I restart a campaign which has ended?

Once a campaign reaches its scheduled end date, it will be marked 'ended' in your Campaign Summary page. However, you can always restart the same campaign with a new end date. Here's how:
- Sign in to your AdWords account.
- Select the checkbox next to your ended campaign.
- Click Edit Settings.
- Find When to show my ads and use the pull-down menu to set a new end date.
- Click Save All Changes.

You should now see that the campaign has returned to Active status.

What is the One-Page Campaign Setup option?

AdWords offers two ways to create a new keyword-targeted campaign:

- The multi-page setup wizard, which lets you create your campaign from scratch with all-new settings. - The advanced one-page setup wizard, which lets you copy and modify settings from one of your existing campaigns.

You can choose either method whenever you create a new keyword-targeted campaign in your account. When you click the "Create a new campaign: keyword targeted" link on your Campaign Summary page, you'll be offered the chance to use the one-page wizard, using a pull-down menu to select the campaign settings you'd like to copy. Targeting, ad text, and pricing fields for the campaign will be filled automatically with the data from the existing campaign you choose. You can then click "Edit" next to any of the categories to change the existing settings or add other information for the new campaign.

The advanced one-page setup wizard was created for AdWords advertisers who often use similar settings in many campaigns and asked to have a simpler way to create new campaigns. Once created, the campaigns look and function exactly like other AdWords campaigns created by the standard multi-page wizard option. (One-page setup is available only for keyword-targeted campaigns, not for site-targeted campaigns, at this time.) As always with AdWords, you can edit your settings or pause the campaign at any time.

Copy or Move Keywords and Ad Text tool

Use this tool to easily locate and move ad text and keywords throughout your entire account. Search for all keywords and ad text meeting specific criteria, and move them to a different campaign or Ad Group.

Suggested uses:

Copy or Move Ad Text
You run a clothing store, and have just sold out of wool sweaters during your winter sale. Since your ad texts specifically advertise wool sweaters, you need to move them to an inactive campaign until you have more sweaters in stock. Use the Copy or Move Keywords and Ad Text tool to quickly move your ads to another location.

Copy or Move Keywords
You'd like to offer a discount on all handmade sweaters, so you need to move keywords containing 'handmade' to your 'Sale' campaign. Use the Copy or Move Keywords and Ad Text tool to find those keywords, and move them to another campaign.

Position Preference

What is position preference?

Position preference lets you tell Google where you would prefer your ad to show among all the AdWords ads on a given page.

Whenever you run a keyword-targeted ad, your ad is assigned a position (or rank) based on your cost-per-click (CPC) bid, your keyword's Quality Score, and other relevant factors. There may be dozens of positions available for a given keyword, spread over several pages of search results.

If you find that your ad gets the best results when it is ranked (for example) third or fourth among all AdWords ads, you can set a position preference for those spots. AdWords will then try to show your ad whenever it is ranked third or fourth, and avoid showing it when it is ranked higher or lower. If your ad is ranked higher than third for a given keyword, the system will automatically try to lower your bid to place your ad in your preferred position.

You can request that your ad be shown only when it is:

Higher than a given position (such as above 7)
Lower than a given position (such as below 4)
Within a range of positions (such as from 2-8).
In a single exact position (such as position 2).

You can choose any positions between 1 and 10+ (that is, 10 or any larger number). Separate position preferences can be set for any or all of the keywords in your campaign.

Please note that position preference does not mean that your ad will always appear in the position you specify. The usual AdWords ranking and relevance rules apply. If your ad doesn't qualify for position #1, setting a position preference of 1 will not move it there. Position preference simply means AdWords will try to show your ad whenever it is ranked in your preferred position, and to avoid showing it when it is not.

Position preference also does not affect the overall placement of AdWords ad units on the left, right, top or bottom of a given page. It only affects your ranking relative to other ads across those units.

Position preferences are not guaranteed. Your ad may still appear in other positions, though we will make every effort to display your ad where you prefer. Once you set new position preferences, it may take a few days for the AdWords system to begin delivering your ad according to those preferences.

Finally, let us note that setting a position preference can sharply reduce the number of impressions and clicks you receive for that keyword. Targeting just one or two positions means your ad will not show at times when it otherwise might have. We encourage you to choose as broad a range of positions are you are comfortable with.

To set your position preferences now, see the step-by-step instructions.

How do I choose settings and prices for Position Preference?

Position preference is an advanced bidding feature that gives sophisticated advertisers more control over the positioning of their ads. Some advertisers find this helps them better promote their brands or earn a higher return on investment (ROI). In particular:

Direct-response advertisers can target their most cost-effective ad rankings.
Brand advertisers can make sure their ads run only in the most visible positions.

Position preference helps you achieve your desired ad position in two ways. First, it attempts to show your ad only when its Ad Rank (maximum CPC x Quality Score) has placed it in the positions you select. Second, if the Ad Rank places the ad in a higher spot, position preference will discount your maximum CPC bid to move the ad into your desired range.

Bidding Help

A common problem with position preference bidding is that advertisers prefer high positions but make bids that qualify only for lower positions. If you set a position preference of 2-4, but your Ad Rank is usually 6-8, then your ad simply won't show.

Remember also that the position preference system tends to place your ad most often just below the upper end of your range. If you select positions 3-7, for example, your ad is likely to appear in positions 4 and 5 more often than in 3, 6 or 7.

Here are some tips for position preference bidding:

Review your current bids and average positions, and use them as a guide. For example, if you want your ad to show in positions 2-4, and your current maximum CPC of $1.00 buys you an average position of 3.8, you may need to boost your maximum CPC. Otherwise your ad will show at times in positions 2-4, but you will lose all the impressions you have been receiving below position 4.
Use the traffic estimator. It can help you predict what maximum CPCs will be needed to allow you to compete for your preferred positions.
Broader is better. When you set a position preference range, you also restrict the inventory available to your ads. To get the most exposure for your ad, it's better to select a range of positions like 3-8 rather than a single position like 4.
When is doubt, bid high. The position preference feature protects you by discounting your bid if it places your ad above your preferred position. Set your maximum CPC to the highest amount you are comfortable paying, and AdWords will discount it when possible.
Be patient. The position preference feature typically needs a few days to gather performance data and calibrate its targeting. Your ad may begin showing in your preferred range almost immediately, or it may take those few days to adjust. We encourage you to experiment, as always, but be aware that every time you change your position preferences the system will need to re-calibrate.

Suggestions for Settings

Here are some common advertiser objectives, with recommendations on the best way to achieve them. These are only examples; your needs and results may vary.

Situation: 'My preferred position is 4, but I would still like my ad to appear in positions other than 4.'

Set your position range from 3 to 10+.
Set your maximum CPC for the highest amount you are willing to pay for any impression.

Result: Your ad will show primarily in position 4 but may also show in position 3 or in lower positions . If your ad is ranked in positions 1 or 2, the AdWords system will lower your maximum CPC to move your ad into your preferred range.

Situation: 'I want to promote my brand, and I want my ad to show only in the top 3 positions.'

Set your position range from 1 to 3.
Set your maximum CPC for the highest amount you are willing to pay for any impression.

Result: The system will attempt to show your ads only in positions 1-3. When your ad is in position 4 or lower, it should not show.

Situation: 'I've found that positions 3 - 6 get my ad the best return on investment. I don't want my ad to show below position 6.'

Set your position range from 3 to 6.
Set your maximum CPC for the highest amount you are willing to pay for any impression.

Result: The system will attempt to show your ads only in positions 3-6. If your ad is ranked in positions 1 or 2, the AdWords system will lower your maximum CPC to move your ad into positions 3-6.

Situation: "I've found that positions 3 - 6 get my ad the best return on investment. But I also like the traffic and conversions I get from lower positions."

Set your position range from 3 to 10+.
Set your maximum CPC for the highest amount you are willing to pay for any impression.

Result: Your ad will show primarily in positions 4 and 5, but may also show in position 3 and in positions 6, 7 and lower. When your ad is ranked in positions 1 or 2, the AdWords system will lower your maximum CPC to move your ad into position 3 or lower.

Situation: 'I want my ad to show only in position 4.'

Set your position range from 4 to 4.
Set your maximum CPC for the highest amount you are willing to pay for any impression.

Result: The system will attempt to show your ad only in position 4. (It may, on occasion, show in other nearby positions.) If your ad is ranked in positions 1-3, the AdWords system will lower your maximum CPC to try moving your ad into position 4. You are likely to see fewer impressions than you would with a wider range of preferred positions.

Situation: "I want my ad to show up as high as possible, ideally on the first page of results, but lower positions are also fine."

You probably don't need position preference. Simply set your maximum CPC for the highest amount you are willing to pay for any position.

Result: Your ad will appear in the highest position your Quality Score allows.

Monitoring Position Preference

When you set a position preference, your ad impressions or click rates may go down. Your actual results will depend on the positions you select, the competitiveness of the pages where your ads run, and your quality score. As noted above, if you set a position preference of 2-4, but your Ad Rank is usually 6-8, then your ad will rarely show. On the other hand, if you set a position preference of 4-10+, and your Ad Rank is usually 6-8, then you are likely to have many opportunities for impressions.

It's a good idea to monitor your account to make sure your ad is receiving the impressions you want. We suggest you use the Report Center tab in your account to set up regular daily reports that will help you track your impressions. If your ad is receiving very few impressions, your positions preference settings are one of several possible reasons for that.

The AdWords Help Center has instructions for setting up a report. To set up a daily report, use these settings:

Report Type: select Keyword Performance
View: select Summary
Date Range: select Yesterday
Choose the campaigns and Ad Groups you want to track.
Choose the appropriate columns. Make sure to include Impressions.
Filter the report to show only the keywords for which you've set position preferences.
Name the report.
Schedule your report to run automatically every day.
Have the report emailed to you daily if you wish.
Click Create Report.

If your ad is not showing as often as you would like, use the ads diagnostic tool to identify the reasons why.

Managing Keywords with Position Preference

To view or edit all your keywords with position preferences, try grouping them together:

On the Ad Group page, click the Show Settings column header.
Under Sort by, select Position.

All of your keywords with position preferences should sort to the top of the list.

How do I set my position preference?

Position preferences are set in two steps. First, you enable position preference for a particular campaign. Second, you set your preferences for individual keywords within that campaign.

To enable position preferences for a campaign, follow these steps:

Log in to your account at https://adwords.google.com.
On the 'Campaign Summary' page, select any campaigns you want to enable for position preference.
Click Edit Campaign Settings.
Find the 'Advanced Options' section.
Select the box to enable position preferences.
Click Save Changes.

To set your position targets for your keywords:

Return to the 'Campaign Summary' page.
Click the name of a campaign to edit.
Click an Ad Group within that campaign.
On the 'Ad Group' page, select the box next to any keywords for which you want to set position preferences.
Click the Edit Keyword Settings button (located above the keyword list).
On the 'Edit Keyword Settings' page, you'll see the feature in the far right column.
Use the pull-down menus to choose the range you want for each keyword, from 1 to 10+. The left-hand number is the highest position you'd like your ad to take. The right-hand number is the lowest position your ad will take. (Remember, these are only preferences, not guarantees.)
Click Save Changes.

Once you've set your preferences, you can view them from the main Ad Group page by clicking the word Show next to each term in the Settings column. Your position preferences will remain in effect until you edit them or disable position preference for that campaign.

Position preference will not affect the way your ads are ranked. The usual AdWords ranking and relevance rules apply. Setting a preference for the first position does not mean your ad will be ranked there. Position preference simply means AdWords will try to show your ad whenever it is ranked in your preferred position, and avoid showing it when it is not.

What position preferences can I specify?

You can ask AdWords to show your ad when it is higher than a certain position, lower than a certain position, or in a range between two positions.

The position preference feature uses pull-down menus for your high and low position settings. 1 is the highest (top) position, and 10+ is the lowest available setting. Choosing a setting of 10+ means your ad will show in positions of 10, 11, 12 and beyond.

Here are some sample settings:

Highest 3 and lowest 6: You would like your ad to show in position 3, 4, 5, or 6.
Highest 3 and lowest 10+: You would like your ad to show in position 3 or lower.
Highest 1 and lowest 8: You would like your ad to in the first eight positions.
Highest 3 and lowest 3: You would like your ad to show only in position 3.

Remember that setting a preference for a position does not mean your ad will always be ranked there. Position preference simply means AdWords will try to show your ad whenever it is ranked in your preferred position, and avoid showing it when it is not.

Are ad positions always in the same location on each page?

Not necessarily. Ad positions are not always found in the same location on a web page. Google search results normally have up to eight ad positions in the side column of the page, and may have additional positions above the search results. So a #2 position could be above the search results or in the side column. A #10 ad position could be on the first page of search results, or it could be on a later page. Google's search network partners also feature varying numbers of ad positions on their pages.

When you choose a position preference you are choosing your rank relative to other ads, not a specific location on a page.

Which ad positions are best?

No single position preference is best for everyone. Many people want to be ranked #1, but you may prefer the lower costs that come with lower positions. Or you may find that certain keywords get a better return on investment (ROI) when their ad is in a specific position. We encourage you to experiment and discover which positions are best for your keywords and your ads. Remember that with each change it may take a few days for the system to adjust and run your ads consistently in your new preferred positions.

Do you promise I'll get the position I prefer?

No. Setting a position preference does not guarantee that your ad will always be shown in that position. Position preference simply means AdWords will try to show your ad whenever it is ranked in your preferred position and avoid showing it when it is not.

Does position preference apply to sites besides Google search?

Yes. We will try to match your position preference whenever your ad shows on partner pages in the Google search network. Position preference will also be considered if your ad appears on related Google pages like Google Local. Position preference does not apply to ad impressions on the content network.

What happens if I don't set a position preference?

Your ads will continue to run normally in all positions. If you enable position preference but don't set individual preferences, your ads will also run normally in all positions.

Will position preference work with other AdWords features?

No. The Budget Optimizer™ is designed to set and adjust your bids automatically based on your overall budget, and so cannot work effectively when you also set position preferences manually.

Does position preference work with...?

Here are some common questions about using position preference with other Google features.

Does position preference work with the Budget Optimizer™? No. The Budget Optimizer™ is designed to set and adjust your bids automatically based on your overall budget, and so cannot work effectively when you also set position preferences manually.

Does position preference work with content bids? You may run both features in the same campaign at the same time. However, since position preference doesn't apply to Google's network of content sites, any preferences you set will not affect your content bids.

Will the keyword tool suggest position preferences? No. The keyword tool is not affected by position preferences and does not suggest preferences.

Does the Traffic Estimator consider my position preferences? No. Results from the Traffic Estimator does not take position preferences into account when estimating positions or clicks.

Does the Report Center show my position preferences? Yes. Your reports now show your position preference, as well as the average position your ad actually received. (If you changed your position preferences many times in a given reporting period, the average position may not be very meaningful.) Keywords without position preferences are marked "any."

Targeting My Ads : Targeting by Location : Location Targeting Overview

What are local business ads, and where will they appear?

Local business ads are a new AdWords ad format. They show on Google Local with an enhanced map component, and in a text-only format on Google and other sites in our search network.

Google Local

As with natural search results on Google Local, each local business ad includes a map component. When a user clicks on the ad title or on the map marker, an info window expands on the map to reveal additional information about the business. Learn more about how local business ads appear on Google Local.

Google and the search network

A text-only version of each local business ad is automatically eligible to run on Google and other search network sites. The text version has the same ad text and Display URL as the enhanced ad running on Google Local. In addition, a fifth line of text appears with the city (and state, if applicable) of your business.

Find out more about local business ads.

How do I get my ads to appear on Google Local?

Google Local is part of the search sites category within the Google Network. If you choose to show your ads on search sites in the Google Network, your ads are automatically eligible to appear on Google Local and other search sites.

To show your ads on Google Local:

Sign in to your account.
Check the box beside the campaign containing the ads you'd like to show on Google Local pages.
Click Edit Settings.
Under the Networks section, check the box next to Search network. (If you select Content network as well, your ads may also appear on content sites and products.)
Click Save all changes.

Remember that just like on other Google sites and properties, we'll only show your ad if it performs as well as or better than other ads competing for ad placement. Learn more

Targeting My Ads : Targeting by Location : Country / Territory Targeting

When should I use local targeting vs. country or territory targeting?

Depending on your advertising goals, you may want to create two campaigns to promote your business: one using local targeting, and one using country or territory targeting. This strategy combines the advantages of each campaign to bring you more qualified clicks.

How you target your campaigns may affect how you decide to set up your Ad Groups. The targeting settings will also determine who sees your ads.

Locally-Targeted Campaigns
(Region, City, or Customized)
Country- or Territory-Targeted Campaigns

How should I choose my keywords?
Use keywords that aren't location-specific, such as dentist. We target your locally-targeted ads by IP address, so your ad will still show only for users in your targeted location.

Location-specific keywords, such as New York realtor or London flats, can draw clicks from qualified leads in our search and content networks.

How should I
write my ad text?

Regional and city-targeted campaigns: The name of your targeted location will appear below your ad, so you don't need to include location names in your ad text.
Customized campaigns: We recommend including the location name in your ad.

Country- or territory-targeted campaigns have a broader audience, so use ad text that's highly targeted to your customers. You may wish to include the names of locations in your ad text.

What kind of traffic am I likely to get?*

Google users in your targeted location.
Google Local users.
Google users searching for location-specific products or services (such as London doctor), even if they have unidentifiable IP addresses (U.S. only).

Users anywhere searching on your highly-targeted keywords.
Google Local users searching for your products or services, as long as the search query is sufficiently relevant.

What kind of traffic am I unlikely to get?

Google users with unidentifiable IP addresses searching for non-location specific keywords such as pizza.
Google users with search queries more specific than your keywords. For example, if you have the keyword pizza in your campaign targeting New York, your ad may not appear on a search for New York deep dish pizza.

Google users searching for any non-location specific keywords in your Ad Group (such as dentist). Instead, these users may see locally targeted ads with the same keywords.

*In addition to the traffic listed here, ads in local campaigns and country- or territory-targeted campaigns may also appear on Google Local and the Google Network. Simply make sure your campaigns are opted in to our search and content networks. Learn more about adjusting your distribution preferences.

How do I set up country and territory targeting for a campaign?

You can select country and territory targeting when creating a new campaign or when editing the settings of an existing campaign.

New Campaign

To set up country or territory targeting for a new campaign:

Sign in to your AdWords account.
Click keyword-targeted or site-targeted above your Campaign Summary table.
Name your campaign and Ad Group, and select your target language(s).
Select Countries and territories under Target customers by location.
Select one or more countries and/or territories you wish to target, and click Add. Your selection(s) will appear on the right side of your screen.
Click Continue, and finish creating your campaign.

Existing campaign

To change your targeting settings for an existing campaign:

Sign in to your AdWords account.
Select the checkbox(es) next to the campaign(s) you wish to edit.
Click Edit Settings above the Campaign Summary table.
Click Edit next to the Locations field.
Click Change option, and OK.
Select Countries and Territories, and click Continue.
Select one or more countries and/or territories you wish to target, click Add, and then click Continue.
Click Save All Changes at the bottom of your Edit Campaigns Settings page.

When should I target by country or territory?

You should target by country and territory if you have a large audience and offer services or products to one or more countries or territories. If you have a global business, it would make sense to target all countries and territories. This helps ensure that your campaigns get exposure across the world.

For example, if you sell maps of the United States and only ship within the United States, you should target your campaign to the United States. However, if you sell DVDs worldwide, you should target your campaign to all countries and territories and all languages.

Remember that with country and territory targeting, aim to create a highly targeted keyword list so you reach the most qualified users and don't waste irrelevant impressions or clicks. Visit our Optimization Tips page for help.

Targeting My Ads : Targeting by Location : Regional and Customized Targeting

Is regional or customized targeting appropriate for me?

Regional or customized targeting benefits advertisers who want to reach customers in a specific region, city, or geographic location. It's a powerful way to reach qualified prospects in the precise area where you do business.

Here's how it works: Missy wants to target Los Angeles with the keyword hemp shirts. With region and city targeting, her ads may appear when:

A Google user in Los Angeles searches for hemp shirts. Google uses the user's Internet Protocol (IP) address to determine the user's location and to show Missy's ad.
A Google user in New York searches for Los Angeles hemp shirts. Google uses the location information in the search query ('Los Angeles') to determine the user's area of interest and to show Missy's ad. (This functionality is only available for users searching on the Google.com domain for U.S. locations.)

With customized targeting, the above is also true. However, instead of targeting the city of Los Angeles, Missy would target an area within Los Angeles. The user's IP address would have to be in the designated area in order to see Missy's ad.

When we can't determine the user's location, we'll show country- and territory-targeted ads. For this reason, it's a good idea to create a country- and territory-targeted campaign similar to your regionally targeted campaign — except with location-specific keywords and ad text. Learn more

Where can my location be targeted by address?

Custom location targeting by street or business address is currently available in four countries: Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We are unable to geo-target addresses in other countries and territories at this time.

If you are in another area, you'll see the "Enter a physical address" option on the custom targeting page but will not see your country or territory on the pull-down menu. Please choose the "Select a point on the map" option instead. You can use the interactive map to pinpoint your location, or enter your latitude and longitude coordinates directly if you know them.

We are working to add targeting by address in other countries and territories in the near future.

How do I find my latitude and longitude coordinates?

Your map coordinates will be determined for you automatically when you use the AdWords custom targeting option. Whether you enter a physical address or select a point on the interactive map, the AdWords system will immediately translate your location into coordinates to be used in targeting your advertising.

Regardless of the method you choose, your coordinates will appear in the same general format. For example, the latitude and longitude for Google Headquarters at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 USA is:

37* 25' 38", -122* 5' 57"

Where do regionally targeted or customized ads appear?

If you choose regional or customized targeting, your ads can appear:

Alongside Google search results pages to users in your targeted locations.
On some sites and products in the Google Network (if your campaign is opted in to Google's search and content networks). However, your ads won't appear on AOL.
Alongside Google search results pages for location-specific search queries (such as 'New York pizza'), regardless of the searcher's geographic location. (This functionality is only available for users searching on the Google.com domain for U.S. locations.)

How does customized targeting work?

When you choose customized targeting for an AdWords campaign, your ads appear to users searching for results within a specified distance from your business - usually a circle around your business address. (We identify the user's location by determining the user's IP address and, in some cases depending on the domain and search term, the search query.)

First you set the center of your custom area.
You then set the advertising distance (the radius of the circle) in miles or kilometers.
The AdWords system converts a searcher's location into latitude and longitude coordinates to determine if the user is in your target region.

You can set the center of your custom area in two ways: by entering a physical address (such as the street address of your business) or by using the interactive map provided. Learn more about these options

If I choose regional or customized targeting, what will my ads look like?

AdWords will identify your chosen region or city in your regionally-targeted ads to distinguish them from country- or territory-targeted ads. For example, the following ad is regionally-targeted to the New York, NY area:

WidgetWorld
Wide variety of widgets.
Check out our special deals.
widgets.google.com
New York, NY

If you use customized targeting, the location will not show in the last line of your ad.

Can my campaign target regional areas (including cities and states) in multiple countries or territories?

No. Your campaign may only target regional areas in the same country or territory. However, you may create a separate campaign for each unique country or territory containing areas you'd like to target.

Demo: Local Targeting

AdWords Demos are narrated lessons that show you how to make the most of your AdWords account. (You'll need Flash installed on your system to view AdWords demos.)

View this demo now: Local Targeting.

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Demos.

How small can a customized targeted area be?

Your targeted area can be as small as you like if you choose customized targeting (give or take a few degrees). However, we strongly recommend that you set a minimum distance of 20 miles or 35 kilometers to ensure that you reach the largest possible audience. Also, the AdWords system is not able to target city blocks or other very specific regions.

When specifying a customized region, enter only whole numbers — such as 133 miles or 50 kilometers. Our system doesn't like fractions or decimals (like 50.7 kilometers).

Will my keyword estimates be affected if I choose regional or customized targeting?

Yes. This is because regionally targeted and customized campaigns focus on a narrower audience than country- and territory-targeted campaigns. Depending on the regions as well as the keywords you select, the Keyword Traffic Estimator may:

Give you higher traffic and cost estimates if you select more general (high volume) keywords
Give you lower traffic and cost estimates if you select very specific (lower, more targeted volume) keywords

We recommend that you give regional targeting a try to allow our system to adjust its estimates based on your account's particular keywords and campaign performance. Here are some additional tips:

If you're concerned about the potential increase in cost, you can decrease your maximum CPC setting.
If you'd like to help increase your ad ranking and reduce cost estimates, try refining your ad text and keywords to help increase your overall Quality Score.
To ensure that your ad appears as often as possible for your keyword variations, check that your daily budget is equal to or greater than the recommended amount.

How do I target my ads by region and city?

You can select to target your ads by regions and cities when editing the settings of an existing campaign or when creating a new campaign at any time.

To select regional targeting for your existing campaign:

Sign in to your account.
Check the box beside the campaign(s) you wish to edit.
Click Edit Settings.
In the Locations field, click Edit.
Click Change option.
Select the radio button next to Regions and cities, and click Continue.
If you're changing the target country, choose a new country in the drop-down box, and click Change. Otherwise, skip this step.
Select the radio button to target either regions or cities, and select or enter one or more target regions or cities.
Click Continue.
Click Save All Changes.

To learn how to create a new regionally targeted campaign or to choose different targeting options, visit How can I target my ad campaign by language and location?

How do I set up customized targeting?

You can select customized targeting when editing the settings of an existing campaign or when creating a new campaign at any time.

To select customized targeting for your existing campaign:

Sign in to your AdWords account.
Check the box beside the campaign(s) you wish to edit.
Click Edit Settings.
In the Locations field, click Edit.
Click Change option.
Select the radio button beside Customized, and click Continue.
Select your desired targeting method. The address or the point you select will become the center of your circular target area.

Entering a Physical Address: Set a minimum distance of 20 miles or 35 kilometers for the best results. Enter only whole numbers, such as 50 kilometers or 133 miles. Our system doesn't like fractions or decimals, such as 50.7.

To set a custom advertising area in a shape other than a circle, click the multi-point option link. Then, define your area by clicking a series of points on the interactive map.

Using the Interactive Map: Drag the map in any direction, and use the (+) and (-) keys to zoom in or out, until the red marker is on the location you want. This spot will be converted to latitude and longitude coordinates to be used by the AdWords system. (If you happen to know the exact map coordinates you want, you also can enter them directly.)

Click Continue and save your changes.

To learn how to create a new customized-targeted campaign or to choose different targeting options, visit How can I target my ad campaign by language and location?

Why am I receiving clicks outside my targeted area?

Here are some possible reasons. Also, we've listed some things you can do (or we already do) to help ensure that you receive the most relevant clicks possible:

Reason: The searcher's Internet Protocol (IP) address is mapped outside his or her actual location. For example, the searcher might be located in Santiago but his or her IP address is housed on a server in Buenos Aires. If you target Buenos Aires, this user might see your ads (even if the user is physically located in Santiago).

Solution: We expose the name of your targeted region below your ad text to try to reduce the number of irrelevant clicks you receive.

Reason: If you're targeting a U.S. location, your ad might appear to users searching for your targeted area on Google.com. This is because we'll also analyze the searcher's query in these cases. If your ad relates to the search query, users outside your targeted location might see your ad.

Solution: We've developed this system for your benefit so you reach as many people looking for your goods or services as possible. However, if you find that your clicks aren't producing the results you expected, you might try refining your ad text and keywords.

Reason: Your target region may be larger than you expected. For example, the New York, New York, area includes part of the neighboring state of New Jersey.

Solution: Narrow the focus of your region. Or, you may want to choose customized targeting instead of regional targeting.

Targeting My Ads : Targeting by Language

How can I target my ad campaign by language and location?

New Campaigns (for New AdWords Advertisers):

Visit the AdWords homepage, and click Click to begin under Sign Up Now.
Choose the Standard Edition radio button, and click Continue. You'll arrive at the campaign wizard.
Select your target language(s) from the scroll-down box.
Select the radio button beside one of the three location options (Countries and territories, Regions and cities, or Customized).
Click Continue.
Select your target location(s):

If you chose the Countries and territories option: Select one or more countries or territories from the scroll-down box on the left, then click 'add.' Your selection(s) will appear on the right side of your screen.
If you chose the Regions and cities option: Select your country or territory from the drop-down box, then proceed to add cities or regions below.
If you chose the Customized option: Select your targeting method (either physical address or latitude and longitude) using the radio buttons. Enter your location information in the appropriate fields. Designate the radius within which you'd like your ads to be shown.

On this page you also may choose the advanced multi-point option, which allows you to enter coordinates to outline the precise shape and size of your target area.

Click Continue.
Follow the wizard instructions to finish creating your campaign and setting up your account.

New Campaigns (for Existing AdWords Advertisers):

Sign in to your AdWords account.
Click keyword-targeted or site-targeted above your Campaign Summary table to create a new campaign.
Name your campaign and Ad Group, and select your target language(s).
Select the radio button beside one of the three location options (Countries and territories, Regions and cities, or Customized).
Click Continue.
Select your target location(s):

If you chose the Countries and territories option: Select one or more countries or territories from the scroll-down box on the left, then click 'add.' Your selection(s) will appear on the right side of your screen.
If you chose the Regions and cities option: Select your country from the drop-down box, then proceed to add cities or regions below.
If you chose the Customized option: Select your targeting method (either physical address or latitude and longitude) using the radio buttons. Enter your location information in the appropriate fields. Designate the radius within which you'd like your ads to be shown.

On this page you also may choose the advanced multi-point option, which allows you to enter coordinates to outline the precise shape and size of your target area.

Click Continue.
Follow the wizard instructions to finish creating your campaign.

Existing campaigns:

Sign in to your AdWords account.
Select the checkbox(es) next to the campaign(s) you wish to edit.
Click Edit Settings above the Campaign Summary table.
Select your ad's target language(s) next to the Languages field on the Edit Campaigns Settings page.
Click Edit next to the Locations field to change your campaign's target locations.
Then follow the directions for country and territory targeting, regional targeting, or customized targeting.

What language and location ad targeting options do I have?

With an AdWords Standard Edition account, you can target your ads to multiple languages and almost any location. You can also target regions/cities within a limited number of countries.

When you target your ads to geographic locations, you have the following three options:

Countries and territories: Your ads will appear to customers located in or searching for results in the countries or territories you select. This option is best suited for global businesses and merchants who serve specific countries or territories.
Regions and cities: Your ads will only appear to customers searching for results in (or located in) the regional areas/cities you choose. This option is best suited for businesses specializing in certain cities and states and stores with target customers located throughout a city or cities. (Please note this regional option is only available in some countries.)
Customized: Your ads will only appear to customers searching for results in (or located in) a specified distance from your business. This option is best suited for businesses serving a specific area.

You may change these language and location settings at any time.

Lesson: Language and Location Targeting

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Language and Location Targeting": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Lesson: Benefits of International Advertising

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Benefits of International Advertising": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

How do I target a language that isn't available?

AdWords supports language targeting for more than 40 languages. If the language you want to target isn't currently available, you can still reach users in the intended language by targeting your ad campaign to all languages. (Choose 'All Languages' from the language targeting drop-down list on your Edit Campaign Settings page.)

If we don't currently support your language, you might consider writing your ad in an alternate language that is universally understood by your users. Remember that your ad will show to users - no matter the location where they're searching from - in whichever language you write it in. We won't automatically translate your ad for you.

Additionally (if you haven't already), we suggest that you create two different campaigns – one regionally targeted campaign with more general keywords and ad text, and one country- and territory-targeted campaign with region-specific keywords and ad text. By creating two similar campaigns with different targeting options, you’ll reach qualified users no matter their location Learn more

Targeting My Ads : The Google Network : Google Network Overview

Where will my ads appear?

Your keyword-targeted ads will appear along side or above the results on Google.com search results pages.

Additionally, your ads could appear on the search and content sites and products in the Google Network. The Google Network is the largest online advertising network available, reaching over 80% of 30-day US Internet users. So you can be certain that your ads reach your target audience with Google AdWords.

On search sites in the Google Network, your ads could appear along side or above search results or as a part of a results page a user navigates to through a site's directory. Our global search network includes Froogle and Google Groups and the following:

Our extensive content network of high-quality consumer and industry-specific websites and products, such as newsletters (U.S. only) and email programs, includes:

Here are examples of what AdWords ads look like on Google's content network. AdWords ads on the Miami Herald and other sites are targeted to the actual content of the page that day. In the screenshot below, you can see the ads are directly relevant to NBA playoffs articles.

You may also be interested in AdWords site-targeted campaigns, an alternative to keyword targeting that allows advertisers to select individual sites in the Google content network where they'd like their ads to appear.

We work with permission-based newsletter providers to place keyword-targeted AdWords ads targeted to the subject matter of newsletters.

Google's own Gmail displays AdWords ads. Here you can see that the ads relate to the discussion in the email.

Ads for email are placed by Google computers using the same automated process used to place relevant AdWords ads alongside web pages and newsletters. If our automatic filters detect that the topic of the email is sensitive, we don't show any ads. This addition to our content network currently applies only to English language ads targeted to 'U.S.,' 'Canada,' or 'All Regions.'

Our technology ensures that your ads appear in the most relevant locations across the Web so that your customers find you. For more information about advertising publishers within your industry, please visit http://www.google.com/ads/metrics.html.

What is the Google Network?

The Google Network is made up of sites and products who partner with Google to publish targeted AdWords ads via their site or product. Google can target your ads to search results and relevant web content on a wide variety of sites and products to help you reach a vast and highly-targeted audience. We are constantly expanding the number of sites and products in our network through our premium services and our online Google AdSense program. All web sites and products are reviewed and monitored according to the same rigorous standards, so as the network grows, your AdWords ads will continue to appear only on high-quality sites and products.

Besides appearing on search results on Google.com, AdWords advertisers can choose to have their keyword-targeted campaigns appear on our search network, our content network, or both. New keyword-targeted campaigns are automatically opted in to distribution on the Google Network, so if you want your ads to appear on search and content sites and products, then you don't need to do a thing. To learn how to view or edit your distribution preferences, please click here.

You may also choose to enable the content bids feature, which lets AdWords advertisers set one price when their ads run on Google and Google Network search sites, and a different price when their ads run on Google Network content sites. You can learn more about content bids at our help center.

As an AdWords advertiser, you also can elect to create site-targeted campaigns, in which you choose the exact sites where your ad will appear rather than choosing keywords to trigger your ads. Site-targeted campaigns appear only on content sites in the Google Network, and only websites and only on the specific sites you select. They don't appear on other sites in the Google Network or on Google.com. You can learn more in our site targeting FAQ.

Other Google Network facts you might like to know:

No additional fee to participate in this program.

Some sites and products show as few as the top 3 ads per page, so the higher your average ad position, the more exposure you'll get.

All ads are reviewed before appearing across the Google Network, so you may see your ad appear on Google first. Please note that if you edit a previously reviewed ad, your ad will show on the Google Network once it is reviewed again.

How can I make sure my ads appear on the Google Network?

Check your ads. They must adhere to our Editorial Guidelines. Ads will not run on the Google Network until they've been reviewed by our AdWords Specialists, so please ensure that you meet the standards in the Editorial Guidelines. You may notice your ads appearing on Google before they appear on AOL or other network sites because of this review process. To learn how to edit your ads, click here.

Increase your daily budget. If your ads qualify for the Google Network, you can expect more people to see your ads and more clicks to come your way. Make sure that you get the exposure you want by increasing your daily budget. Increasing your daily budget maximizes the number of impressions your ads receive. To learn how to increase your daily budget, click here.

Increase your maximum cost-per-click (CPC). The position of your keyword-targeted ads is determined by various performance factors including: maximum cost-per-click (CPC), clickthrough rate (CTR), and ad text. You may want to increase your CPC to help improve your ad's position. AOL only displays the top three Google AdWords ads on any given page, so raising your CPC increases your chance of consistently appearing on all advertising network sites. To learn how to increase your CPC, click here.

Increase your clickthrough rate (CTR). As mentioned above, your ad's position is partly determined by your CTR, so be sure your ads are optimized and ranked high enough to appear on AOL. You can increase your CTR by refining your ad text, using keyword matching options, and using the Keyword Tool to refine your keywords. To learn more about how to increase your CTR, visit our Optimization Tips page. You can also learn how to proactively monitor your keywords.

Increase your maximum CPM. If you're running site-targeted campaigns with cost-per-impression (CPM) pricing, increasing your maximum CPM should increase your visibility on the Google Network. To learn how to increase your CPM, click here.

Check your distribution preference. Make sure you haven't already opted out of the Google Network. To learn how, click here.

Finally, some Google Network partners may restrict advertising based on their own policies regarding content. As a result, one or more of your ads may not appear on these sites.

How do I assess the performance of my contextual and search advertising?

The final measure of success for any advertising program is whether or not it brings you profitable sales. Tracking the performance of your AdWords campaign will help you ensure the highest possible return on your advertising investment. Google studies have shown that the performance of your search campaign is a good predictor of the performance of your contextual ads. This means that if your ads are bringing you profitable sales on search pages, then clicks from contextual advertising are likely to bring you profitable customers as well. Alternatively, if your ads are not optimized for search pages, they are less likely to bring you the performance you are looking for on content sites and products.

Google conversion tracking allows you to clearly identify the ads that are bringing you customers. Conversion tracking displays the rate of sales that you are receiving from your advertising campaign, for both our search and content networks, on your Ad Group report page. Reviewing your total number of conversions and the value of these conversions can help you determine if you should increase your budget or further optimize your ad groups to receive more targeted visitors.

How does participation in the Google Network affect my account performance?

To make your keyword-targeted advertising as effective as possible for you and your users, we require that your account and individual keywords maintain a minimum clickthrough rate (or CTR). However, while tabulating and evaluating your CTR, we only consider activity on the Google search pages. Your ads distributed to the Google Network are not used in evaluating your performance.

How do you show ads only when appropriate?

Google has a number of safeguards to help ensure that ads are not shown on inappropriate content. We use sophisticated technology to detect pages with sensitive content, and ensure that no ads are served on them. In addition, we have tools in place to immediately remove ads if they do appear on a page with questionable content. Publishers like Forbes.com and many other distinguished properties trust that our filters work.

Lesson: What is the Google Network?

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "What is the Google Network?": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Lesson: How to Search and Content Placement Work?

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "How to Search and Content Placement Work?": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Targeting My Ads : The Google Network : Search Network

Can I show my ads on search pages but not content pages?

Yes. You can choose whether your Google AdWords campaigns appear on only the search network, the content network, or both. Learn how to view or edit your distribution preferences.

We recommend advertisers distribute their ads across the entire Google Network, as it maximizes the number of highly-qualified leads that you can receive. Google technology ensures that your ads appear only on high-quality pages and products that are directly relevant to your service. You pay for clicks you receive, so you have nothing to lose but potential customers.

You may also wish to enable the content bids feature, which lets AdWords advertisers set one price when their ads run on Google and its search partner sites, and a different price when their ads run on Google Network content sites. You can learn more about content bids at our help center.

How can I track search and content network clicks?

The best method of tracking specific clicks is to use a unique Destination URL for your keywords. A simple way to do this is often to add some URL parameters.

The ValueTrack tag is a simple tag that you can add to your Destination URLs. It will allow you to distinguish the clicks you receive from search and content sites in the Google Network. It can be used with both keyword-targeted and site-targeted campaigns. For example, if your URL is www.yoursiteinfo.com, you can use the following tag for your Destination URL:

www.yoursiteinfo.com?type={ifsearch:GoogleAdWordsSearch}{ifcontent:GoogleAdWordsContent}

When using this code, your third party tracking will be able to identify how many of your visitors enter your site via your Google AdWords ad. More importantly, a click on your AdWords ad from Google or a search partner would appear in your weblogs as the following: www.yoursiteinfo.com?type=GoogleAdWordsSearch

A click from one of our content partners would appear as the following: www.yoursiteinfo.com?type=GoogleAdWordsContent

What will my ads look like on search results pages?

Ad appearance will vary by Google Network partner. However, the ads are typically labeled as sponsored links and could include 2 - 4 lines of text. Ads may appear either down the side of or above the search results. Here is an example of what your ad could look like on Google:

Targeting My Ads : The Google Network : Content Network

What is contextual advertising?

Contextual advertising, sometimes referred to as Content Targeting, is an innovative feature of Google AdWords that enables you to gain more customers easier than ever before. Building on our successful keyword targeting technology, we place highly-targeted AdWords ads on content pages within our extensive network of high-quality partner sites and products. This service, known as contextual advertising, improves the experience of web users by displaying useful ads, and it provides several benefits to Google advertisers:

ROI Performance: Keyword-targeted contextual ads bring unique, pre-qualified leads for a cost-per-click that you set yourself.
Extend reach: Increase the number of potential customers that see your ads, and drive more incremental clicks to your website than you could reach with search advertising alone.
Save Time and Money: Contextual targeting is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get your ads to more relevant places on the Web. And you only pay for clicks that you receive.

What are content bids?

Content bids let AdWords advertisers set one price when their ads run on search sites and a separate price when their ads run on content sites. If you find that you receive better business leads or a higher ROI from ads on content sites than on search sites (or vice versa), you can now bid more for one kind of site and less for the other. Content bids let you set the prices that are best for your own business.

You can set content bids for any campaign running on content sites in the Google Network. Content bids are set on the Ad Group level within each campaign.

Here's how to enable content bids in your campaign:

Log in to your account at https://adwords.google.com.
Put a check in the box next to the keyword-targeted campaign you wish to edit.
Click the button marked Edit Settings.
Now locate the section marked Networks. If you have not already selected Content network, do so now.
Select Content bids.
Click Save Changes.

Once you've enabled content bids within a campaign, you can make separate bids for content ads in any of the Ad Groups within that campaign. Here's how:

Log in to your account (if you haven't already) at https://adwords.google.com.
Click the name of the campaign you want to adjust.
Put a check in the box next to the Ad Group(s) you want to set separate content prices for.
Click the button marked Edit Bids.
Enter your new prices next to Content for each Ad Group. (Default is your bid for search sites.)
If needed, use the yellow box with the downward 'V' to copy the same bids across all Ad Groups.
Click Save Changes.

That's all there is to it. You're ready to run ads with unique bids for content and search placements.

To learn more about the content network, please see our FAQ on contextual advertising.

What will contextual ads look like?

Text-based ads on our content network are the same ads that appear on the search results pages of Google and our global search partners. In addition, AdWords advertisers now can place image ads on content network sites if they choose. Although ad placement will vary, AdWords ads are typically identified as sponsored links. Ranking for all contextual ads is determined just as on search results pages--based on various factors like the maximum cost-per-click you have selected, the clickthrough rate that your ad has established on Google.com, and the quality of your ad text and keywords.

Google AdWords Ads on Content Network

How do I know if a site is part of the Google content network?

The Google content network consists of thousands of sites of all types, large and small, professional and personal. Because the roster of sites grows and changes day by day, we can't publish a list of sites. The best way to check for an individual site is to enter it in the site selection tool while creating a site-targeted campaign. If that site is available, it will be listed for you to select as a target site for your campaign.

How can I optimize my ads to take advantage of contextual advertising?

Creating effective ads that bring you sales on search and content pages is easy. There are a few steps you can take to ensure that your ads are bringing you the highest possible return on your advertising investment on Google search and content pages.

Optimize your campaigns as you would for search advertising.
Search ads are typically good predictors of contextual advertising performance. This means that the better your ads perform on search pages, the more successful they are likely to be on content sites and products. For more information on improving your AdWords campaign, please visit our optimization tips page.
Implement Google conversion tracking.
Conversion tracking allows you to see the number of sales that you are receiving from your advertising campaign, for both our search and content network sites and products. Reviewing your total number of conversions and the value of these conversions can help you determine if you should increase your budget or further optimize your ad groups to receive more targeted visitors. Learn more about Google conversion tracking.
Enable content bids.
Content bids let you can set one price when your ads run on Google and its search partner sites, and a different price when your ads run on Google Network content sites. Learn more in our content bids FAQ.
Review your ad ranking.
Keep in mind that most content sites and products only display two, three, or four contextual ads per page. As a result, you must select a maximum cost-per-click that allows your ad to rank in these top positions if you are to take advantage of the additional qualified clicks from content pages. Look at the average position of your ads on the Campaign Management page and adjust this position as necessary (by improving your clickthrough rate with refined ad text and keywords, or adjusting your maximum CPC) to ensure that you are receiving as many profitable leads as possible.

Contextual advertising provides you additional targeted visitors at a cost you set. However, because the performance of your ads on content pages does not affect their performance on search, a lower number of clicks or clickthrough rate on contextual advertising will not adversely affect your campaigns.

Can I download reports for my contextual advertising statistics?

To create and download reports, follow these simple steps:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click on the Reports tab and then on Create Report from within that tab.
Select the Report Type you would like to run from the pull-down menu (i.e. Keyword, Text Ad, Image Ad, Campaign, etc.)
Choose your preferred View,Date Range, and the Campaigns and Ad Groups you want included in your report.
Use Advanced Options to further customize your report by adding or removing report display columns for standard and conversion-related data (select 'Add or Remove Columns' and check or uncheck the statistics you want included or excluded). You can also create filters for variables of up to four data types, to restrict which rows are shown based on specific criteria related to performance of keywords, number of impressions, etc.
Name your report and, if you want, save it as a template for creating similar reports in the future.
Schedule the report for regular delivery if you want it run automatically more than once (you may store up to five reports in your Report Center), and, if you desire, provide an email address and your preferred file format (.csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html) for email delivery
Click on Create Report.
Your report will be emailed to you upon completion (if you selected that option); and will also be saved in your Report Center, where they can be downloaded at will.

How does contextual advertising work?

If you are a new or existing AdWords advertiser, your keyword-targeted ads automatically begin appearing on relevant content sites and products. Utilizing our advanced search technology, Google scans the content of a Web page and automatically selects ads to display that have keywords closely matching the subject of the page. For example, if users look at a Web page about building hummingbird feeders, they may see Google AdWords ads for hummingbird feeders or hummingbird food. Or, if a users view a page containing brownie recipes, they may see ads about chocolate brownies or delicious dessert recipes. You don't have to waste time trying to find the right content venue to display your ads. Our advanced algorithm makes it easy by displaying your ads automatically for the most relevant content.

A web user visits a webpage looking for items to purchase that are related to your product.

Your ad is matched automatically to the relevant page each time it is viewed.

With cost-per-click pricing, you pay only when a user clicks on your ad.

Does contextual targeting affect the performance or ranking of my ads?

We evaluate your ad's performance on a case-by-case basis for each site your ad appears on. This means that the performance of your keyword-targeted ads on a content site does not affect the ranking of your ads on Google in any way. Clicks from contextual targeting usually mean additional qualified leads for you at no risk to the performance of your campaign.

We do require that your individual keywords maintain a high enough Quality Score and maximum cost-per-click (CPC) to ensure that your advertising is as effective as possible for you and our users. If your keywords become inactive for search, they will stop triggering ads across Google and the search network. Learn what to do if this happens.

Which campaigns should I try in contextual advertising?

Campaigns that produce great business results on search typically do well in the content network. Ad Groups with keyword lists that are focused around a theme, product line, or brand tend to perform better than Ad Groups with lists of unrelated keywords. And, just as in search advertising, ad text with a specific call to action outperforms ad text that's simply descriptive, which may attract more browsers than buyers.

Targeting My Ads : The Google Network : Excluding Certain Content Sites

How do I make my ads appear (or not appear) on Google Network sites?

Your keyword-targeted ads are eligible to appear on the Google Network of related search and content sites and products. Since showing your ads on the entire Google Network offers your campaign the greatest level of exposure and potential success, we recommend this option. However, the choice is entirely yours.

You opt in to (or out of) the Google Network on the campaign level. Each keyword-targeted campaign you create can appear on search sites or products, content sites or products, or both.

To view or edit your distribution preferences, please follow these steps:

Select the box next to the keyword-targeted campaign you wish to edit.

Click Edit Settings.

Locate Networks. Select Google search, Search network, Content network, or any combination.

Click Save all changes.

If I'm opted into the content network, how do I prevent my ads from appearing on specific websites?

To prevent your ads from appearing on specific websites, you may apply the AdWords site exclusion feature. First you may wish to confirm that you're opted into the content network. You can then follow these instructions:

Click Tools at the top of your Campaign Summary page.

Click Site Exclusion under the Optimize your Ads header.

Select your campaign from the drop down box and click Go.

In the field under 'Add sites to be excluded,' list the websites you want to exclude from showing your ads.

Add only one website per line. Do not separate websites with commas or other punctuation.
Enter websites at the domain (www.example.com, example.com), subdomain (topic.example.com), or path (www.example.com/stuff) level only.
Do not enter individual pages (www.example.com/main.html).

When you're done, click Exclude Sites. You'll see a confirmation page informing you how many websites you've chosen to exclude.

Please note that you may exclude sites only at the campaign level. That is, if your account contains multiple campaigns, you must create a list of excluded sites for each campaign if you want to filter unwanted websites completely.

What is the site exclusion feature?

By electing to show your ads on the Google content network, you can expand your reach to prospects visiting a variety of high quality websites that are relevant to your business. However, there may be times where—for any reason—you feel that certain websites aren’t appropriate for your ads. If this is the case, you can apply the AdWords site exclusion feature to prevent your ads from appearing on these sites. With the site exclusion feature, you can enjoy the benefits of advertising on the content network while still precisely controlling your targeting.

Please note the following about the site exclusion feature:

This feature is available only to advertisers who are opted in to the content network.

The content network is continually evolving and growing. As a result, we can't provide a list of all sites which are eligible to show your ads. By using this feature you can simply filter unwanted sites in case they are or become part of the content network.

You may edit your list of excluded sites at any time, and as often as you like.

If you’d like to use the site exclusion feature, follow these simple instructions.

Can I customize how Google contextual advertising works for my brand?

We recognize that you may have display concerns specific to your company or brand. For instance, you may not wish your ad to be shown next to an article about your company earnings. To customize Google contextual advertising for such special circumstances, we recommend you apply appropriate negative keywords or site exclusion to your campaign. (For the example given, you might choose 'earnings' as a negative keyword, or you might choose to have your ads blocked from that entire website.) This will help ensure your ad is not shown alongside content with the specific themes you wish to avoid. You can update and change these negative settings at any time. To learn more, please see our how-to pages on negative keywords and site exclusion.

You may also wish to consider a site-targeted campaign, which allows you to select the precise sites where your ad will appear. For more on this AdWords feature, please visit our Site Targeting FAQ.

How do I format my list of excluded websites?

With the AdWords site exclusion feature, you have several options for filtering websites. You may enter a domain, subdomain, or path name. You may not enter individual pages.

The format of each entry on your site exclusion list determines how the AdWords system will filter sites.

Acceptable formats:

Domain: www.example.com

Domain: example.com

Subdomain: unwanted.example.com

One path name: www.example.com/widgets

One path name: example.com/widgets

Unacceptable formats:

Multiple path names: www.example.com/widgets/redwidgets

Individual page: www.example.com/index.html.

Site Exclusion Scenarios:

In general, entering domains will prevent your ads from appearing on any page on or within that domain. However, entering subdomains or paths will only prevent your ads from appearing on any page on or within that subdomain or path.

For instance:

If you enter example.com . . .

Your ads will not appear on example.com, www.example.com, www1.example.com, www.example.com/widgets, www.example.com/widgets/page.html, or unwanted.example.com.

If you enter www.example.com . . .

Your ads will not appear on www.example.com, www.example.com/widgets, etc.

Your ads may appear on www1.example.com or unwanted.example.com.

If you enter www.example.com/widgets . . .

Your ads will not appear on www.example.com/widgets or www.example.com/widgets/page.html.

Your ads may appear on www.example.com.

Tool: Site Exclusion

AdWords offers a variety of tools to help you quickly and effectively manage, modify, and find ways to improve your account.

Use Site Exclusion (AdWords login required) to refine your targeting on the content network by preventing specific websites from showing your ads.

Targeting My Ads : Site Targeting : Site Targeting Overview

What is site targeting?

Site targeting lets AdWords advertisers choose individual sites in the Google content network where they'd like their ads to appear. If you want to place your ad on a single international website, you can. If you want to select dozens of sites about basketball or orchids, you can do that, too. Site targeting lets you handpick your audience, big or small.

When you set up a site-targeted campaign, you first name the sites where you'd like to advertise, or just give us a list of words that describe your site. The AdWords matching system does the rest, analyzing your input and creating a list of available content network sites for you to choose from.

Remember that a site must be part of the Google Network in order to be available for your site-targeted campaign. Being part of the content network means the site has agreed to run ads provided by Google, which in turn allows your AdWords ad to appear in that space.

As with all AdWords advertising, you'll compete for space with other advertisers. If you choose very prominent and popular sites, you'll need a higher price to win the ad position. The minimum cost-per-thousand (CPM) bid for a site-targeted ad is US$0.25 or the local currency equivalent. To check minimum CPM in your currency, please see the account fees finder.

Who should have site targeting? Should I?

Anyone who has an AdWords Standard Edition account can run site-targeted ads.

Site-targeted campaigns can be a good option for businesses who want to promote an existing brand or a new product to a large audience. But they also work for small advertisers who want to reach a very precise audience. As always with AdWords, we suggest that you experiment and see what works best for you.

Of course, if you're happy with your keyword-targeted ads, there's no need to change. Site targeting is not replacing keyword targeting, and everything you love about your AdWords keyword-targeted campaigns remains the same. Site targeting is simply one more tool that AdWords advertisers can use to bring their message to highly-targeted groups of web users.

How do I create site-targeted ad campaigns?

To create a new site-targeted campaign, follow these steps:

On the Campaign Summary page, click the 'Create a new site-targeted campaign' link just above the table of existing campaigns.

Follow the sign-up wizard instructions to create your campaign.

Or go directly to the campaign creation wizard now by clicking here.

For more general information about site targeting, please see the complete FAQ.

How do keyword-targeted and site-targeted campaigns differ?

The campaign options below are available to all AdWords advertisers:

	Keyword-Targeted Campaign	Site-Targeted Campaign
How do I target customers?	By keywords.	By websites.

Where can my ads appear?	On Google.com, on Google search partner sites, and on all content sites in the Google Network.	On individual sites you select in the Google Network.

When can my ads appear?	Whenever users search for keywords you have chosen. They may also appear, if you choose, when users visit any Google Network site with content matching your keywords.	Whenever users visit the individual sites you have selected from the Google Network.

How are ads priced?	Cost-per-click (CPC). You set the price you'd like to pay each time a users clicks on your ad. You are charged only when a user clicks.	Cost-per-thousand (CPM). You set the price you'd like to pay for each 1000 impressions the ad receives. Clicks don't matter -- you are charged whenever the ad is shown to a user.

What languages are supported?	Currently supports 40 languages.	Currently supports 14 languages. Additional languages will be added soon.

What types of ads are supported?	Text ads, expanded text ads, and image ads.	Expanded text ads and image ads.

Why has the required minimum CPM been lowered for site-targeted ads?

Thanks to advertiser and publisher feedback, we have recently halved the minimum CPM required for site-targeting campaigns. We're always looking for ways to improve the AdWords experience for users, and we believe this will lead to a more vibrant marketplace for site-targeted advertisements.

US$0.25, or the local currency equivalent, is now the lowest max CPM that advertisers can set. To see the required CPM in your currency, please visit the account fees finder.

To learn more, please see What is site targeting?

What are site sections?

Site targeting places your ads on individual sites in the Google content network. Site sections take that one step further by placing your ads on only one section or even one page of a site. If you sell soccer shoes, for instance, you might choose to advertise only on the sports section of a news site rather than placing ads across the entire site.

Select a site section by entering its URL on the 'Add Sites' or the 'Edit Site Settings' pages of your Ad Group. If the full site is example.com, the section URL will take the form example.com/section. Your URL may include up to two section levels below the home page: example.com/section/subsection/.

You may also target individual pages by using the form example.com/section/page.html. (There is no limit to the number of section levels that may be included in a URL for an individual page.)

Please refer to the actual site you wish to target to see how its sections and page URLs are defined.

To learn more about advertising by site, please see What is site targeting?

How do I create a site-targeted campaign?

You can create a site-targeted or a keyword-targeted campaign at any time. Each new campaign can use site targeting or keyword targeting, but not both. Site-targeted ads appear only on the Google content network, and only on the sites you select.

To create a new site-targeted campaign, follow these steps:

On the Campaign Summary page, click 'site-targeted' in the 'Create a new campaign' section near the top of the page.

Follow the sign-up wizard instructions to create your campaign.

How do I use the site tool?

The site tool helps you find and choose the Google Network sites where your site-targeted ads may run.

The site tool gives you three ways to identify sites: List URLs, Describe topics, and Select demographics.

List URLs. Enter the URLs of sites where you would like to advertise, or that represent the kind of site where you'd like to see your ad. You may enter domains like example.com or individual pages like example.com/section. Then click Get Available Sites. If the sites you enter are part of the Google content network, you'll be able to select them for your ads. If not, you'll see a message telling you that they're not available. The AdWords system will also use the sites and terms you enter to generate a list of other Google content network sites that may be a good fit for your ads.

Describe topics. Enter topics that match the content of your ads. For instance: soccer shoes, chocolate, or automobile parts. Then click Get Available Sites to select from a list of sites that match those topics.

Select demographics. Choose the audience you want to target by selecting from any or all of the demographic categories provided. Audience gender, age, and household income are among the demographic categories available for selection. Pick the audience demographics that interest you, then click Get Available Sites to pick from a list of sites that match those demographic groups. Remember that by making demographic selections you are getting a narrower list of available sites. By selecting 'female' but not 'male,' for instance, you are more likely to find sites that appeal to women, but fewer available sites overall.

With each of these methods, up to 100 available sites will appear below the site tool when you click Get Available Sites. Click Add next to any listed website to add it to your list of targeted sites. You can select every site by clicking Add all 100. We recommend that you use all three methods of finding sites to make sure you find the best possible site matches. Your selections will be saved as you move from one method to the next.

Once you have selected some sites, you'll see a Find more sites like these link below your selections. When you click this link, the AdWords system analyzes the selections you've already made and uses them to find related or similar sites. You can then repeat the process of using those sites to generate additional available sites.

When you're satisfied with your list of target sites, click Continue to move on.

Of course, we can't guarantee that your ad will run on every site you pick. Some sites have a limited amount of ad space available, and you will be competing with other advertisers. Some sites may not run certain ad formats (like banners or wide skyscrapers) or may halt advertising for other reasons. We suggest you experiment with several different sites over time and look for the combinations that work for you.

What is 'maximum impressions per day'?

When you create a site-targeted AdWords campaign, you'll see the system's estimate of the maximum impressions available per day for the sites you've selected. This is marked as 'Max. Impressions / Day' in the signup process.

Because site impressions vary from day to day based on many factors, the AdWords system can't predict the precise number of impressions that a given site will have each day. Instead, the maximum impressions per day offers an estimated range of the available impressions for the sites you've selected. This may help you decide if you have selected enough sites to satisfy your advertising goals.

Note that impressions per day is an estimate of the total page views for those sites -- not the number of impressions your ad will receive. Your ad's total impressions will depend on your CPM pricing, the popularity of the site with other site-targeted and keyword-targeted advertisers, and other factors.

How do site-targeted and keyword-targeted ads compete?

When you run a site-targeted AdWords campaign, you set the maximum price you want to pay for every thousand impressions your ad gets on that site. This is called the max CPM. When you run a traditional AdWords keyword-targeted campaign, you set the maximum price you want to pay every time someone clicks on your ad. This is the maximum cost per click, or max CPC.

Because the two pricing systems are different, AdWords uses a system of effective CPM, or eCPM, to compare and rank them.

For keyword-targeted ads, the AdWords dynamic ranking system considers the ad's cost per click (CPC), clickthrough rate (CTR), and other relevance factors, all taken across 1000 impressions. The resulting figure is the ad's eCPM, or effective cost per 1000 impressions.

For any available ad position, the eCPMs of keyword-targeted ads are compared to each other and to the max CPM prices of eligible site-targeted ads. The highest-ranking ad wins the position and is displayed to the user.

When a CPC ad is displayed, it is charged only if the user clicks on the ad. A CPM ad is charged for an impression whether clicked or not. No matter which type of ad wins the position, the AdWords discounter monitors the competition and ensures that the winning ad is charged only what is necessary to maintain its ranking above the next-highest ad.

Site-targeted ads can appear only on the Google content network, so at present that is the only place where site-targeted and keyword-targeted ads compete. On search results pages and other Google Network properties, keyword-targeted ads continue to compete as they always have.

For more on CPM pricing, see How does CPM pricing work?

Where can site-targeted ads appear?

Site-targeted ads appear only on websites that are part of the Google content network. This includes many advertisers, large and small, who run AdWords ads on their content sites.

Site-targeted ads aren't eligible to appear on the Google search network, on search results on Google.com, or on related Google properties like Gmail. If you'd like to appear in these locations, we suggest running a keyword-targeted campaign.

How does Google target AdWords ads to content-based web pages?

The technology that drives AdWords contextual advertising comes from Google's award-winning search and page ranking technology. Based on a sophisticated algorithm, we can comprehend a page's meaning and then figure out which keywords relate best to the content page. Then, we match ads that are precisely targeted to the content page based on the associated keywords. This means that in addition to reaching customers who specifically search on your keywords, you can now reach customers who view Web content directly related to your AdWords ads. For example, if someone visits a web page on astronomy he/she would be served Google AdWords ads for telescopes. Contextual Advertising benefits Web users by linking content with relevant products and services. This is great for Google advertisers like you, because you can now reach more prospective customers on more places on the Web.

What is the 'Advertise on this site' link?

The 'Advertise on this site' link is a shortcut that makes it easy for advertisers to run ads on a specific Google partner site. Working in partnership with the website, Google helps the advertiser create an ad and begin running it on that site -- often on the same day.

The 'Advertise on this site' link appears only on websites in the Google Network. Potential advertisers who click this link will be invited to create their own AdWords campaign, then be guided through a simple process to target their ads to this site. Existing AdWords advertisers who click the link will be able to log into their accounts and create a site-targeted campaign.

Site-targeted ads take cost-per-impression (or CPM) pricing, which means you decide how much you'd like to pay for each 1000 impressions your ad receives on the site you choose. The cost of your campaigns really depends on you -- how much you are willing to pay and how well you know your audience. It all boils down to knowing your own goals and letting us know what they are.

Once you've completed the account creation process, the AdWords team will send you an email asking you to click on a specific link to verify your email address. Once your address has been verified, you can log in to your new account. You'll see a message asking you to submit your billing information. Your ads will usually appear on Google within a few minutes after we've received your payment, with timing depending on the payment method you've chosen (credit card, bank transfer, etc.).

There is a nominal, one-time activation fee for Google AdWords. After that, you pay only for impressions your ad actually receives.

When you sign up through the 'Advertise on this site' link you receive full access to the AdWords program. You can edit your original ad, create new ads, and choose to run ads on other sites. You also can build new site-targeted and keyword-targeted campaigns and take advantage of all other aspects of the AdWords system.

For more details, see What is site targeting?

Why is the site I want not available?

An individual site must be part of the Google Network in order to be available for your site-targeted campaign. Being part of the Google Network means the site has agreed to run ads provided by Google, which in turn allows your AdWords ad to compete for that space.

The site must also be a content site in order to be available for site-targeted campaigns. Some sites on the Google Network run ads only on search results pages, which can't be selected for site targeting. If you'd like your ads to appear alongside search results, or in related products like Gmail, try running a keyword-targeted campaign.

It is also possible that the site you selected may have opted out of site targeting. Some publishers, for reasons of their own, prefer not to run site-targeted ads.

What do site-targeted ads look like?

Site-targeted campaigns can include text ads, image ads, or both. Site-targeted ads appear in the same format sizes and the same page positions as standard keyword-targeted ads.

How do I change the max CPM of my site-targeted ads?

You can change your max CPM on the Ad Group level of your campaigns. Here's how:

On the Campaign Summary page, click the name of the appropriate site-targeted campaign.

Click the checkbox next to the Ad Group you want to edit.

Click 'Change Max CPM.'

Set your new maximum CPM.

Click 'Save Changes.'

Lesson: Site Targeting

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account.You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Site Targeting": multimedia lessons | text lessons

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Can I run site-targeted and keyword-targeted campaigns at the same time?

Yes. Any individual campaign can contain only site-targeted or only keyword-targeted ads and Ad Groups. But you can run both site-targeted and keyword-targeted campaigns in your account at the same time.

Does demographic site selection affect my privacy?

No. Your privacy is very important to Google. Demographic site selection is not based on information gathered by Google from you or any user.

Here are the answers to some common questions about demographic site selection and privacy.

Where does the demographic information come from?
Google is working with the Internet audience measurement provider comScore Media Metrix to provide demographic site selection to our users. Data from comScore Media Metrix is based on the company’s cross-section of tens of thousands of U.S. consumers who have opted in to the comScore Media Metrix research panel. These consumers have given explicit permission to comScore Media Metrix to capture their browsing behavior confidentially.

Did you gather your demographic data from Gmail or your other products?
No. All the demographic data used for demographic site selection comes from comScore Media Metrix.

Does demographic site selection invade user privacy?
No. The data comes from a panel of consumers who have voluntarily opted in to join the comScore Media Metrix research panel. comScore Media Metrix employs the strictest privacy standards to ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of its panelists. Demographic information is not collected by Google from its users.

Does Google protect my privacy?
Yes. Google protects your privacy. We collect private information from you only after receiving your consent. For complete details, please see our privacy policy.

Targeting My Ads : Site Targeting : Including Certain Sites

How do I create a list of eligible sites for a site-targeted campaign?

After setting your advertising goals for a site-targeted campaign, the next step is to select the sites where your ad will appear. Here are some keys to creating an effective site list:

List the sites where you know you'd like to advertise.

Expand your site list.

Group your sites by theme.

Create your campaign and your final list.

Step 1: List your preferred sites.
These are the sites where you already know you'd like to advertise. When you create your campaign you'll enter these sites and then have the chance to see and select all those that are part of the Google content network.

Step 2: Expand your site list.
If you know of only a few sites (or no sites) where you'd like to advertise, list some sites you like on topics that relate to what you're looking for. When you create your campaign the AdWords system can use those sites to generate a list of Google content network sites where you may want to advertise.

Step 3: Group your sites by theme.
Review your list and look for themes within the overall list. Consider creating separate Ad Groups with highly specific ads for each of these smaller groupings. The more precisely you target your audience, the better chance of success your ad will have.

Step 4: Create your campaign and select your final sites.
When you create your campaign, the set-up wizard will include a segment for identifying and selecting sites. You'll be invited to enter all or part of your site list. We recommend that you enter multiple site URLs, to give the system the broadest possible view of your interests. The wizard will generate a list of the most closely related sites in the Google content network. Then you'll be able to select your final site list from all these available sites.

How do I choose the sites where my ad will run?

When you create a site-targeted campaign, the sign-up wizard will ask you to help it find sites where you'd like your ad to run. This takes place on the page titled 'Target your ad: Identify sites.' There are three ways to identify sites: List URLs, Describe topics, and Select demographics. We recommend that you use all three methods to make sure you find the best possible site matches.

List URLs. Enter the URLs of sites where you would like to advertise, or that represent the kind of site where you'd like to see your ad. You may enter domains like example.com or individual pages like example.com/section. If the URLs you enter are part of the Google content network, you'll be able to select them for your ads. If not, you'll see a message telling you that they're not available. The AdWords system will also use the sites and terms you enter to generate a list of other Google content network sites that may be a good fit for your ads.

Describe topics. Enter topics that match the content of your ads. For instance: soccer shoes, chocolate, or automobile parts. Then select from a list of sites that match those topics.

Select demographics. Choose the audience you want to target. Select any or all of the demographic groups provided, then pick from a list of sites that match those demographic groups.

In each case the list of available sites will appear below the site tool itself. Click Add next to any website to add it to your list of targeted sites. We recommend that you use all three methods to make sure you find the best possible site matches. Your selections will be saved as you move from one method to the next.

Once you have selected some sites, you'll see a Find more sites like these link below your selections. Clicking this link will generate a list of sites that are similar in nature to the ones you've already selected.

The final choice of sites is entirely up to you. Remember that with site targeting, your ad will run only on sites which are part of the Google content network, and only on the individual sites you specify.

Can I choose the specific sites in the Google Network where my ads appear?

Yes. You can select individual sites where your ads will appear by running an AdWords site-targeted campaign.

You're given the choice of site targeting or keyword targeting each time you create a new campaign. Each new campaign can use site targeting or keyword targeting, but not both. Site-targeted ads appear only on content sites in the Google Network, and only on the individual sites you select. They don't appear on search network sites or on Google.com. Keyword-targeted campaigns can appear on Google.com and across the entire Google Network, but are not eligible for site targeting.

What is demographic site selection?

Demographic site selection is a way to find and run your ads on sites with the right audience for your AdWords campaigns.

A demographic group is an audience that shares a particular trait or characteristic. This trait might be age, gender, income, or some other factor. If your product appeals to young women, for instance, you might want to target sites popular with the female demographic, the 18-24 age demographic, or both.

With the AdWords site tool, you can pick your preferences in up to three different demographic categories. The system will analyze your preferences and create a list of available Google Network sites that are popular with that audience. If you select multiple demographics, the AdWords system will look for sites that match all of your preferences. For instance, you might ask the site tool to look for sites popular with users who have children, or for sites popular with men earning a high income. The site tool will then return a list of sites whose audience tends to match those demographic descriptions.

The demographic site selection option is found on the 'Identify sites' page when you create a new site-targeted campaign, or on the site tool in an existing site-targeted campaign. In both cases you'll also be able to use two other options to find sites: listing site URLs and describing topics that match your ad. We recommend using those methods along with demographic site selection to identify the very best sites for your ad to appear. For more detailed instructions, please see this Help Center entry: How do I use the site tool?

The demographic website data used by AdWords comes from comScore Media Metrix, an Internet audience measurement provider. At this time, AdWords has demographic information on users from the United States only. For this reason, demographic site selection is available only for campaigns which geo-target users in the United States. If your campaign doesn't geo-target the United States, you will not see the demographic option on the site tool.

Please remember that demographic site selection cannot guarantee that your ad will reach only the exact audience you select. Most public websites get a variety of visitors. However, demographic site selection will help you choose sites where you're very likely to find the people you want to reach.

How can I select my audience by demographics?

Demographic site selection is an option for all AdWords site-targeted accounts.

When you create a site-targeted campaign, demographic site selection is available as part of the signup wizard for a new campaign. You'll be able to select audience traits you're looking for, and the AdWords system will provide a list of available sites that are popular with those types of audiences. Once you've created your campaign, demographic site selection is also available as part of the AdWords site tool.

Demographic site selection is currently available only for site-targeted accounts, and only for campaigns which geo-target the United States.

You can learn more about demographics in this Help Center entry: What is demographic site selection?. You may also want to read this entry: How do I use the site tool?

Why can't I get demographic site selection for my AdWords campaign?

At this time, AdWords has demographic information on users from the United States only. For this reason, demographic site selection is available only for campaigns which target users in the United States. Demographic site selection is available only for site-targeted campaigns, and only for campaigns which geo-target the United States.

Monitoring Performance : Account Statistics

How can I find out whether my ads are showing?

The Ads Diagnostic Tool can report the ad position for active keyword-targeted ads, and identify why a particular ad or group of ads may not be showing. In those cases where an ad is not shown, this tool provides recommended steps to help you get your ads up and running.

You can access the tool via the following steps:

Log into your AdWords account.
Click Tools beneath the Campaign Management tab.
Click Ads Diagnostic Tool.
Enter information for either Option 1 or Option 2:

Option 1: Search Terms and Parameters

Use this option if you're concerned about all ads within your account that should be appearing for a specific search term. Specify the keyword query, the Google domain, the display language, safe search setting, and user location.

Option 2: Search Results Page URL

Use this option if you're concerned about a particular search results page that you believe should be showing one of your ads. Copy and paste the URL from the address bar on the search results page where your ad should be showing.

Click Continue when you are finished.

Why might my website logs show different click patterns than what Google reports?

There are several reasons you might see a discrepancy between your weblogs and the reports in your account. If your weblogs show more clicks than your reports, keep in mind that it's the goal of our proprietary click protection technology to filter out invalid clicks before they ever reach your reports.

If your weblogs show fewer clicks than your account reports, your web tracking software may have failed to detect clicks on your ad. The information below should help you reconcile your weblogs to the statistics reported in your AdWords account.

How our system works

Since our results pages host your ads, we're able to detect and record all types of clicks on your ads. If you're looking for more accurate reports than your current web tracking system provides, many users have found that the weblogs from their server are more reliable for comparisons with our reports.

Additionally, Google's reporting technology may record clicks that other web tracking programs may miss. Some tracking programs may not register clicks that occur while the destination site is down, or they may have limitations on the kinds and sources of clicks they detect.

Reconcile your weblogs

The following variables are the most common for those advertisers concerned about a discrepancy between their reporting statistics and those reported by Google AdWords:

Google Network statistics: Google displays ads on a growing network of search and content sites and products. Typically, web tracking software is not able to recognize clicks from the Google Network as being Google's clicks. These clicks are generally labeled with the third party site name, not as clicks from Google. If your ads are currently, or have ever been, distributed to the Google Network such as About.com, AOL, and Netscape, it's possible that some of the referrers to your site were from the Google Network.
Time discrepancies: Time discrepancies between different tracking programs can throw off click estimates. Be sure to compare the appropriate time periods. All of our reports are accumulated on U.S. Pacific Standard Time (08:00 Greenwich Mean Time). To ensure the highest level of accuracy, there is a delay between the moment when a user actually clicks on your ad and when that click is reported as a statistic within your account. This delay represents the time required to evaluate and report the click as a valid one.
IP selection: Your click tracking system may filter out visits from your IP address, but AdWords includes these clicks. Also, if you currently use a shared ISP provider (such as AOL or EarthLink), you may share one or more IP addresses with other users. Therefore, multiple clicks from the same IP address could be legitimate clicks from multiple users; each one would be reported as an individual click within your account.

Why do my clicks and impressions fluctuate day to day?

The performance of your AdWords ad or keywords varies depending on several factors, including user behavior and changes in Web content. Web traffic varies from day to day, and this expected fluctuation may affect the performance of your campaign.

In addition, holidays or popular news topics may dramatically influence the number of impressions and clicks you receive. For example, during the holiday season, advertisers for decorations and seasonal trees can experience significant changes in the number of visitors to their sites. Another example would be a popular celebrity endorsing a particular clothing brand; in this case, advertisers of this brand may then receive more impressions and clicks.

What changes can I see in My Change History?

The My Change History tool displays changes you've made to your account in the last three months. With easy access to your account history, you can make informed decisions about managing your account for maximum performance.

To access My Change History, click Tools on the Campaign Management tab of your account. Then, select the date range for which you'd like to see changes. You can view all changes for a particular time period, or you can filter the results by the type of change. If multiple users with different logins manage your account, you can also use the tool to see who made certain changes.

My Change History will display changes such as:

Daily budget adjustments
Keyword edits or additions
Changes in distribution preferences
Changes made via the AdWords API

Maximum cost-per-click (CPC) adjustments made by the Budget Optimizer(TM)
Changes made by the Ad Automator
Ad approval or disapproval by AdWords Specialists
Password changes (for security reasons)

Why do my contextual ad stats differ from my search stats?

The clickthrough rate (CTR) and cost-per-click (CPC) for contextual advertising can vary significantly from the CTR and CPC for your search campaigns. CTR on content pages is typically lower because content pages tend to offer more information to compete with ads for a reader's attention. Fear not: content CTR does not affect your ad's rank on search pages.

Lower or higher CTRs don't necessarily mean that your ads are performing poorly. It's important to focus on the total profit you earn from the clicks received. To maximize your profitability, you should adjust your CPCs to get the highest number of profitable clicks across search and content. This may mean you adjust your CPCs up or down. If a particular Ad Group does not meet your metrics, you can try moving that Ad Group into a campaign that is not running on the content network. It's easy to measure your conversions with Google's free conversion tracking tool.

You may also wish to enable the content bids feature, which lets AdWords advertisers set one price when their ads run on Google and its search partner sites, and a different price when their ads run on Google Network content sites. You can learn more about content bids at our help center.

How current are the statistics in my AdWords account?

Important Information About Your Google AdWords Statistics

Reporting is not real-time.
Clicks and impressions received in the last 3 hours may not be included immediately.
Conversion tracking reports are delayed by 24 hours.

Common Reporting Questions

Demo: Account Navigation

AdWords Demos are narrated lessons that show you how to make the most of your AdWords account. (You'll need Flash installed on your system to view AdWords demos.)

View this demo now: Account Navigation.

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Demos.

Monitoring Performance : Report Center : Report Center Overview

What kind of reports will I get?

Google provides full online statistical, conversion, and financial reporting for the Google AdWords program. You can view all your account reports online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, we'll be happy to email most reports to you on your request. (Very large reports, over 2MB when zipped, cannot be emailed.)

Statistical Reporting: See your average actual cost-per-click (CPC), the number of times your ads were shown (impressions), how many times users clicked on your ads (clicks), and your ad and keyword clickthrough rates (CTR). This reporting is available for each of your keywords, text ads, image ads, Ad Groups, campaigns, and account. You can also download reports based on any of these variables, and more, with our advanced reporting features.

Financial Reporting: Review a detailed billing summary and itemized payment details that include invoice dates, invoice numbers, specific and summary campaign costs, and billing adjustments. You can also print out both invoices and receipts for your records.

Conversion Reporting: Track your AdWords conversions (successful sales, leads, or submissions) with our basic and custom conversion tracking feature. You can also include these details when you download customizable reports.

We make extraordinary efforts to provide accurate reports. For that reason, no measurements other than those maintained by Google shall be accepted for reporting or payment purposes. If the reports you receive from Google do not coincide with your own, there are a number of possible explanations. First, be sure you're comparing the same reporting time periods. If there are still discrepancies, it could be because we host your ads and therefore are able to record clicks that other tracking software programs may miss. For example, our software can detect clicks that occur while your site is down. In addition, your system may filter out visits from your IP address, whereas Google does not.

What kinds of reports can I create?

No matter how high-level or how detailed you want your report to be, the Create Report page (within the Reports tabbed section) offers a wide variety of ways to build just the right report for your needs.

As the foundation for your report, select a Report Type from the pull-down menu of options: Site and/or Keyword Performance, Text Ad Performance, Image Ad Performance, URL Performance, Ad Group Performance, Campaign Performance, and Account Performance.

Depending on which Report Type you select, the rest of the page will reset its parameters to provide the appropriate blend of customizable options. You can designate your report’s Date Range, the level of your View (from an overview Summary to more detailed Daily, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly views), and the variety of Campaign and Ad Groups you want included.

You can also further customize your report with configurable columns and performance filters that make it easy to focus in on just the data you want included in your report. Nothing more, nothing less.

After you’ve established your report settings, you can schedule it to run on a regular basis and also save your settings as a template for future use. Provide an email address if you want to be notified when the report is ready in your Report Center (and choose a file format if you want the report emailed to you directly). Then just click Create Report and you’re done.

About the Report Center

The AdWords Report Center allows you to easily create customized performance reports to help you track and manage multiple facets of your AdWords campaigns.

Key features include:

Easy-to-use interface with pull-down menus for quicker report generation in categories such as Site/Keyword Performance, URL Performance, Campaign Performance, Ad Group Performance, and Account Performance.
Ability to select individual Campaigns and / or Ad Groups for report.
Customizable report columns to focus your report on only the data you need.
Performance filters to screen for the most relevant information in categories such as Cost, Impressions, Clicks, CTR and other statistics specific to your report type.
Simple scheduling for automatic report generation and delivery.
Emailing option for multiple recipients.
Saved templates for reusable reports.

To learn more about how to use Report Center to create, download and manage your reports, visit the full Report Center FAQ.

In which formats can I download my reports?

Reports can be downloaded in one of five formats: .csv (for Excel), .csv, .tsv, .xml., and .html.

.csv (for Excel) files are encoded in UTF-16LE, and are compatible with most U.S. and international versions of Microsoft Excel.

.csv (comma-separated values) and .tsv (tab-separated values) files are encoded in UTF-8. These formats are recommended for users who prefer to process or review report data in text-only format.

.xml (extensible markup language) is a web-friendly format which is a good choice for publishing data to multiple formats. Reports in .xml also feature extra precision, with currency values listed in micros, or millionths of a unit.

.html (hypertext markup language) delivers your report as a viewable Web page. This is great for adding to intranets for shared reporting within organizations.

Users with extremely large reports should note that UTF-16LE files are larger than those encoded in UTF-8, which can result in longer loading times. Some users find that UTF-8 files also work with their Excel programs; if your files are very large, you may wish to consider trying .csv or .tsv instead of the .csv (for Excel) format.

Reports over 100 megabytes (mb) in size can be downloaded in .xml format only. We recommend splitting reports of this size into multiple smaller reports covering fewer keywords and/or shorter date ranges, which can then be viewed in all formats.

How can I use Saved Templates?

The Saved Templates feature makes it easy to create new reports based on the settings you have already created for previous reports. Once your Saved Templates are created (as part of the Create Report process), you can access, edit and run new reports based on these templates through your Report Center (within the Reports tab section).

Here's how to create a Saved Template:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Within the Reports tabbed section, click Create Report.
After selecting your report criteria, name your report and then check the box next to the report name to 'Save this as a new report template.'
Schedule your report (if you want it to run automatically on certain days) and provide an email and file format for sending the report (if you want to receive it by email).
Click Create Report. Your settings for this report will now be saved in your Report Center under the 'Saved Templates' heading.

To edit a Saved Template:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Select the Reports tab at the top of the page and then click Report Center.
Choose the template you want to use from the 'Saved Templates' list.
Click 'Edit template' in the row for the template you want to edit.
The Edit Template page is similar to the Create Report page where you established the original report and template settings. Make any edits you want to the template, and change its name to save it under a different title if you want to preserve the original template settings.
Update the scheduling and email / file format delivery preferences you may have previously established.
Click the Save Template button.
If you want to run a new report time when you save your template, simply click Save & Run Report.

To retain your original settings from a Saved Template, be sure to rename your file with a different title before saving the template again or saving it and running a new report.

To run a new report from a Saved Template:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Select the Reports tab at the top of the page and then click Report Center.
Choose your template from the 'Saved Templates'list.
Click 'Create Report' on the right side of the template listing; a new report will run immediately.

Lesson: Reports

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Reports": multimedia lessons | text lessons

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

How do I print my report graphs?

Look for the Printer-friendly graphs link on the graphs-only view of your report. Here's how to find it:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the Reports tab at the top of the page.
Click Report Center
Click the name of your chosen report under Last 5 Reports.
Look under the heading View Report. If graphs are available for this report, you will see links titled 'View graphs only' and 'View data and graphs.' (If graphs are not available, you will see just the link 'View data'.) Click 'View graphs only.'
On the graphs page, select the Printer-friendly graphs link.

All your graphs should now load on one page, ready for printing.

Graphs may not be available for all reports. For instance, reports with fewer than two data points (such as a report on a single keyword for only one date) can't be graphed because there are no trends to chart or compare.

Similarly, any report in which you selected 'Summary' as the view parameter will not have graphs, because this view presents the total or average of each requested metric for a given date range. If you feel a graph should be available for a given report, please check and adjust your parameters and run the report again.

How do I customize my report?

Every report you create is now a customized report, based on the settings you select on the Create Report page (within the Reports tabbed section). Along with selecting your Report Type, View, Date Range and array of Campaigns and Ad Groups to include, you can also further refine your report with Advanced Options settings for columns and filters.

Advanced Options allows you to customize your reporting columns with a wide range of Standard Columns (such as Campaign, Ad Group, Daily Budget and Keyword Type), and Conversion Columns (including Conversion Rate, Cost/transaction, Cost/conversion and Page View Count). You can also customize your report with Filters, which allow you to narrow the reporting sets so you receive only relevant statistics, based on values you establish for up to four types of attributes (you can choose from among options such as Keyword Type, Avg Position, Impressions and CTR).

After creating your customized report, you can save your settings as a template for use in future reports as needed.

What's the difference between on-demand and scheduled reports?

Scheduled reports allow you to create a report and then set it to run automatically every day, every Monday, or on the first day of the month. On-demand reports don't run regularly, but can be run whenever you choose to do so.

To schedule reports, complete the Create Report form (within the Reports section) to establish your report settings; then, under Scheduling and Email at the bottom of the page, select your timeline for running automatic reports from the pull-down menu. You can also save your report as a template for later re-use.

Provide the email and preferred file format for receiving your report (which will also be saved in your Report Center) if you want it sent by email, and click Create Report.

To create an on-demand report, follow the same steps described above, but skip the Scheduling step (though you should still provide an email address and preferred file format if you want your report sent to you). Just click Create Report and your report will begin running for you immediately.

For more information about running reports, please visit the Report Center FAQ.

How do I sort by column while viewing a report in the Report Center?

You can sort by column any time you're viewing an AdWords report on your browser. Just click the title at the top of the column you wish to sort by (for instance, 'Impressions' or 'Maximum CPC'). To reverse the order of ranking, click the black up/down triangle which appears at the top of your selected column.

Monitoring Performance : Report Center : Managing Reports

How do I download a report for a specific campaign?

Here's how to run, then download, an overall account report (this process is similar for all types of reports).

To create your report for your entire account:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click on the Reports tab and then on the Create Report link.
For Report Type, select 'Account Performance' from the pull-down menu.
For View, choose 'Summary' (for an overview report) or 'Daily,' 'Monthly,' 'Quarterly,' or 'Yearly' from the pull-down menu.
Select the Date Range for your report.
For Campaigns and Ad Groups, click the radio button for 'All campaigns and ad groups' to include all your Campaigns and their associated Ad Groups in your report.
Within Advanced Options you can further customize your Campaign report by clicking on 'Add or Remove Columns' to refine your report based on preferred standard column topics such as Ad Group, Keyword Matching, Daily Budget, etc. If you have Conversion Tracking enabled, you can also customize your conversion statistics columns here.
Also in Advanced Options,you can apply filters to restrict the display of report rows based on specific criteria. Click 'Display only rows that match specific criteria' to customize your filters; up to four filters may be created by clicking the 'Add another restriction' link.
Enter a unique Report Name for your report and check the box to save your settings as a template if you want to re-use them in the future.
For Scheduling and Email, schedule your report (if you want it to run again automatically at another time), and, if you want it delivered via email, provide an email address and choose your preferred report format (.csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html)
Click Create Report.

To download your report when it is finished running:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click on the Reports,tab.
Click into the Report Center
Click the name of the report you would like to view.
Select the format in which you'd like to download your report: .csv, .csv (for Excel), .tsv, .xml, or .html.

How do I start (or stop) having reports sent to me via email?

Whenever you create a report (via the Create Report page), you have the option of having it sent to an email address that you supply. Here's how:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Select the Reports tab at the top of the page, then click Create Report.
After selecting your report criteria, scroll to the bottom of the page to Scheduling and Email. Check the box next to 'Whenever the report runs, send email to...' and supply the email address to which you want the report sent. You can also specify your report format preferences (.csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xm or .html) on this line.
Click Create Report and the report will be sent to your email address as well as stored in your Report Center (where you can save up to five reports).

When creating a report, you do not need to supply an email address if you don't want the report delivered via email; in that case, do not check the box in the Scheduling and Email section where you would normally supply your email.

If you want to stop delivery of a regularly scheduled report to an email address you have previously supplied, do the following:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Select the Reports tab at the top of the page, then click Report Center.
Under Saved Templates, locate the name of the scheduled report for which you want to cancel email delivery and click 'Edit this template' next to the name.
On the Edit Template page, scroll down to the bottom of the page to Scheduling and Email and uncheck the box next to 'Whenever the report runs, send email to...'
Click Save Template.

If you don't request email delivery, your reports will still run as scheduled and you'll be able to view them in the Report Center; you simply won't receive them by email.

To change the email recipient of a report, follow the same steps outlined above, but instead of un-checking the box next to the email field, simply change the email address to the new preferred account, and then save the template.

How do I create a custom report?

Every report you create is now customized based on the settings you establish when you create it. The following steps outline the basic process:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the Reports tab at the top of the page.
Click the Create Report link from within that tab.
Select the kind of report you want to run from the Report Type pull-down menu.
Choose your report settings for the View, Date Range, and Campaign and Ad Groups and further customize your report with Advanced Options (see descriptions below).
Provide a Report Name and, if you want, save the report as template for future use.
Create a schedule if you want this report to run automatically.
If desired, input an email address and select report format (.csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html) for email delivery.
Click Create Report.

Here are more details on the report parameters available for creating your report:

Standard Options

Report Type: You may run a report on any of these performance metrics: Keyword, Text Ad, Image Ad, URL, Ad Group, Campaign or Account.

View: For an overview that shows an average or total for each metric, 'Summary' from the pull-down menu. For graphable data covering a standard time period choose from among Daily, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly in the pull-down menu.

Date Range: To see statistics for a general date range, click the radio button next to the first drop-down box and select your date range for a given period of time (Yesterday, Today, Last Seven Days, etc.). For a calendar-based date range, click the radio button next to the second drop-down box and select your beginning and end dates.

Campaigns and Ad Groups: To specify which of your Campaigns and/or Ad Groups you want in your report, click the radio buttons to select 'All campaigns and ad groups,' or 'Selected campaigns and ad groups.' If you choose 'Selected,' you will see a list of Available Campaigns and Ad Groups . To run a report on an entire Campaign (including all of its Ad Groups), click 'Add' next to the Campaign name and the Campaign will appear in the adjacent list of Selected Campaigns and Ad Groups. To select individual Ad Groups from within a Campaign, click the triangle to the left of the Campaign name to reveal the list of its related Ad Groups. Then click 'Add' next to the name of each Ad Group you want in the report, and each group will appear in the Selected list. To remove Campaigns and/or Ad Groups from the Selected list, click 'Remove' next to their names.

Advanced Options

Standard Columns: This section allows you to choose among a range of settings to further customize your report. Beneath the word 'Columns,' you will see a display of the column topics associated with your report. You can change these settings by clicking on 'Add or Remove Columns.' When you add or remove a column topic, the column display changes to reflect your input. Standard Column topics available for inclusion / exclusion in reports include Impressions, Clicks, CTR, Avg CPC, Cost, Avg Position, Campaign, Daily Budget, Campaign Status, Ad Group, Ad Group Status, Headline, Display URL and many others.

Conversion Tracking Columns: These can also be added to your report if you have enabled conversion tracking in your account. Conversion columns available for inclusion include Conversions, Conversion Rate, Cost/conversion, Avg Value, Transactions, Cost/transaction, Total Value, Sales Value and many others.

Filters: Filters allow you to further customize your report by filtering up to four data types based on your specifications. To create report filters, click on 'Display only rows that match specific criteria.' Then, using the pull-down menus, you may choose from up to four of the following data types: AdWords Type, Keyword Status, Keyword Type, Keyword, Avg Position, Clicks, Cost, Avg CPC, CTR, and Impressions.

For each filter, define the associated values (which vary depending on data type) with the pull-down menus and fill-in boxes. To create additional filters (up to a total of four), click 'add another restriction.' To delete a filter you have created, click 'Remove' next to the filter settings you've established.

Finishing your Report

Report Name: After creating your report settings, name your report. Click the box to 'Save this as a new report template' if you plan to re-use these settings again for other reports.

Scheduling and Email:To schedule this report to run on a regular basis, click the box for 'Schedule this report to run automatically:' and choose daily, every Monday, or the first day of the month from the drop-down menu. (To simply run the report without further scheduling, skip this step).

Next, if you want the report sent via email, check the appropriate box and provide the email address where the report should be sent, and select your preferred report delivery format from the pull-down menu: .csv (default), .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html. If you only want your report saved into your Report Center for later download, you can skip this step.

Create Report

Report Center

What is the difference between a Summary view and Daily, Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly views?

The 'Summary' view is an overview report that provides either an average or total of each selected metric for a given date range. The Daily, Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly views apply a standardized time-frame as an additional metric for tracking performance within your selected date range.

How do I download a report for my entire AdWords account?

Below is an example of how to run, then download, an overall account report; the process is similar for each report type.

Part 1: Create your report

To run a report for your entire account:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click on the Reports tab.
Select Account reports.
View: Select a viewing option from the drop-down menu (summary data, or daily, monthly, quarterly, or yearly metrics).
Date range: Select the date range for your report.
Ad Distribution: Select the AdWords distribution network for your ads (the entire Google Network, the search network, or the content network).
Conversions: If you have activated conversion tracking, select whether you'd like to include your conversion statistics.
Report name: Enter a unique name for your report.
Scheduling: If you think you'd like to repeat the report later, select 'I want to run this report in the future.' Then choose a daily, weekly or monthly run schedule, or choose 'on demand (only when I request it)' to save the report to be run later manually from your Download Center.
Email: Check this box to receive an email notification for your newly created report (and all future reports from this same template). If you'd like to change the email address(es) associated with your notifications, update your email address list at the bottom of your Download Center.
Click Create report.

Part 2:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click on the Reports tab.
Click Download Center.
Click the report you would like to view.
Select the format in which you'd like to download your report: .csv (for Excel), .csv, .tsv, or .xml.

What are the totals and averages on a site/keyword report?

You'll have the option to create a site/keyword report in your Report Center if you are running both site-targeted and keyword-targeted campaigns in your account. (If not, you'll see only the keyword report option.) Here are brief explanations of each column in the site/keyword report.

Campaign and Ad Group: The names of the campaigns and Ad Groups included in this report.

Site / Keyword: For site-targeted campaigns, this is the URL of the site where the ad was displayed. For keyword-targeted campaigns, this is the keyword(s) which triggered the ad.

Match Type indicates whether the ad was matched to a website or a keyword.

Status: In the case of websites, this can be normal or deleted. In the case of keywords, this can be active or inactive.

Maximum CPC: The maximum cost-per-click you set for your keyword-targeted ads. (For site-targeted ads, this column will read $0.00.)

Maximum CPM: The maximum cost per one thousand impressions you set for your site-targeted ads. (For keyword-targeted ads, this column will read $0.00.)

Destination URL: This column displays the URL where users are sent when they click on your ad.

Impressions: The total number of impressions your ad received on the target site or keyword during the selected time period. If this is a CPM ad, you'll be charged for each impression. If this is a CPC ad, you are charged only for clicks, not for these impressions.

Clicks: The number of clicks your ad received from users during the given time period. If this is a CPC ad, your account will be charged for each click. If this is a CPM ad, you are charged only for impressions, not for these clicks.

CTR: The clickthrough rate is the percentage of web users who actually clicked on your ad after viewing the page where it was displayed.

Avg. CPC: The average amount you paid for each time someone clicked on your ad. If this is for a CPC campaign, this number will not exceed your maximum CPC, but may be lower. If this is a CPM campaign, this number is informational only, since your ad rates are set per impression and not per click.

Avg. CPM: The average amount you paid for each thousand page views of your ad. If this is for a CPM campaign, this number will not exceed your maximum CPM, but may be lower. If this is a CPC campaign, this number is informational only, since your ad rates are set per click and not per impression.

Cost: The total charges accrued for this keyword or this site during the given time period.

Avg. Position: The average rank of your ad among all ads in a given AdWords ad space. If this is a text ad for a CPC campaign, the number reflects the average position your ad received in all viewings for this keyword. If this is an image ad, or a CPM campaign, the ad will always occupy the entire ad space itself and therefore the ranking will be 1.0.

For more information, see the AdWords glossary or our FAQ on AdWords Reports.

How do I schedule a report to run periodically?

It's a matter of just a few clicks to run any report on a daily, monthly or quarterly schedule. Here are the steps:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the Reports tab at the top of the page, and then on the Create Report link.
Choose a Report Type from the pull-down menu.
For View, choose 'Summary' (for an overview report) or 'Daily,' 'Monthly,' 'Quarterly,' or 'Yearly' from the pull-down menu.
Select the Date Range for your report.
Identify which Campaigns and Ad Groups you want included by clicking the radio buttons for either 'All campaigns and ad groups,' or 'Selected campaigns and ad groups.' If you choose 'Selected,' you will see a list of Available Campaigns and Ad Groups from which you can add entire Campaigns (if you want to include all their Ad Groups) or individual Ad Groups, which can be hand-picked by clicking on the triangle next to the Campaign name to reveal the related Ad Groups list. Just click 'Add' next to the names of the Campaigns and / or Ad Groups you want included, and they will appear in the adjacent list of Selected Campaigns and Ad Groups.
Use Advanced Options to further customize your report by adding or removing report display columns for standard and conversion-related data (select 'Add or Remove Columns' and check or uncheck the statistics and filtration values you want included / excluded). You can also create up to four filters to screen out non-essential statistics.
Name your report and click the box to save your report settings as a template if you plan to run similar reports again.
In Scheduling and Email, if you want this report to run on a regular schedule, click 'Schedule this report to run automatically' and use the pull-down menu to select the days when you want your report to run: daily, every Monday, or the first day of the month.
If you want to receive your report by email (it will also be saved in your Report Center), provide an email address and choose your preferred file format (.csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html).
Click Create Report.

Your report will now be generated automatically at your requested intervals and will be stored for download as one of your last five reports in your Report Center. If you have asked for email notification, the system will alert you when each new report is complete.

To run a manual report, skip the Scheduling step and simply click Create Report.

You can store up to five reports in your Report Center at a given time (the newest reports automatically replace the oldest if more than five reports are requested). Reports will also be sent via email if you provided an address and chose a file format when you created the reports.

Can I run a report that excludes paused or deleted ads?

Yes. You can customize your report to include only those Campaigns you select from your account. Here’s how to customize your report this way:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the Reports tab at the top of the page, and then on the Create Report link.
Choose your Report Type from the pull-down menu; select your preferred View ('Summary' or for a particular time-frame), and the Date Range for your report.
Identify which Campaigns and Ad Groups you want included by clicking the radio button for 'Selected campaigns and ad groups' and then picking from among the list of available Ad Groups within your Campaigns (click the triangle next to a Campaign name to display its Ad Groups). Click 'Add' beside the names of individual Ad Groups you want included in your report and they will appear in the adjacent 'Selected' list for this report.
Use Advanced Options to further refine your report by customizing your display columns and establishing data filters based on your criteria.
Name your report and click the box to save your settings as a template if you plan to run similar reports again.
In Scheduling and Email, click 'Schedule this report to run automatically ' and use the pull-down menu to define when you want your report to run (daily, every Monday, or the first day of the month).
If you want to receive your report by email (it will also be saved in your Report Center), provide an email address and choose your preferred file format (.csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html).
Then just click Create Report.

For more information about running reports, please visit the Report Center FAQ.

How do I delete a report?

To delete a recently created report that has been stored in your Report Center:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the Reports tab at the top of the page.
Click Report Center.
Find the stored report under Last 5 Reports and click 'Delete' in the far right column of that report line.

To delete a scheduled report template, follow steps 1-3 and then look for the report under Saved Templates. Click 'Delete' in the far right column of that report line.

How do filters work? How can I best leverage them?

Filters provide an additional layer of customization that helps streamline your report with values-based settings for up to four types of attributes. By filtering out irrelevant results for specific types of data, you are better able to focus on the relationships and correlations among keywords, CTR, ad positioning, cost or other attributes of interest.

With filters, you establish the information you want included for attributes such as Ad Distribution (for content or search), Keyword Status (for active, deleted, disapproved, or inactive), Avg Position (less than or greater than the position number you assign), and Clicks (less than, equals, or greater than the number of clicks you assign), among others.

You can establish filters on the Create Report page (within the Reports tabbed section), as part of the report creation process. After choosing your basic settings such as Report Type, View, Date Range, etc., you can then use Advanced Options to customize the report columns for your needs. The Filters settings are also located within Advanced Options.

To set your filters, click on 'Display only rows that match specific criteria,' and then choose your filter settings from the pull-down menus. After creating a filter, you can add another by clicking on 'Add another restriction.' To delete a filter you've created, simply click 'Remove' next to the filter settings. You may establish up to four filters for your report, and your report settings can be saved in an editable template for later use when you finish your initial report creation.

Filters are best leveraged as a way of limiting irrelevant statistics in your report. Effectively filtered reports can be easier to read and faster to absorb because they include only the most relevant data about the attributes you have selected for your reporting purposes.

At what time do my daily/weekly/monthly reports run?

Daily reports run every day at 1:00 am. Weekly reports run at 2:00 am every Monday. Monthly reports run at 3:00 am on the first day of the month.

All reports are run in the Pacific time zone of the United States.

How are the values in report filters calculated?

For standardization purposes, the numerical values calculated for the filters in your Report Center reports are rounded up or down to the nearest .01 percent.

So for instance, if your Average CTR is 1.058 based on the report parameters, that number would be rounded up to 1.06 for the purposes of the filter calculation and reporting. This applies not only to the 'Is greater than' and 'Is less than' filter settings, but also to the 'Equals' settings (which occur in the Clicks and Impressions filters).

This rounded valuation is for standardized reporting purposes only, not to calculate account fees or other hard data.

Monitoring Performance : Report Center : Troubleshooting Reports

Why don't all my keywords appear in my latest report?

Only keywords which received at least one impression during the reporting period will appear on a given report. For example, if your report covers the last seven days, and your keyword 'flowerpot' received no impressions during those seven days, then 'flowerpot' will not appear on the report.

If you don't see a particular keyword, try expanding your report parameters to cover a wider date range. You also can run a customized performance report specifically for keywords, and select all of your Campaigns and /or Ad Groups for inclusion in the report.

To further customize your report or expand its parameters to better capture keyword performance:

Log in to your AdWords account.
From within the Reports tab, select Create Report.
Select 'Keyword Performance' as your Report Type from the pull-down menu.
Select your View by choosing 'Summary' (for an overview report) or 'Daily,' 'Monthly,' 'Quarterly,' or 'Yearly' from the pull-down menu.
Choose a wider Date Range than in your last report.
Choose your report's Campaigns and Ad Groups by clicking the radio button for either 'All campaigns and ad groups,' or 'Selected campaigns and ad groups.' Selecting 'All' will ensure that all your Campaigns and Ad Groups are reported on (and so, all their keywords). If you choose 'Selected,' you will see a list of Available Campaigns and Ad Groups from which you can add entire Campaigns (if you want to include all their Ad Groups) or individual Ad Groups, which can be hand-picked by clicking on the triangle next to the Campaign name to reveal the related Ad Groups list. Just click 'Add' next to the names of the Campaigns and / or Ad Groups you want included, and they will appear in the adjacent list of Selected Campaigns and Ad Groups.
Use Advanced Options to further customize your report by adding or removing report display columns for standard and conversion-related data (select 'Add or Remove Columns' and check or uncheck the statistics you want included / excluded). You can also create Filters to screen out non-essential statistics, based on up to four sets of criteria.
Schedule your report (if you want it to run again automatically at another time), and, if desired, provide an email address and choose a file format (.csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html) for email delivery of your report.
Click Create Report.

Some highly detailed keywords simply may not receive any impressions. Those keywords which receive no impressions for a 90-day period will eventually be disabled.

Why can't I run or retrieve a report for normal, in trial, or on hold keywords?

Recent changes to the AdWords keyword evaluation process may affect reports you created previously in your Report Center. The keyword states 'normal,' 'in trial,' 'on hold,' and 'disabled' were phased out as part of our ongoing efforts to streamline our keyword evaluation process and help our users find exactly what they're looking for.

Because of this change, some older scheduled and on-demand reports will no longer return accurate results. For example, if your regularly scheduled report included 'in trial' keywords as a parameter, that report won't run properly because 'in trial' keywords no longer exist.

Here's how to see which of your reports may have been affected:

Click the Reports tab at the top of the page.

Click Download Center on the Reports tab.

Any reports affected by this change will be marked with a notification alert at the top of the page. We recommend you create entirely new reports based on the new keyword states, and delete the affected reports.

To create a new report:

From the Download Center, click Create Report on the Reports tab at the top of the page.
Select a report type from one of the options to the left, click the link, and follow the instructions to create your new report.

Helpful Links

More about reports.
More about smarter keyword evaluation.
More about the keyword states.

Why do my reports download as Zip files?

In order to minimize download time and give all AdWords users the best possible performance, we email all reports in Zip format. (Zip allows a large file to be saved in a smaller, compressed version of the same file.)

To open a zipped report file:

Be sure that you already have a Zip utility installed on your computer.
Open your report file from within this message by double-clicking the file in your e-mail program. You can also download the attachment to a location on your computer, locate the file, and open it by double-clicking on the file.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics

Will I need to paste the JavaScript code into my webpage for each campaign that I set up?

No. You'll only need to paste the JavaScript code snippet into your designated conversion pages once.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started

Important Note About Creating New Profiles

The following article describes a feature that has been temporarily disabled for most Google Analytics customers. Please read www.google.com/analytics/progress.html to learn about our plans to restore full service to all Google Analytics customers.

We have re-enabled the "Add Profile" feature for a limited number of Google Analytics customers. These customers will be able to add a limited number of profiles to their account. As we continue to expand capacity, the limit will gradually be increased.

Adding profiles can be used for tracking your additional websites. However, this should not include websites outside of your organization. If you use AdWords and are linking your AdWords and Analytics accounts together, read below.

AdWords Cost Data: Please note that if your account is linked to an AdWords account, when you add profiles, your AdWords cost data will automatically be imported into the profiles by default. To disable this feature, click here.

If you have multiple AdWords accounts for multiple websites, you should create a separate Analytics account for each AdWords account. This can be done once new sign-ups is re-enabled. If you use one AdWords account to drive traffic to multiple websites, there is no way to import only some of the cost data. You can either import all the cost data or none. See the above article for more details.

How do I disable AdWords reporting for a profile?

For customers with access to the "Analytics" tab within their AdWords accounts, AdWords reporting is enabled by default for all profiles.

To disable AdWords reporting for a particular profile:

Log into your Google Analytics-enabled AdWords account at: adwords.google.com
Select the 'Analytics' tab.
Click "Edit" in the Settings column for the profile for which you would like to disable AdWords reporting.
Click "Edit" in the upper righthand corner of the Main Website Profile Information box.
Uncheck the "Apply Cost Data" check box.
Click "Save Changes".

AdWords reporting will be disabled for the selected profile.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : Installing the Tracking Code : Installation Details

Can I upload existing log or reporting data into my Google Analytics account?

It is not possible to import external historical log or reporting data into Google Analytics at this time.

Of course, all of the data from your Urchin On Demand account will continue to be available in your Google Analytics account. There will be no interruption in your reporting.

How do I run Google Analytics on my intranet?

In order for Google Analytics to populate reports for your intranet usage, your corporate network needs to reach the urchin.js JavaScript at http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js.

If you can reach the above URL using your network's internet connection, you have satisfied the first requirement. Additionally, your intranet must be accessed using a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) such as http://intranet.example.com. The urchin.js JavaScript will not work if your intranet is accessed using a non-FQDN (such as http://intranet).

How can I obtain tracking code for secure pages?

If your site includes secure web pages using the HTTPS protocol, you'll need to make sure that your tracking code is tailored for secure access. If your Website URL includes https, your tracking code will already be customized for secure pages. Otherwise, you'll need to update this value for your profile.

To obtain Google Analytics tracking code that is tailored to secure (HTTPS) web pages:

Log in to Google Analytics
Find the profile for which you are obtaining tracking code and click Edit
In the Main Website Profile Information bar, click Edit
Edit the Website URL field by specifying https:// rather than http://
Click Save Changes

To obtain the secure tracking code, click the Check Status link above the Main Website Profile Information bar. Your tracking code will be customized for secure pages and will look like the example below:

<script src=" https://ssl.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-XXXXX-X";
urchinTracker();
</script>

You can add this secure code to both secure and non-secure pages of your site.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : Installing the Tracking Code : Troubleshooting Tracking

I'm using Safari on Mac OS X and am unable to view any reports.

If you are having difficulty viewing your Google Analytics reports in Safari, manually adjusting the text size after your reports have loaded can enable your reports to display properly.

To manually adjust Safari's text size, select 'Make Text Bigger' from Safari's 'View' menu.

If you are still having difficulty viewing reports in Safari, we recommend using a Mozilla-based browser such as Firefox, Mozilla, or Netscape Navigator to view your Google Analytics account. Only Mozilla-based browsers are officially supported for Macs at this time.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : Installing the Tracking Code : Overview

Where can I find my tracking code?

To access your tracking code:

Sign in to Google Analytics
From the Analytics Settings page, find the profile for which you would like to retrieve the tracking code. Please note that tracking code is profile-specific.
From that profile's Settings column, click Edit
At the top right of the Main Website Profile Information box, click Check Status
Your tracking code can be copied and pasted from the text box in the Instructions for adding tracking section

When adding your tracking code to your web pages, make sure to paste it into the body section of your HTML code, immediately preceding the </body> tag.

Where do I place the Analytics code in my Blogspot domain?

You can use Google Analytics to track the traffic to your Blogspot domain. To do so:

Sign in to your Blogger account at www.blogger.com
If you have more than one blog under your Blogger account, select the blog that you'll be tracking
Click the Template tag
In the HTML code box, scroll down to the bottom of the code. Paste the Analytics tracking code directly above the closing tags:

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-xxxxxx-x";
urchinTracker();
</script>

</body>
</html>
Click Save Template Changes
Click Republish to update your live site

Tip: When you're creating a profile for your blog, make sure to enter the specific Blogspot domain name (eg. http://myblog.blogspot.com), and not the Blogspot homepage URL (http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/www.blogspot.com). If you're not sure what URL you entered, you can check and update it from the Profile Settings page.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : Installing the Tracking Code : Tracking Directories

How do I track unique areas within my website separately?

If there are certain subdirectories of your website that you would like to track, you can create a filter to only report on traffic to that directory:

Click Filter Manager
From the Existing Filters list, click Add
Enter a unique Filter Name
From the Filter Type drop-down list, select Include only traffic from a subdirectory
In the Subdirectory field, replace mydir with the subdirectory you would like to track, leaving the ^/ and / in place. For example, if you would like to report on www.example.com/motorcycles, enter:

^/motorcycles/

Select the Available Website Profile to which to apply this filter and click Add
Click Finish to create and apply this filter, or Cancel to exit without saving

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : About Google Analytics :

Admin Level

Google Analytics has two basic levels of access - View Reports Only and Account Administrator. Users with View Reports Only access can view their Profiles' reports and view and edit their own language preferences. All Account Administrators have complete administrative control of the system.

For instructions on updating Admin Levels for users of your account, please read How do I grant other users access to my Analytics reports?

HTML

Hyper Text Markup Language is used to write documents for the World Wide Web and to specify hypertext links between web pages and documents.

Hyperlink

A text reference in a web page that, when clicked, directs the user's browser to another page or document. Hyperlinks are integral to the World Wide Web, allowing every page to be linked to any other page.

Tracking Code

The Google Analytics tracking code is a small snippet of code that is inserted into the body of an HTML page. When the HTML page is loaded, the tracking code contacts the Google Analytics server and logs a pageview for that page, as well as captures information about the visit and non-identifying information about the visitor.

The tracking code looks similar to the example below:

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
urchinTracker();
</script>

Visitor Session

A Visitor Session is a defined period of interaction between a Visitor (both unique and untrackable visitor types) and a website.

Visit

See Session .

View Total

The View Total is the sum of the items currently shown in a report. This total does not include items that are not shown.

For example, if the report in question is showing 10 items out of 45, the View Total number represents the total for only the 10 items shown. Below the View Total listing is the Total, which represents the sum of all items in this report for the specified Date Range.

User Agent

A user agent is a generic term for any program used for accessing a website. This includes browsers (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape), robots and spiders, and any other software program that retrieves information from a website.

User

As it pertains to Google Analytics, a user is defined as a person who has been granted access to an account.

How do I grant other users access to my Analytics reports?

Untrackable Session

A period of visitor interaction with a website for which the visitor cannot necessarily be distinguished as being unique.

Unique Visitor Session

A Unique Visitor Session is a visitor interaction with a website for which the visitor can be tracked and declared with a high degree of confidence as being unique for the time period being analyzed.

URL

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a means of identifying an exact location on the Internet. For example, http://www.google.com/analytics/conversionuniversity.html is the URL that defines the use of HTTP to access the web page conversionuniversity.html in the /analytics/ directory on the Google website. URLs typically have four parts: protocol type (HTTP), host domain name (www.google.com), directory path (/analytics/), and file name (conversionuniversity.html).

Top-Level Domain

(TLD) The last part of a URL or domain name. For instance, the TLD of google.com is ".com", and the TLD of google.co.uk is ".uk".

Term

In the context of campaign tracking, term refers to the keyword(s) that a visitor types into a search engine. The UTM variable for term is utm_term. Term is one of the five campaign dimensions; the other four are source, medium, content, and campaign.

Status Code

A status code, also known as an error code, is a 3-digit code number assigned to every request (hit) received by the server. Most valid hits will have a status code of 200 ("ok"). "Page not found" errors will generate a 404 error. Some commonly seen codes are shown below in bold .

100 Continue
101 Switching Protocols
200 OK
201 Created
202 Accepted
203 Non-Authoritative Information
204 No Content
205 Reset Content
206 Partial Content
300 Multiple Choices
301 Moved Permanently
302 Moved Temporarily
303 See Other
304 Not Modified
305 Use Proxy
400 Bad Request
401 Authorization Required
402 Payment Required
403 Forbidden
404 Not Found
405 Method Not Allowed
406 Not Acceptable
407 Proxy Authentication Required
408 Request Time-Out
409 Conflict
410 Gone
411 Length Required
412 Precondition Failed
413 Request Entity Too Large
414 Request-URL Too Large
415 Unsupported Media Type
500 Server Error
501 Not Implemented
502 Bad Gateway
503 Out of Resources
504 Gateway Time-Out
505 HTTP Version not supported

Source

In the context of campaign tracking, a source is the origin of a referral. Examples of sources are the Google search engine, the name of a newsletter, or the name of a referring website. The UTM variable for source is utm_source.

Source is one of the five dimensions of campaign tracking; the other four dimensions are campaign, medium, term, and content.

Site Domains

Site Domains are the valid domains that point to a given website. For example, the Site Domains for Google.com are www.google.com and google.com.

Session

A period of interaction between a visitor's browser and a particular website, ending when the browser is closed or shut down, or when the user has been inactive on that site for a specified period of time.

For the purpose of Google Analytics reports, a session is considered to have ended if the user has been inactive on the site for 30 minutes. You can update this setting with an addition to your tracking code.

Search Engine

A Search Engine is a program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents in which those keywords were found, often ranked according to relevance. Although a search engine is really a general class of programs, the term is often used to specifically describe systems like Google that enable users to search for documents on the World Wide Web.

Return on Investment (ROI)

(Revenue - Cost) / Cost, expressed as a percentage.

For example, if an investment of $150 was made for advertising, and led to $500 in sales, the ROI would be:

($500 - $150) / $150 = 2.33 or 233%

Repeat Session

A session for which the visitor can be tracked as unique, and who has visited the site previously during the current Date Range.

Regular Expression

A string that uses wildcards and syntax rules to match a set of strings. Regular expressions are used in Google Analytics to customize filters to match the incoming data.

For example, if a user wishes to apply a filter to all hits on image files, a regular expression could be used:

\.(gif|jpg|png)

For more information on regular expressions, including a list of wildcards, please read What are regular expressions?

Platform

The hardware components that make up a computer. Also, and more relevant to Google Analytics reports, the operating system software that communicates with the hardware components of a computer, and that allows other programs to be executed using its framework.

Common platforms include Windows XP, Windows 2000, Macintosh PPC, or Linux.

Referrals

A referral occurs when any hyperlink is clicked that takes a user to a new page of file in any website - the originating site is the referrer.

When a user arrives at your site, referral information is captured, which includes the referrer URL if available, any search terms that were used, time and date information and more.

Query Token

A special character in a URL that separates the page location information from the query string. The query string may contain numerous field=value pairs, all of which must come after the initial query token.

For example, in this URL:

http://www.google.com/search?q=analytics

the query token is the question mark.

Profile

A Profile is a set of rules that dictate the data to be used for your Google Analytics reports. Profile information includes but isn't limited to the domain or subdomain to be tracked, whether data should be collected for certain pages or directories only, user access levels, and funnel and goal configurations.

While a single profile generally corresponds with a single domain, there are situations in which multiple profiles are used to track a single domain. This would occur when two sets of reports are required, each with different data filters and/or access rights, for example.

POST

A method of sending form data from a web page to a server. The POST method sends information in the body of the submission, as opposed to the GET (default) method, which sends the form information as parameters in the URL. POST allows for the sending of larger amounts of data, and does not show the encoded form in the URL.

Pay-per-click

An advertising model in which the advertiser pays a certain amount to the publisher each time the advertiser's ad is clicked from the publisher's site. Also referred to as cost-per-click.

Password

A password is the word or code used to authenticate a user on the Google Analytics administration or reporting system, or any other protected system. It is advisable to use passwords that are difficult to guess, such as those containing numbers or symbols.

Pageview

A pageview is an instance of a page being loaded by a browser.

Google Analytics logs a pageview each time the tracking code is executed. This can be an HTML or similar page with tracking code being loaded by a browser, or an urchinTracker event that is created to simulate a pageview in Analytics reports.

Page

Any file or content delivered by a web server that would generally be considered a web document. This includes HTML pages (.html, .htm, .shtml), script-generated pages (.cgi, .asp, .cfm, etc.), and plain-text pages. It also includes sound files (.wav, .aiff, etc.), video files (.mov, etc.), and other non-document files.

Image files (.jpeg, .gif, .png), javascript (.js) and style sheets (.css) are generally not considered to be pages.

PDF

Portable Document Format. A file format developed by Adobe Systems to allow for display and printing of formatted documents across platforms and systems. PDF files can be read on any system equipped with the Acrobat Reader software.

Online

A general term referring to anything connected to or conveyed through the internet.

(Operating System) Software designed to control the hardware of a specific data-processing system in order to allow users and application programs to employ it easily. Some common operating systems include MacOS and Windows XP.

Network

A set of computers connected so that they can communicate and share information. Most major networks are also connected to the global network called the Internet.

NCSA

NCSA stands for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. The NCSA developed several imporant web protocols and software systems, including the standard logging type used by Apache - NCSA Extended Combined.

Medium (Campaign Tracking)

In the context of campaign tracking, medium indicates the means by which a visitor to a site received the link to that site. Examples of mediums are "organic" and "cost-per-click" in the case of search engine links, and "email" and "print" in the case of newsletters. The UTM variable for medium is utm_medium.

Medium is one of the five dimensions of campaign tracking; the other four dimensions are source, campaign, term, and content.

Keyword

A significant word or phrase, relevant to the web page or document in question.

Keyword searching is the most common form of text search on the internet. You can see the keywords being used to find your site in search engines in the Overall Keyword Conversion report, found under Marketing Optimization > Search Engine Marketing.

Registering your site with Google Sitemaps will also provide information on the top searches that return your site, even if searchers aren't clicking through from those results.

JavaScript

A scripting language commonly used within web pages. JavaScript programs are executed by the browser, rather than running on the server. Google Analytics uses JavaScript in its tracking code, and provides JavaScript functions such as urchinTracker to help users customize their reports.

Include

A type of filter within your Google Analytics account. Include filters match a text string or regular expression against incoming data, and keep only those hits that match. Other hits are discarded and are not included in your Analytics reports.

Impression

A display of a referral link or advertisement on a web page.

ISP

Internet Service Provider. A company which provides other companies or individuals with access to, or presence on, the Internet. Your DSL or cable internet service is provided to you by your ISP.

IP Address

An identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Networks using the TCP/IP protocol route data based on the IP address of the destination. The format of an IP address is a numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number ranges from 0 to 255.

Example: 192.168.0.1

IIS

Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is a popular web server software system for Windows operating systems. For more information, see Microsoft.com .

Hit

A request to the web server for a file. This can be an HTML page, an image (jpeg, gif, png, etc.), a sound clip, a cgi script, and many other file types. An HTML page can account for several hits: the page itself, each image on the page, and any embedded sound or video clips. Therefore, the number of hits a website receives is not a valid popularity gauge, but rather is an indication of server use and loading.

Graphic User Interface

(GUI) Pronounced "gooey". A method of controlling software using graphics instead of text command lines. Generally includes on-screen icons, menus, dialog boxes, and objects that can be moved or resized, usually with a pointing device such as a mouse.

Goal Conversion Rate

In the context of Campaign Tracking, the percentage of sessions on a site that result in a conversion goal being reached on that site.

GIF

A graphics file type. The Graphics Interchange Format is a compressed, bitmapped format often used on the web because of its good quality to compression ratio, especially with images containing large, flat areas of color.

GET Method

The GET method is a way of passing parameters of an HTTP request from the browser to the server. This method puts the parameters, usually separated by special characters such as ampersands ("&"), in the URL itself, which is viewable to the person using the browser. The other method is POST, which is used when the site does not want to pass the parameters in the URL. POST is desirable when there is a large quantity of text to send to the server or the information is sensitive. Here is an example GET request:

http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?
answer=33019&query;=UTM&topic;=0&type;=f

Frame

A "page within a page." A frame is a rectangular region within a web page, in which another page is loaded. Frames are often used for navigation menus, so that the navigation bar remains on the page while new pages are loaded within the frame.

Form

A set of fields on a web page for data entry. The form is submitted by the user and the data is sent to the server for processing.

Firewall

A security device that protects a network from unauthorized access. This can be a special kind of hardware router, a piece of software, or both.

Filter Type

There are a number of different Filter Types available in your Google Analytics account. There are three preconfigured filters for common tasks, as well as Advanced filter options that allow you to manipulate data to suit your needs.

For full descriptions of filter types, please read the Filters section of the Analytics Help Center.

Filter Pattern

A Filter Pattern is the actual text string against which Google Analytics will attempt to match pageview data. Patterns can be specific text to match or may use wildcards as part of a regular expression.

Filter Field

When a pageview is logged, Google Analytics collects a range of information about that visit. This information can include the referrer, the IP address of the visitor, and the domain, subdirectories and filename of the page viewed. These different pieces of information are sorted into fields.

To apply a filter to this information, you must identify the applicable field. This is the filter field.

Filter

A text string or regular expression that is applied to incoming traffic data. Filters are used to manipulate this data before it appears in Analytics reports, either by excluding certain pageviews or by rewriting data to make reports more readable or relevant.

File Type

A File Type is a designation, usually in the form of an extension (such as .gif or .jpeg), given to a file to describe its function or the software that is required to act upon it.

FTP

(File Transfer Protocol) A common method for copying a file from one computer to another through the Internet.

Exclude

Exclude is a filter type that discards all pageviews that do not match the filter string. For example, you may wish to create an Exclude filter that matches your home computer's IP address, so that your own pageviews do not show up in Google Analytics reports.

Error Code

Please see Status Code .

Default Page

The Default page is the web page to which your server defaults when no page on the domain is specified. For example, if the index.html page is loaded from your server when a user enters www.yourdomain.com, index.html is considered to be the Default page.

Your Analytics Profile Settings page contains a field in which to specify your default page. This information allows Google Analytics to combine hits to www.yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com/index.html, which are in fact the same page. If Default page isn't specified, these would be reported as two separate pages.

DNS Lookup

(Reverse DNS Lookup) The process of converting a numeric IP address into a text name. For example, 192.0.34.166 is converted to www.example.com.

Cost-per-click (CPC)

An advertising model in which the advertiser pays a certain amount each time their ad is clicked, irrespective of how many times the ad is displayed. Also sometimes referred to as PPC (pay-per-click).

A small amount of text data given to a web browser by a web server. The data is stored on a user's hard drive and is returned to the specific web server each time the browser requests a page from that server.

Cookies are used to remember information from page to page and visit to visit, and can contain information such as user preferences or shopping cart contents, and can note whether a user has logged in so that they do not need to authenticate again as they navigate through the site.

Conversion

A conversion is said to occur when a visitor reaches a goal - a page that is specified in the Goal Settings section of each profile. This goal page could be a purchase confirmation page, a "thank you for registering" page, a download page, or an online presentation.

Optionally, goals may be combined with a defined Funnel - a series of pages through which the user must navigate in order to reach a goal.

Content-targeted advertising

An advertising model in which advertising is either manually or automatically targeted to the content of a page. For example, on a site about motorcycles, the content-targeted advertisements will be related to motorcycles and motorcyclists.

Content (Campaign Tracking)

When tagging links, Content is used to label different versions of an advertisement. The variable for content, utm_content, indicates which version of a link the visitor clicked on to reach a web site - for example, utm_content=graphic_v2.

Content is one of the five dimensions of campaign tracking; the other four are source, medium, campaign, and term.

Clickthrough Rate

(CTR) The number of times an ad is clicked on, divided by the number of impressions it receives. For example, if an ad is shown 20 times and receives 3 clicks, the clickthrough rate is 3/20, or 15%.

Click

In Google Analytics reports, a Click refers to a single instance of a user following a hyperlink from one page in a site to another.

For example, the Clicks column in the All Navigation report shows how many times a user arrived at the selected page after clicking a hyperlink from another page, and how many times a user clicked a hyperlink on the selected page to travel to another page.

CGI Script

A CGI script is a program written in one of several popular languages such as Perl, PHP, Python, etc., that can pass data between a web page and programs on the web server. CGI scripts are widely used to process forms such as search boxes - the script would pass the search term to the database system on the server, which would in turn pass the results back to the web page.

Byte

A byte is a unit of information transferred over a network (or stored on a hard drive or in memory). Every web page, image, or other type of file is composed of some number of bytes. Large files, such as video clips, may be composed of millions of bytes ("megabytes"). Since website and server performance is heavily affected by the amount of bytes transferred, and web hosting providers often charge according to this measure, it is very important for site owners to be aware of and understand these figures. One byte is equal to 8 bits where each bit is either a one or zero. Common terms incorporating the word "byte" are:

Kilobytes - 1,024 bytes
Megabyte - 1,048,576 bytes
Gigabyte - 1,073,741,824 bytes

Browsers

A browser, or more accurately a user agent, is the software used to access a website. Examples of user agents are "Explorer" (for Microsoft Internet Explorer), "Netscape" (for Netscape Navigator), and "Googlebot" (an automated robot that scours the web for website content to include in its search engine index).

Bandwidth

The amount of data that can be transmitted along a communications channel in a fixed amount of time. For digital devices, the bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second (bps) or bytes per second, where 1 byte = 8 bits.

Average Page Depth

The average number of pages on a site that visitors view during a single session. The Content Optimization > Content Performance > Depth of Visit report shows page depth figures over a specified period of time.

Authentication

The verification of a user's identity, often through the use of a unique username and password, to control access to Internet or intranet resources.

Apache

Apache is a free, open-source web server software system that is pervasive on UNIX, Linux, and similar operating system types. For more information, see www.apache.org.

W3C

The W3C, or World Wide Web Consortium, is a standards body dedicated to ensuring interoperability between all the varied system and network types that comprise the World Wide Web part of the Internet. The W3C log format is commonly used by several web server software systems, such as Microsoft IIS. For more information, see the W3C website .

Visitor

A Visitor is a construct designed to come as close as possible to defining the number of actual, distinct people who visited a website. There is of course no way to know if two people are sharing a computer from the website's perspective, but a good visitor-tracking system can come close to the actual number. The most accurate visitor-tracking systems generally employ cookies to maintain tallies of distinct visitors.

Unique Visitors

Unique Visitors represents the number of unduplicated (counted only once) visitors to your website over the course of a specified time period. A Unique Visitor is determined using cookies.

Reverse DNS

Name resolution software that looks up an IP address to obtain a domain name. It performs the opposite function of the DNS server, which turns names into IP addresses.

Scalable

Quality of an implementation that allows it to grow as the usage of the service increases.

Revenue

In versions of Google Analytics that support e-commerce reporting, the term Revenue is used in place of whichever local currency is being used, since Google Analytics supports currencies other than the US dollar. Revenue tabs appear on several reports as a data display option when appropriate.

Returning Sessions

Returning Sessions represents the number of times unique visitors returned to your website during a specified time period.

Script

A short computer program written in a simplified programming language, such as JavaScript, VBScript, or Perl.

Referrer

The URL of an HTML page that refers visitors to a site.

Referral Errors

A referral error occurs whenever someone clicks on a link that points to your site but that contains a reference to a non-existent page or file. This action usually results in a "404 Not Found"-type error.

Protocol

An established method of exchanging data over the Internet.

No Referral

The "(no referral)" entry appears in various Referrals reports in the cases when the visitor to the site got there by typing the URL directly into the browser window or using a bookmark/favorite. In other words, the visitor did not click on a link to get to the site, so there was no referral, technically speaking.

Navigation

Describes the movement of a user through a website or other application interface. This term also indicates the system of available links and buttons that the user can use to navigate through the website.

Meta Tag

A special HTML tag that provides information about a web page. Unlike normal HTML tags, meta tags do not affect how the page is displayed. Instead, they provide information such as who created the page, how often it is updated, what the page is about, and which keywords represent the page's content. Many search engines use this information when building their indices.

Log file

A file created by a web or proxy server which contains all of the access information regarding the activity on that server. Each line in a log file generated by web server software is a hit, or request for a file. Therefore, the number of lines in a log file will be equal to the number of hits in the file, not counting any field definitions line(s) that may be present.

Java

An object-oriented programming language invented by Sun Microsystems. Java is designed to run on any type of computer hardware through an intermediary layer called a virtual machine, which translates Java instructions into native code for that particular computer.

HTTP

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is a standard method of transferring data between a web server and a web browser.

Hardware

A computer and the associated physical equipment directly involved in the performance of data-processing or communication functions.

Filter Name

The Filter Name is intended to be a descriptive title for a filter. It is used only as an organizational aid, and may contain spaces.

Directory

A directory is a virtual container for holding computer files. It is not merely a list of items, as the name would imply, but rather a key building block of a computer's storage architecture that actually contains files or other directories.

Error

Errors are defined as pages that visitors attempted to view, but that returned an error message instead. Often these errors occur because of broken links (links to pages that do not exist anymore) or when an unauthorized visitor attempts to access restricted pages (for example, if the visitor does not have a password to access the page).

Encryption

The process of encoding information so that it is secure from other Internet users.

E-commerce

The buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer of funds, through digital communications. Buying and selling over the internet, etc.

Download

To retrieve a file or files from a remote machine to your local machine.

Domain Name System

(DNS) An Internet addressing system that uses a group of names that are listed with dots (.) between them, working from the most specific to the most general group. In the United States , the top (most general) domains are network categories such as edu (education), com (commercial), and gov (government). In other countries, a two-letter abbreviation for the country is used, such as ca ( Canada ) and au ( Australia ).

Domain

A domain is a specific virtual area within the Internet, defined by the "top level" of the address or URL (http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/Uniform Resource Locator). The top level is the end of the address; example: "whitehouse.gov". In this example, the top-level part of the domain is ".gov", indicating a US government entity. The "whitehouse" part is the second-level domain, indicating where within the ".gov" domain the information in question is to be found. Other common top-level domains include ".com", ".net", ".uk", etc.

End User

The final user of the computer software. The end user is the individual who uses the product after it has been fully developed and marketed.

Cron Job

A "cron job" is a scheduled task under a UNIX-type operating system. "cron" is a daemon, or program that is always running. Its function is similar to the Windows Scheduler.

Daemon

A daemon is any program under a UNIX-type operating system that runs at all times. Common daemons are servers (such as Apache or an FTP server) and schedulers (such as "cron").

Content (A/B) Testing

Testing the relative effectiveness of multiple versions of the same advertisement, or other content, in referring visitors to a site. Multiple versions of content can be uniquely identified by using a utm_content variable in the URL tag.

Code

Anything written in a language intended for computers to interpret.

Cache

A temporary storage area that a web browser or service provider uses to store common pages and graphics that have been recently opened. The cache enables the browser to quickly reload pages and images that were recently viewed.

A/B Testing

(Also referred to as Content (A/B) Testing.) Testing the relative effectiveness of multiple versions of the same advertisement, or other content, in referring visitors to a site. Multiple versions of content can be uniquely identified by using a utm_content variable in the URL tag.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : About Google Analytics : Benefits of Google Analytics

How does Google Analytics help me?

Google Analytics tells you how visitors found your site and how they interact with it. You'll be able to compare the behavior and profitability of visitors who were referred from each of your ads, keywords, search engines, and emails, and gain valuable insight into how to improve your site's content and design. However large or small your site, and however you drive traffic to it - whether it's unpaid search, partner sites, AdWords, or other cost-per-click programs - Google Analytics tracks it, from click to conversion.

For AdWords users in particular, Google Analytics will provide you with the actionable information that you can use to increase your ROI by tracking cost data for all of your campaigns and combining that data with conversion information on a page-by-page basis. Google Analytics automatically imports AdWords cost data so that you can track the effectiveness of your AdWords campaigns, and automatically tags your AdWords destination URLs to track keyword and campaign conversion rates with no effort on your part! To find out more about AdWords, please visit the AdWords home page at https://adwords.google.com.

Can I track websites for which I'm not running an AdWords campaign?

Yes. Google Analytics offers a great breadth of functionality - you can use it to track visitor flow through your site, to view the source of referrals to your site, and to see how well visitors make it through a conversion process such as purchasing an item or signing up for a newsletter. In addition, Google Analytics can track non-AdWords advertising campaigns such as banner campaigns or other pay-per-click programs.

What are some questions Google Analytics answers?

For Executives:

Which marketing initiatives are most effective?
What are accurate traffic patterns/trends on my websites?
Which customer and customer segments are most valuable?

For Marketing Professionals

Where are my visitors coming from and what do they do on my site?
How can my website convert more visitors into customers?
Which keywords resonate with prospects and lead to conversions?
Which online ad or creative is the most effective?

For Content & Web Developers

Why do so many people leave my site without doing what I want?
Are there website design elements that are turning visitors away?
What site content are people most interested in?

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : About Google Analytics : Linking Existing Analytics to AdWords

Will the users of my Google Analytics account have access to my AdWords account?

No. People who are granted access to your Google Analytics account will not be able to access your AdWords account. Note, however, that they will be able to view any AdWords-related reports such as CPC Program Analysis.

You can limit a user's access to reports or profiles by following the instructions in How do I restrict a user's access to certain domains or reports?

Can I link several Google Analytics accounts?

Yes. While you can create only one Google Analytics account per Google Account email login, you can link other Analytics accounts to your own. Once you have been granted Account Administrator access to any other Google Analytics account, those acount profiles will be accessible from the Click to select website profile drop-down list. Use this list to access any other account on which you have Administrator access.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : About Google Analytics : Overview

How much does Google Analytics cost?

Google Analytics is absolutely free! We're very pleased to be able to offer this web analytics solution for no charge, allowing anyone with a website to track conversion data, analyze the flow of visitors through their site, and identify elements of their site that could be changed to improve visitor retention.

This free version is limited to 5 million pageviews a month - however, users with an active Google AdWords account are given unlimited pageview tracking. In addition, Google Analytics is completely integrated into the AdWords front-end and with your AdWords campaign, making it easy to track your AdWords ROI.

What's new with Google Analytics?

Google Analytics has been updated with several bug fixes and feature improvements. Here are some of the biggest updates:

March 9th, 2006

We're adding support for more users and sending new invites all the time. If you haven't yet signed up for an invitation, please join the list.
When you're working with multiple filters, the order in which they're applied becomes important. We've added the ability to manipulate this order through the Assign Filter Order link on your Profile Settings page.
Additional changes to your filters include :
- Two new filters to rewrite fields into uppercase and lowercase characters
- New Visitor Type and Referral fields.
- The introduction of Custom Field 1 and Custom Field 2, for use as temporary data storage.
- Request Queries and Request Stem fields have been eliminated - the Request URI contains the combined data of these two fields.
To make your report data more accessible, we've added query terms to your Top Content report. You can access this data using the drill-down icons next to your page results.
The Page Query Terms report has been eliminated in favor of the new Dynamic Content report. This new report shows data for all of your dynamic pages by listing the full Request URI in the top-level of the report. If you prefer to drill-down to your data, use the updated Top Content report.
The Site Overlay feature now supports dynamic site content.
The Day Parts Breakdown report has been removed.

Who is Google Analytics for?

Google Analytics provides powerful tracking for anyone with a web presence, whether it be a small hobby website or a giant online enterprise. It's one of the most powerful web analytics solutions on the market - and it's free for anyone to use!

Google Analytics provides in-depth reports for everyone involved in the running of a website, from the developers and designers to the marketing and management teams. Find out where people leave your site, and what content catches their attention. Compare marketing campaigns and see your return on investment for all of your AdWords spend. The ways that you can use Google Analytics are endless.

Google AdWords customers can even see their Analytics data from inside their AdWords account - we've added an Analytics tab with your reports and settings. Plus, Analytics automatically tags your AdWords campaigns for detailed tracking, and AdWords advertisers benefit from unlimited pageviews.

So, whoever you are, and whatever your role on the web, check out Google Analytics now.

Google Analytics Updates: March 2006

Google Analytics has been updated with several bug fixes and feature improvements. Here are some of the biggest updates:

March 9th, 2006

We're adding support for more users and sending new invites all the time. If you haven't yet signed up for an invitation, please join the list.
When you're working with multiple filters, the order in which they're applied becomes important. We've added the ability to manipulate this order through the Assign Filter Order link on your Profile Settings page.
Additional changes to your filters include :
- Two new filters to rewrite fields into uppercase and lowercase characters
- New Visitor Type and Referral fields.
- The introduction of Custom Field 1 and Custom Field 2, for use as temporary data storage.
- Request Queries and Request Stem fields have been eliminated - the Request URI contains the combined data of these two fields.
To make your report data more accessible, we've added query terms to your Top Content report. You can access this data using the drill-down icons next to your page results.
The Page Query Terms report has been eliminated in favor of the new Dynamic Content report. This new report shows data for all of your dynamic pages by listing the full Request URI in the top-level of the report. If you prefer to drill-down to your data, use the updated Top Content report.
The Site Overlay feature now supports dynamic site content.
The Day Parts Breakdown report has been removed.

In which languages is Google Analytics available?

Google Analytics is currently available in the following languages:

Chinese (Simplified)		Korean
Chinese (Traditional)		Norwegian
Danish		Portuguese
Dutch		Russian
Finnish		Spanish
French		Swedish
German		UK English
Italian		US English
Japanese

To select your preferred language, please visit www.google.com/analytics and choose from the drop-down menu at the upper-right hand corner of the page.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : About Google Analytics : Technical Details

Will my website's appearance or performance be affected by Google Analytics?

The appearance of your website will never be affected by your use of Google Analytics - we don't place any images or text on your pages. Likewise, the performance of your pages won't be impacted, with the possible exception of the very first page-load after you have added the tracking code. This first pageview calls the JavaScript on Google's servers, which may take slightly longer than a regular page load. Subsequent pageviews will use cached data and will not be affected.

How does Google Analytics work?

Google Analytics uses a first-party cookie and JavaScript code to collect information about visitors and to track your advertising campaign data. Google Analytics anonymously tracks how visitors interact with a website, including where they came from, what they did on a site, and whether they completed any of the site's conversion goals. Analytics also keeps track of your e-commerce data, and combines this with campaign and conversion information to provide insight into the performance of your advertising campaigns.

All of this information is presented in an easy-to-read, yet thorough manner, through intuitive, visual reports. Google Analytics won't affect the performance or the appearance of your website - there are no extra files to host on your website, and no GIF files are called by your pages.

With information from Google Analytics, you will be able to drive traffic more efficiently to your site, and convert that traffic more effectively.

Will Google Analytics cookies interfere with our website's cookies?

Google Analytics' JavaScript code was designed to be highly compatible with your website's exisiting cookie usage. All Google Analytics cookie names begin with _utm to prevent any naming conflicts between our cookies and your own.

Will the Analytics JavaScript code interfere with our website's code?

Google Analytics' JavaScript code has been designed to be highly compatible with your website's exisiting JavaScript, with all variable and function names beginning with __utm , _u , or urchin .

</body>

How do I add tracking code to my website?

What version of JavaScript does Google Analytics use?

Google Analytics' urchin.js JavaScript is currently compatible with JavaScript Version 1.0. Google Analytics will be able to record any data coming from a browser supporting JavaScript Version 1.0 and above. Most modern browsers support this version, including browsers used in portable devices.

Where is the Profile Settings page?

Your Analytics account has a Profile Settings page for each profile in that account. To access the Profile Settings page:

Click Analytics Settings, at the left corner of the orange header bar
In the Website Profiles box, click the Edit link next to the appropriate profile. The Profile Settings page appears.

Does Google Analytics have a pageview limit?

Google Analytics is a free service that offers users up to 5 million pageviews a month. If your site generates more than 5 million pageviews per month, you will need to link it to an active AdWords account in order to avoid interruption of your Google Analytics service. Google Analytics currently defines an active AdWords account as an AdWords account that has at least one active and running Campaign, with a minimum budget of $1 per day (or the equivalent amount in a non-U.S. currency).

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : About Google Analytics : Google Analytics and Urchin

I'm upgrading to Google Analytics from Urchin On Demand. What do I need to do to take full advantage of Google Analytics?

Urchin from Google, the On Demand web analytics service, is now a free product and has been renamed to Google Analytics. What does this mean to you? Your current page tags will continue to work as before. At this time you don't have to do anything.

When and if you decide to take advantage of the new auto-tagging functionality for AdWords campaigns, however, you'll need to complete the series of simple steps below.

Update your site tags from the existing UTM tags to the new Google Analytics tracking code tags. To obtain the new tracking code:
1. Log in to your Google Analytics account
2. From the Analytics Settings page, click the Edit link next to the profile for which you are retrieving tracking code. The Profile Settings page appears.
3. At the top-right of the table, click Check Status. Your tracking code is contained in the text box in the Instructions for adding tracking section that appears.
Copy and paste the new tracking code into each page of your website, removing your old tagging.
Remove the __utm.js file from your root directory (not mandatory).
Update any special or custom configurations you've made to your UTM code. Since the new tracking code is hosted by Google Analytics, all customizations previously done to the UTM code must now be done within your site's HTML. If you made any of the following changes, you'll need to make the necessary adjustments:
Remove any existing utm_ tags (such as utm_campaign, utm_source, utm_term, etc) from your AdWords keyword campaigns only. Leave any non-AdWords campaigns with the tags intact.
Make sure that the Destination URL auto-tagging setting is selected from your AdWords My Account > User Preferences screen.

Reports for traffic prior to November 14, 2005 are still available from http://reports.urchin.com. Or, you can sign in at www.google.com/analytics to access historical reports and current traffic reports.

When will the Urchin 6 software be released?

Google Analytics is a hosted web analytics service, and is not currently available as a software application. For more information about Google Analytics, please visit www.google.com/analytics.

Urchin 5 is our latest generation software product. For more information about this product, please visit http://www.google.com/analytics/urchin_software.html

The Google Analytics software product is currently in development and a release date has not yet been set. When the software product is released, customers who purchased Urchin 5 with advanced support will be able to upgrade free of charge. Please continue to check our website at http://www.google.com/analytics/urchin_software.html for announcements about the Google Analytics software product.

How does Google Analytics differ from Urchin on Demand?

Google Analytics is the latest version of Urchin On Demand, and features several changes. First, Google Analytics has been integrated with AdWords so that advertisers may access web analytics reports from the AdWords user interface. Google Analytics is also now hosted and managed using Google infrastructure and resources for scalability, privacy, and reliability. Additionally, the reporting interface has been redesigned for ease of use, and pageview limits have been removed.

Perhaps best of all, Google Analytics is free! We will no longer charge Urchin On Demand users for access, and we will not be charging new users for their use of Google Analytics.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : Installation Troubleshooting : Missing Report Data

My transaction reports are missing data from certain categories (such as "city" or "state" data).

While Google Analytics is able to determine location information for visitors, doing the same for transaction reports requires a small modification to your checkout pages. By adding additional code, you'll allow Google Analytics to detect and record your transaction information.

For instructions on updating your checkout pages, please read How do I track e-commerce transactions?.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Getting Started : Installation Troubleshooting : Puzzling Report Data

Why do I still see new pageviews after removing all of my Analytics tracking code?

Because browsers often use cached (locally stored) versions of web pages to speed up your browsing, it's possible that an older version of your page, with the tracking code installed, is being shown to some visitors. Depending on their browser settings and how frequently they return to your site, these users may continue to generate pageviews for some time. However, this number will decrease as their caches are updated or cleared out.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Google Analytics Account Administration : Troubleshooting Account Issues : Overview

How do I cancel my account?

You may cancel your Google Analytics account at any time by removing the tracking code from each of your pages, and contacting our support team with your request. Feel free to let us know why you're cancelling your account - your feedback helps us to continually improve the product.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Google Analytics Account Administration : User Permissions : Controlling Data Access

How do I grant other users access to my Analytics reports?

Google Analytics provides the ability to add any number of users to your account, and to grant varying levels of access to your reports. You may grant access to the reports of particular profiles when adding a new user, or modify access for existing users.

To grant access when adding a new user:

Click Access Manager
Click Add
Enter the user's email address, last name, and first name
Select the Access type for this user: View reports only, or Account Administrator, which allows the user to edit account settings
Select the profiles to which this user should have access. Reports for profiles that are not selected will not be available to this user
Click Add to move these profiles into the Selected Website Profiles list
Click Finish to create the new user

To modify access for an existing user:

Click Access Manager
Find the user in the Existing Access list and click Edit
From the Available Website Profiles, select the profiles to which this user should have access. Reports for profiles that are not selected will not be available to this user
Click Add to move these profiles into the Selected Website Profiles list
Click Save Changes to update this user's access

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Tracking Central : Ad Campaigns : Tracking Non-AdWords Ad Campaigns

How do I track clicks on outbound links?

Google Analytics provides an easy way to track clicks on links that lead away from your site. Because these links do not lead to a page on your site containing the UTM JavaScript, you will need to tag the link itself with the urchinTracker JavaScript. This piece of JavaScript assigns a pageview to any click on a link - the pageview is attributed to the filename you specify.

For example, to log every click on a particular link to www.example.com as a pageview for "/outgoing/example_com" you would add the following attribute to the link's <a> tag:

<a href="http://www.example.com" onClick="javascript:urchinTracker ('/outgoing/example_com');">

It is a good idea to log all of your outbound links into a logical directory structure as shown in the example. This way, you will be able to easily identify what pages visitors clicked on to leave your site.

Can Google Analytics track non-AdWords online advertising campaigns?

Yes, Google Analytics can track all types of online media including banner ads, referral links, email campaigns, and organic and paid search.

For information on setting up campaign tracking for non-AdWords campaigns, please read How do I tag my links?

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Tracking Central : Ad Campaigns : Understanding Ad Campaign Data

Understanding campaign variables: The five dimensions of campaign tracking

Google Analytics tracks online campaigns using a combination of the following five marketing dimensions:

Source
Medium
Term
Content
Campaign

Source
Every referral to a web site has an origin, or source. Examples of sources are the Google search engine, the AOL search engine, the name of a newsletter, or the name of a referring web site.

Medium
The medium helps to qualify the source; together, the source and medium provide specific information about the origin of a referral. For example, in the case of a Google search engine source, the medium might be "cost-per-click", indicating a sponsored link for which the advertiser paid, or "organic", indicating a link in the unpaid search engine results. In the case of a newsletter source, examples of medium include "email" and "print".

Term
The term or keyword is the word or phrase that a user types into a search engine.

Content
The content dimension describes the version of an advertisement on which a visitor clicked. It is used in content-targeted advertising and Content (A/B) Testing to determine which version of an advertisement is most effective at attracting profitable leads.

Campaign
The campaign dimension differentiates product promotions such as "Spring Ski Sale" or slogan campaigns such as "Get Fit For Summer".

How does campaign tracking work?

Google Analytics accurately tracks visitors from a source, such as a search engine or email link, to a conversion or transaction on your site.

How does it work?

Google Analytics tracks data from a variety of sources to provide closed-loop ROI analysis. Let's look at the steps.

Step 1: From Link to Web Page

Each visitor to your site enters via a link indicating where they clicked from, the keywords they used, if any, as well as campaign and medium information. Google Analytics parses the link to obtain this information.

The information is gathered by the tracking code installed on each of your web pages. You can add the code manually into each web page, or automatically using server side includes and other template systems. Once installed, the tracking code is triggered each time a visitor views the page. Analytics tracking code performs three tasks:

it ensures that a page hit is registered even if the page was cached or proxied,
it parses the link to gather your campaign information, and
it updates visitor activity information.

Step 2: Parsing the Link

The Analytics tracking code parses the incoming link to obtain the campaign information that you have specified. For example,

http://www.example.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cost-per-click

indicates that the visitor clicked on a cost-per-click link on the Google search engine. The tracking code also automatically detects the keywords that the visitor searched on. Although this particular link uses only two variables, utm_source and utm_medium, which indicate the source (Google) and the medium ("cost-per-click"), your links may incorporate up to three additional variables: utm_campaign, utm_content, and utm_term. These three variables are available to indicate a specific marketing initiative, ad content, and a paid search term, respectively. Information on these variables and how to tag your paid links is provided in the article How do I tag my links?

The tracking code is not limited to parsing links that you embed in emails or paid keywords, but also parses keyword information from organic links. This is important because it helps you to make side-by-side comparisons of paid versus unpaid search results. Google Analytics recognizes links from the top search engines and pulls out the source and keyword information. In addition, your tracking code can also be configured to recognize and parse links from custom organic search engines, if required.

Step 3: Logging Campaign Information and User Activity

Google Analytics reads the client's first-party cookie, updating user tracking information as required. For example, if this is the user's first visit to your site, the tracking code will add the campaign tracking information to the cookie. If the user previously found and visited your site, the tracking code increments the session counter in the cookie. Regardless of how many sessions or how much time has passed, Google Analytics "remembers" the original referral. This gives Analytics true multi-session tracking capability.

Step 4: Adding Goal Data

Once a page in your web site has been defined as a conversion goal, Google Analytics will be able to calculate metrics indicating how successful your site is at converting visitors. By comparing referrals, sessions, and visitor activity to conversions, Analytics can report on the effectiveness of your keywords, mediums, campaigns, and content. The system can also report latency metrics such as time to goal and sessions to goal. To learn how to define a conversion goal, read How do I set up goals?

What is auto-tagging and how will it affect my ads?

In order for Analytics to display details about your AdWords keywords and costs, you must do one of the following:

Use Destination URL auto-tagging, or
Manually tag your keyword destination URLs with tracking variables.

Google created auto-tagging (turned "on" by default) so that large and small accounts could easily see how their AdWords keywords were performing from click to conversion and back to cost. Auto-tagging automatically associates a parameter with the click on your ad which then allows Analytics to report the details of the click, including which AdWords keywords brought a visitor to your site, which campaign that keyword was from, and how much that click cost. This information can then be associated with richer information within your Analytics reports, such as goal or e-commerce conversions, to give you a sense of how your AdWords spending is really performing.

The parameter used in auto-tagging is called "gclid" and will show up in your landing page URL when a user arrives at your site from your ad. For example, if your site is www.mysite.com, when a user clicks on your ad it will appear in the address bar as:

www.mysite.com/?gclid=123xyz

Note: A small percentage of websites do not allow arbitrary URL parameters and serve an error page when auto-tagging is turned on. Please consult with your webmaster to find out if this is the case or turn on auto-tagging and do a test by simply clicking on your ad. If the link to your site works then you can use auto-tagging. If you are getting an error, you'll need to turn auto-tagging off from your AdWords account (see steps below). Then, ask your webmaster to allow arbitrary URL parameters before turning it back on.

To disable auto-tagging:

Log in to your AdWords account
Click the My Account tab and select User Preferences
In the Analytics section, click Edit
Deselect the Destination URL Auto-tagging checkbox
Click Save changes

If you would rather track your clicks manually, please read How do I tag my links?

If a visitor clicks on ads from multiple campaigns before converting for a goal, which campaign gets credit for the conversion?

Google Analytics will attribute the most recent campaign information to a conversion. For example, a visitor may initially reach your site through a CPC ad and not make a purchase. Later, this visitor may return to your site via a tagged link in an email to make their purchase. In this case, Google Analytics will attribute the more recent campaign information to the resulting sale - the tagged link in the email.

This behavior can be modified by adding the following to the end of all of your tagged links:

&utm_nooverride=1

When Google Analytics detects this variable, it will retain the first campaign's information, irregardless of which links the user later followed to arrive at the conversion. In the example above, the conversion would be credited to the CPC campaign, if both links were tagged with the nooveride variable.

What is Destination URL Auto-tagging?

In order for Analytics to display details about your AdWords keywords and costs, you must do one of the following:

Use Destination URL auto-tagging, or
Manually tag your keyword destination URLs with tracking variables.

www.mysite.com/?gclid=123xyz

To disable auto-tagging:

Log in to your AdWords account
Click the My Account tab and select User Preferences
In the Analytics section, click Edit
Deselect the Destination URL Auto-tagging checkbox
Click Save changes

If you would rather track your clicks manually, please read How do I tag my links?

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Tracking Central : Flash, Downloads & More : Overview

How do I track AJAX applications?

With a typical HTML page, you can use the URL to differentiate between multiple pageviews. But in an AJAX application, a request to the server is made without changing the URL of the page, making it difficult to track.

By calling Analytics' urchinTracker function, however, you can assign a page filename to any AJAX event. Typically, this is done as part of the onreadystatechange function, after the data has been returned and all updates to the page have been made. The example below shows one way of doing this:

…

http_request.onreadystatechange = sendAlert;
http_request.open('GET', url, true);
http_request.send(null);

}

function sendAlert() {

if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
if (http_request.status == 200) {
alert(http_request.responseText);
urchinTracker("/pagefilename1" );
} else {
alert('Error.');

…

The urchinTracker variable (/pagefilename1 in the example above) can be any value, which will be displayed as a page filename in your Analytics reports.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Tracking Central : Domains & Directories : Profiles

How do I rename a profile?

To rename an existing profile:

Click the Analytics Settings link
Find the profile to rename and click Edit. The Edit Profile Settings screen appears
In the Main Website Profile Information bar, click Edit
Update the Profile Name field
Click Save Changes to rename this profile, or Cancel to exit without saving

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Reports Central : Controlling Report Data : Customizing Reports

How can I make Google Analytics identify additional search engines in the Referral reports?

By default, Google Analytics tracks referrals from 20 search engines as listed in the urchin.js JavaScript file (http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js). You can also configure Analytics to identify referrals from additional search engines by adding the following line to your tracking code:

_uOsr[20]="search_engine_name"; _uOkw[20]="query_variable";

The value for _uOsr should be the name of the search engine and the value for _uOkw should be the query variable which stores the keyword (replace search_engine_name and query_variable in the example above). The number in square brackets should start at 20 and increase in increments of 1 for each additional search engine added (21, 22, 23, etc).

For example, if someone searched for "motorcycle" and the search result URL is:

http://www.google.com/search?q=motorcycle

you would add the following line to your tracking code:

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-xxxx-x";
_uOsr[20]="Google"; _uOkw[20]="q";
urchinTracker();
</script>

How can I configure Google Analytics to treat certain keywords or URLs as direct referrals instead of keywords?

You may wish to treat certain search keywords as direct referrals rather than organic keyword referrals. To do so, add the following line to your Google Analytics tracking code:

_uOno[#]="keyword";

The number in square brackets should start at 0 and increase by increments of one as you add more keywords to ignore. For example:

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  _uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
  _uOno[0]="google-analytics";
  _uOno[1]="google-analytics.com";
  _uOno[2]="www.google-analytics.com";
   urchinTracker();
</script>

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Reports Central : Reporting Basics : Report Data

Can Google Analytics email my reports to me?

At this time, Google Analytics doesn't offer automatic emailing of reports. However, there are 3 export options that will allow you to save your reports in tab separated, XML, or CSV formats, which can then be emailed or saved to your computer.

Is there a Google Analytics API?

Urchin does not currently provide an API to access the reporting data. However, we do offer export functionality for single reports in the following formats:

Tab separated (Text)
XML
Excel (CSV)

This feature allows you to easily import report data into your favorite spreadsheet application or to process the data otherwise.

How do I interpret the reports for a website that has frames?

A web page containing frames will generate multiple pageviews: one for the framing page (containing either a frameset or iframe tag within its HTML code), and one for each page shown in a frame.

In your navigation reports, each of these pageviews will appear in a sequence:

Framing page > framed page 1 > frame page 2

As a result, your Content Optimization > Content Performance > Depth of Visit report, as well as your pageview totals, may be somewhat inflated.

Even if a page on your site only appears as a frame for another page, we still recommend tagging it with the tracking code. If a visitor reaches the page through a search engine or a direct link from another site and the page doesn't contain the tracking code, the referral, keyword and/or campaign information from the source will be lost.

How are redirects handled by Analytics?

If your site uses redirects, the redirecting page becomes the landing page's referrer. For example, if a user searches for a specific keyword, such as 'used books' on Google, there will not be any referring data showing that this keyword was searched on Google. Instead, the referral will be shown as the redirecting page.

For this reason, we recommend placing the Google Analytics tracking code on the redirecting page as well as on the landing page. This way, the redirecting page will capture the actual referrer information for your reports.

Please note that you may not be able to successfully implement the tracking code on all redirect pages as some redirecting pages may not have any code. Additionally, some browsers may actually redirect before the JavaScript call from the code can be made.

What information is contained in the Cross Segment Performance by Content sub-report?

When you select the Cross Segment Performance feature (by clicking the chevron next to line items in many reports, including your Top Content report), you have the option of cross-segmenting by Content .

The Content segment is populated in one of two ways:

User-defined A/B testing variables: if you have defined a utm_content value for the referring click, it will be listed here

The request stem of direct referrals: if the visit came from a direct referral (as opposed to an organic or CPC link), the stem of the referrer will be used to populate this report. For example, if the referrer was http://www.example.com/folder/page.html, the stem would be /folder/page.html

How are the Length of Visit report values calculated?

In order to capture the length of a visit, Google Analytics tracks the elapsed time between pageviews. The last page of a visit will not be recorded (as there is no subsequent pageview).

Single-page visits are assigned to the 1-10 second category.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Reports Central : Reporting Basics : Report Interface

How do I select and compare date ranges for my reports?

You can easily view reports for any date range for which data exists. The calendar at the bottom left of your reports screen lets you pick individual dates, date ranges, or a comparison of two dates or ranges.

To select a single date:

Click the date on the calendar. Your reports will reload with data for that day.

To select a specific week:

Click the arrow to the left of that calendar week

To select a range of dates:

Click the small calendar icon at the top right of the calendar. The Custom date range picker appears
In the left calendar, select the start date
Select an end date from the right hand calendar
Click Apply Range to update your reports with data from the selected range

To compare two different ranges:

Click the double-calendar icon in the blue Date Range bar above the calendar. A second calendar appears below the first
In the lower calendar, select the first date or date range according to the instructions above
In the upper calendar, select the second date or date range. Your reports will update, showing differences between the two date ranges. The % change column shows the change in values between the lower and upper calendar selections

What does "Average Score" represent?

Many Google Analytics reports include the Average Score metric. Average Score is a way of determining which pages on your site are most valuable. Pages with the highest scores are those which lead to a large proportion of high-value conversions.

Average score for a page is calculated as follows:

(Total Value of Conversions Subsequent to Page Visit) / (Total Number of Page Visits)

Example

Users make 10 visits to your site, resulting in five conversions for a total value of $500.

5 visits take the following path:

Homepage > pageA > goal page with a value of $100

The other 5 visits take the following path:

Homepage > pageB > exit site

The average score of each page would be:

Homepage = 50
(5 subsequent conversions * $100) / (10 total page views)

pageA = 100
(5 subsequent conversions * $100 / 5 total page views)

pageB = 0
(0 conversions)

Google Analytics calculates average score from both e-commerce and static goal values. For e-commerce, the conversion value used to calculate average score is taken directly from transaction revenue. For static values, Google Analytics calculates average score using the values you have assigned to your goals.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Reports Central : Troubleshooting Reports : Puzzling Data

What does google[referral] mean?

Not all referrals from Google.com domains come through organic search or AdWords ad listings. Referrals may come from a variety of sources, including Google Groups posts, base.google.com listings, or static pages on related Google sites. Such visits are tagged as [referral] instead of [organic] or [cpc].

What are referrals coming from pagead2.googlesyndication.com?

Referrals from pagead2.googlesyndication.com are clicks on your AdWords ads showing on the content network – specifically, ads showing on publisher sites in the AdSense program.

You can use destination URL auto-tagging or set your own campaign variables to track your ads more effectively. Using either of these methods will allow Analytics to gather campaign and keyword information and more for each click on your ads.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Initial setup : Using Google Analytics

Who has access to my data in Google Analytics?

We take the security of your Google Analytics data very seriously, and protect all of your transactions with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. We also protect your information with our privacy policy. And your visitors' information is secure, too - your reports don't include identifiable information about your site's users.

You also have control over who can log in to your account, and who can view your reports. You can easily add or remove users, and customize their access to your data. Please read How do I restrict a user's access to certain domains or reports? for more information about controlling access to your account.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics shows you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance their visitor experience. Improve your website return on investment, increase conversions, and make more money on the web.

With over 80 reports, your free Google Analytics account will track visitors through your site, and will keep track of the performance of your marketing campaigns - whether they're AdWords campaigns, email campaigns, or any other advertising program. With this information, you'll know which keywords are really working, which ad text is the most effective, and where your visitors are dropping off during the conversion process. Don't be fooled by the fact that this functionality is available to you for free - Google Analytics is a full-featured, powerful analytics package.

AdWords advertisers can find all of these benefits from within their AdWords account - Google Analytics has been fully integrated with AdWords. All of your reports and settings are available from the Analytics tab.

To get started with Google Analytics, simply visit www.google.com/analytics or click the Analytics tab in your AdWords account. You'll be guided through a simple sign-up process, which will require the addition of a code snippet. Once that's done, you'll start gathering data immediately, on track for improved ROI!

How do I sign up for Google Analytics?

Sign up for Google Analytics by visiting the home page at www.google.com/analytics. From there, you'll be able to create a new free account.

If you don't already have a Google Account, you'll need to create one before signing up for Google Analytics. Google Accounts offer single sign-on to many of Google's applications, and ensure the highest level of security for your account. You can create a new Google Account from the Google Analytics home page.

If you're an AdWords advertiser, you can also sign up for Analytics from within your AdWords account. Google Analytics has been closely integrated into your AdWords account under the new Analytics tab - click the tab and follow the instructions to start tracking AdWords campaign data and ROI information.

If I link my account to AdWords, will I still be able to access Google Analytics through www.google.com/analytics?

Yes - linking your Google Analytics account to your AdWords account won't affect how you log in or what you see at www.google.com/analytics.

Can I run Google Analytics along with other web analytics solutions?

Yes, we invite you to run Google Analytics in parallel with any third party or internal solution you've already deployed. You can try running Google Analytics on a subset of pages or on a microsite to see how much the additional reports, information, and AdWords support improve your conversion rates. If you find that it's successful for you, you can quickly and easily install it on the rest of your site.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Initial setup : Installing the tracking code

I have installed Google Analytics, but all or some of my data is missing from my reports.

Currently, report updating for Google Analytics is experiencing delays. As a result, you may not be seeing any data in your reports even after implementing the Analytics tracking code.

We are currently in the process of updating all reports. You should be able to see these updates in 24 hours. While this is going on, you may notice different reports updating at different rates. Once this process has completed, all data should be restored to your profiles. Please be assured that this update process has no effect on data collection.

We apologize for any inconvenience. This reporting delay is associated with unexpected demand for Google Analytics. Under normal circumstances, the data in your reports will be at most 24 hours old.

How do I add tracking code to my website?

Copy and paste the code segment into the bottom of your content, immediately before the </body> tag of each page you are planning to track. If you use a common include or template, you can enter it there.

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
urchinTracker();
</script>

You'll need to update the "xxxx-x" in the sample above with your own Google Analytics account number. This account number will be provided to you during sign-up, or you can access your personalized tracking code in its entirety by following the instructions in Where can I find my tracking code?

How can I confirm that I've entered the tracking code correctly on my pages?

Google Analytics will itself check to see that the tracking code has been installed correctly on the home page of your site - once you've created a new profile, the Tracking Status will display a warning, "Tracking status unknown," until the system detects the code.

If you used a WYSIWYG ("What you see is what you get") editor such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, make sure that you don't see the code when you're viewing your page in a browser. Some such editors will attempt to place the code as text on your page - try to use the "source" view when you're pasting the code to your web pages.

Finally, once your page is live, select View Source from your browser's menu and look for the code. It should be immediately before the </body> tag of your page, and should look exactly as it was provided to you:

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
urchinTracker();
</script>

You should see your own account number in place of the xxxx-x in the example above. If you need a fresh copy of your code, click the Editlink next to the appropriate profile on the Analytics Settings page, then select Check Status at the top-right of the table.

Why is Google Analytics not tracking some of the pages on my website?

If Google Analytics isn't tracking visits to one of your web pages, there is likely an issue with the tracking code as it was added to your page. Please verify that the tracking code is installed correctly by viewing your page source. It should be immediately before the </body> tag of your page.

You'll also need to check that you've installed the correct code on your pages - your tracking code is profile-specific. If you've added code from another profile, your data will be applied to the wrong set of reports. To find your profile-specific tracking code, follow the instructions in Where can I find my tracking code?

If your tracking code is installed correctly, and your page still isn't appearing in your reports, please contact us with the specific URL, and we'll be happy to review your code.

I'm having trouble creating a profile for my secure website.

When creating a new profile, please make sure to select https:// in the Add a Profile for a new domain section if you are tracking a secure website. The resulting tracking code will then be customized for secure pages and look like this:

<script src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
urchinTracker();
</script>

If your profile is already created without the https://, you can retrieve secure tracking code by following the instructions below:

From the Analytics Settings page, click the Edit link adjacent to the profile for which tracking code is required
Click Edit in the Main Website Profile Information bar
Update the Website URL to include https://
Click Save Changes
Click Check Status at the top-right of the table. Your secure tracking code is available from the text box

Please note that you can add the secure tracking code to both non-secure and secure pages on your site.

I am receiving an 'invalid input' error when I attempt to create a new profile.

When the domain submitted during profile creation appears to be entered incorrectly, Google Analytics will prevent you from proceeding until the errors are resolved. If you are encountering this issue:

Make sure you haven't entered any typos, abnormal characters, or extra characters in your domain entry
Use the drop-down list to select either http:// or https:// - do not type these into the text box
Remove the directory path from the URL you are entering (do not include anything after the end of the domain name, even a trailing "/"). The data for your Analytics reports will be based on where you insert the tracking code, rather than the exact URL you specify in this step.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Initial setup : Linking my existing Google Analytics account to AdWords

How do I link my Google Analytics account to my AdWords account?

Linking your Google Analytics account to your AdWords account is very easy! Before beginning, make sure that you have used the same Google Account for both your Analytics and AdWords accounts. If not, don't worry - just add your AdWords username to your Analytics account as an Account Admin.

Then,

Log in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com
Click the Analytics tab
Click Link it to your AdWords account (it's at the bottom of the page)
From the Existing Google Analytics Account drop-down list, select your Analytics account number
Click Link Account

That's it! Your two accounts are now linked, and Analytics will start automatically tagging your AdWords links for detailed campaign tracking reports. We'll also begin importing cost data from your AdWords campaigns for ROI calculations.

Will shared AdWords account users have access to reports on www.google.com/analytics?

The following are two situations in which shared users will occur:

A user with access to your AdWords account
A user who has been granted access to view your reports

Users with access to your AdWords account will not necessarily be able to access your reports on www.google.com/analytics. You'll need to specifically give them access to your reports.

If you have granted a user access to your reports within AdWords, that user will be able to log directly into www.google.com/analytics to view those reports as well.

Will my account change if I link my Google Analytics account to AdWords?

The functionality of your Google Analytics account will remain the same once you link to your AdWords account, with a few pleasant exceptions:

No pageview limit: if you're an active AdWords advertiser, we'll remove the 5 million pageview limit from your Google Analytics account
Automatic AdWords URL tagging: there's no need to tag your AdWords destination URLs when you've linked your accounts - Google Analytics will take care of that for you. You'll only need to tag links that originate from non-AdWords campaigns.

In addition, you'll still be able to access your Google Analytics account from www.google.com/analytics or from the Analytics tab of your AdWords account.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Initial setup : Tracking my domains and directories

How do I track all of the subdomains for my site in one profile?

You can track subdomains within the same profile as the domain. In order to do so, you'll need to add a line to the tracking code on each page of the subdomain. The instructions below assume that this profile was set up with the primary domain as the listed website (eg. example.com)

Add the following line (in bold) to the tracking code on all subdomain pages:

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  _uacct = "UA-xxxx-x";
  _udn="example.com";
  urchinTracker();
</script>

This line should reference the primary domain (example.com).

Please be aware that while this change will allow you to track subdomains within one profile, your reports may not distinguish between pages coming from www.example.com versus help.example.com. For example, in your Top Content report, you may have hits to www.example.com/index.html and help.example.com/more.html, but the report will display the following:

/index.html
/more.html

If you'd like to distinguish between your subdomains, you can create an Advanced filter for your profile with the following settings:

Filter Type: Custom filter > Advanced
Field A: Hostname
Pattern A: (.*)
Field B: [ Request Stem ]
Pattern B: (.*)
Output To: [ Request Stem ]
Constructor: $A1$B1

With this filter in place, the previous examples would appear with the subdomain attached:

www.example.com/index.html
help.example.com/more.html

How do I use Google Analytics to track a 3rd-party shopping cart?

Google Analytics can track data from a shopping cart on your own domain, or even on other domains, with the addition of some code. To set up your pages to report transaction data to Google Analytics, please read How do I track e-commerce transactions?

In addition, if your store site is on a different subdomain or domain than your main site, follow the instructions below to configure your pages.

If your website initiates a purchase checkout process on a different subdomain (for example, if you send customers from www.mystore.com to shoppingcart.mystore.com):

Add the following line (in bold) to your tracking code on both your store site and your shopping cart pages:
<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script>
  _uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
  _udn="mystore.com";
  urchinTracker();
</script>

If your website initiates a purchase checkout process on a separate store site (for example, if you send customers from www.mystore.com to www.securecart.com):

Add the following lines (in bold) to your tracking code on both your store site and your shopping cart pages:
<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  _uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
  _udn="none";
  _ulink=1;
  urchinTracker();
</script>

Change the links from the main site to the secure site to use __utmLinker as follows. If your current links look like:
<a href="https://www.securecart.com/?store=parameters">Purchase Now</a>

change them to:

<a href=
"javascript:__utmLinker('https://www.securecart.com/?store=parameters');">
Purchase Now</a>

If you send information to your shopping cart using forms, use the __utmLinkPost() function. It appends cookie data to the provided URL of the supplied form.

Usage: <form action="http://newdomain.com/form.cgi" onSubmit="javascript:__utmLinkPost(this)">

This will work even for forms where the method="GET"

My site has multiple domain names. How do I set up tracking?

If your site uses a secure shopping cart located on a different root domain (eg., www.mystore.com and www.securecart.com), or employs multiple domain aliases to point to the same content, you will need to make certain changes to ensure that your sites and the Analytics tracking code are compatible.

Please note that there is a difference between multiple subdomains and multiple root domains. www.example.com and securecart.example.com are examples of multiple subdomains, while www.example.com and www.sample.com represent multiple root domains.

If your site has multiple subdomains, please see:

for configuration information.

Multiple Domain Names: Secure Stores

If your site uses multiple root domain names (eg., www.mystore.com, www.securecart.com), please read How do I use Google Analytics to track a 3rd-party shopping cart?

Multiple Domain Names: Domain Aliases

If your site employs multiple domain aliases, it is recommended that you redirect traffic from the aliases to the primary site. This will ensure that the Analytics visitor tracking is getting set under the primary domain and that all visitors are tracked consistently.

The following instructions provide an example of how to redirect aliased domains to the primary domain in Apache and IIS servers.

Redirecting Aliases in Apache

If you are using an Apache webserver, the configuration can be easily modified to redirect all traffic originating under one of the aliases to the primary site. One way to do this is to create two VirtualHost entries. The first will be the primary domain which will include your normal configuration; the second VirtualHost will be for all the aliases and will redirect to the primary:

#---primary virtualhost

Servername www.mysite.com
Serveralias mysite.com
...

#---second virtualhost

Servername mysite.org
Serveralias www.mysite.org mysite.net www.mysite.net
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.mysite.com$1 [R=301]

The second VirtualHost uses a rewrite rule with a 301 (Moved Permanently) redirect code to forward all traffic to the original site. At this point, as far as Google Analytics is concerned, the site appears to be a one-domain site and is ready for normal Analytics tracking code installation.

Redirecting Aliases in IIS

If you are using a Microsoft IIS webserver, the configuration can be easily modified to redirect all traffic originating under one of the aliases to the primary site. One way to do this is to create two websites in the IIS configuration. The first will be the primary domain (www.mysite.com) which will include your normal configuration; the second will be for all other aliases (mysite.net, mysite.org, etc) and will redirect to the primary.

In the IIS Manager, right click on one of the websites and bring up the properties dialog. On the "Web Site" tab, click the "Advanced..." button. This brings up the window where additional domains can be assigned to the website using the "Host Header" field. Set the primary domain in the primary website, and use the second website to house all of the aliases.

Once the second website housing all of the aliases is configured and enabled, create a blank homepage with the following redirect code:

<META HTTP-EQUIV=Refresh CONTENT="0; URL=http://www.mysite.com/">

This will instruct the visitor's browser to immediately redirect to the primary URL. At this point, the primary website appears to be a simple one-domain configuration, and normal Google Analytics tracking code installation can proceed with default settings.

How do I track all of the subdomains for my site in separate profiles?

Tracking subdomains in individual profiles is as simple as entering the correct subdomain name in the Add Website Profile dialog. Add the supplied tracking code to all of the pages on your subdomain, and your reports will accurately reflect the traffic to this subdomain. Please note that each profile uses a unique tracking code, so make sure that you're adding the correct code to your pages.

If you'd like to track multiple subdomains in a single profile instead, please read How do I track all of the subdomains for my site in one profile?

I do not own my website domain. How do I set up Google Analytics?

In order to implement Google Analytics, you'll need to have access to the source of your webpages. If you're able to update the content of your webpages, you should be able to set up Google Analytics.

Follow the instructions in How do I add tracking code to my website? to add the JavaScript snippet to your webpages and start tracking your website.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Initial setup : Why report data is missing

How long does it take to see report data after adding the tracking code?

Google Analytics generally updates your reports every 24 hours. This means that it could take 24 hours for data to appear in your account after you have first installed the tracking code.

I'm not seeing any data in my reports.

If your reports are not displaying data:

Check that tracking code has been correctly added to all of your pages. It should be immediately before the </body> tag of your page.
Google Analytics reports are not viewable on Safari browsers on Mac OS X. Try accessing your account with Firefox, Netscape, or Mozilla
If the tracking code is installed correctly, you may be checking your reports before data has appeared. It generally takes 24 hours for reporting data to appear in your account after you have installed the code.

How often is the data in the reports updated?

Report data is generally updated every 24 hours, but data may sometimes take longer to appear in your account. AdWords cost information is imported once daily, to import the previous day's information.

The Check Status button is not detecting my tracking code

We are aware of an issue where the Check Status link is not properly detecting the tracking code in the source code of your pages.

Please be assured that this will not affect data collection or report generation if you have tagged your website with the Google Analytics tracking code.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Tracking something : Ad campaigns

How do I tag my links?

Tagging your online ads is an important prerequisite to allowing Google Analytics to show you which marketing activities are really paying off. Fortunately, the tagging process goes smoothly - once you understand how to differentiate your campaigns. Here is a three-step process to help you get started. (If you'd like to learn about all of the variables you can use to differentiate campaigns, read The five dimensions of campaign tracking.)

1. Tag only what you need to.
If your Google Analytics account is linked to an active Google AdWords account, you don't need to tag your AdWords URLs. Google Analytics will automatically track all of your AdWords campaigns. You'll still need to tag all of your non-AdWords paid keyword links, though, as well as your banners and other ads, and the links inside your promotional e-mail messages.

There are certain links that you don't need to tag, and many times will not be able to tag. You should not attempt to tag organic (unpaid) keyword links from search engines and it isn't necessary to tag links that come from referral sites, such as portals and affiliate sites. Google Analytics automatically detects the name of the search engine and the keyword from organic (unpaid) keyword referrals, and you'll see metrics for these referrals in your reports, typically under "Organic" listings. Google Analytics also detects referrals from other websites and displays them in your reports, whether or not you have tagged them. And again, you don't need to tag your AdWords URLs if your Analytics and AdWords accounts are linked.

2. Create your links using the URL Builder.
Campaign links consist of a URL address followed by a question mark and your campaign variables. But, you won't need to worry about link syntax if you fill out the URL Builder form and press the Generate URL button. A tagged link will be generated for you and you'll be able to copy and paste it to your ad. If you're wondering which fields to fill in, you're ready for Step 3.

3. Use only the campaign variables you need.
Google Analytics' link tagging capabilities allow you to uniquely identify virtually any campaign you can think of. But, don't think that you must use all six fields in the URL Builder form in each of your links. On the contrary, you'll usually only need to use Source, Medium, Campaign, and Term (for paid keywords). The table below shows how you might tag the three most common kinds of online campaigns - banner ads, email campaigns, and paid keywords.

	Banner Ad	E-mail Campaign	Pay Per Click Keywords
Campaign Source	citysearch	newsletter1	overture
Campaign Medium	banner	email	ppc
Campaign Term	Boston	July	the keyword you purchased
Campaign Content
Campaign Name	productxyz	productxyz	productxyz

The links to my site already contain my own campaign tracking variables. Can I use these variables instead of Google Analytics'?

If you've already tagged your online links with your own tracking variables, you can map these existing variables to Google Analytics' campaign tracking variables. Your tagged links will need to contain at least 3 variables. These will map to:

utm_source: the source of your campaign (Google, Overture)
utm_medium: the medium of your campaign (cpc, banner, email)
utm_campaign: the name of your campaign (spring_sale)

For the purpose of these instructions, we will assume that your site contains the following URL:

www.example.com/index.html?camp=GADS&kwd=memory&version=47&type=ppc&adver=google

Step 1. Match your variables with Google Analytics' variables. Create a table following the format below:

Campaign Ad Source Ad Type Keyword or Term A/B Testing Master tracking code

User Variables camp adver type kwd version n/a

Google Analytics Variables _uccn _ucsr _ucmd _uctr _ucct _ucid

Step 2. Modify the tracking code on each of your pages

You'll need to add the following lines (in bold) to the tracking code on your pages. The additions will be identical for each page, so you can use an include or template system to add this code. The code below is based on the example URL above:

Step 3. Create filters for these new tracking variables.

This is the basic filter configuration you should use for each filter:

Filter Type : Custom filter > Advanced
Field A : Request URI
Extract A : new_variable=([^&]*)
Field B : (None)
Extract B : (empty)
Output To : utm _(old_variable)
Constructor : $A1
Field A Required : Yes
Field B Required : No
Override Output Field : Yes
Case Sensitive : No

old_variable refers to the default Google Analytics tracking variable. new_variable refers to your own tracking variable. Remember that you will need a filter for each modified variable.

How do I track banner ad exits?

If you publish advertising banners on your site, there is an easy way for you to track which banners visitors click on to leave your site and which advertisers they visit.

To track outbound clicks on an animated GIF or other type of static banner ad, add the following code within the <a> tag:

<a href="http://www.advertisersite.com" onClick="javascript:urchinTracker
('/bannerads/advertisername/bannername');">

This code causes each click on the banner to be logged as though it were a pageview named /bannerads/advertisername/bannername. You may use any folder/filename structure that you desire. It is a good idea to log all of your advertising banners into a logical directory structure as shown in the example. This way, you will be able to easily identify the number of referrals to each advertiser.

The equivalent code for a Flash banner is provided below:

on(release) {
getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/"javascript:urchinTracker
('/bannerads/advertisername/bannername');");
getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/"http://www.advertisersite.com");
}

Can I import cost data from other PPC programs such as Yahoo! Search Marketing (Overture)?

Currently, it is only possible to import cost data for ROI analysis from Google AdWords. We are working hard to extend this functionality to Overture and other PPC networks.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Tracking something : E-commerce revenue

How do I track e-commerce transactions?

Google Analytics supports a client-side data collection technique for capturing e-commerce transactions. With some simple additions to your receipt page, Google Analytics can automatically detect and record transaction and product information. The required information is placed in a hidden form, which is parsed for transaction and product information. Most template-driven e-commerce systems can be modified to include this information hidden in the receipt.

Enabling E-Commerce Tracking

The first step of tracking e-commerce transactions is to enable e-commerce reporting for your website's profile. To enable e-commere reporting, please follow these steps:

Log in to your account.
Click Edit next to the profile you'd like to enable.
On the Profile Settings page, click edit next to Main Website Profile Information.
Change the E-Commerce Website radio button from No to Yes.

Receipt Page Format

The second step is to ensure that the tracking code is included in the receipt page in the standard fashion. This may be done using a server side include, or other template driver, or can simply be hand-coded into your HTML code:

Next, somewhere in the receipt below the tracking code, the following lines need to be written by your engine. Everything in brackets should be replaced by actual values, as described in the Parameter Reference, below.

NOTE: do not include the square brackets when setting the values for the form! Please see the example below for a sample of what the data should look like.

Example

UTM:T|34535|Main Store|143.05|3.05|10.00|San Diego|CA|USA
UTM:I|34535|XF-1024|Urchin T-Shirt|Shirts|10.00|9 UTM:I|34535|CU-3424|Urchin Drink Holder|Accessories|20.00|2

Within the hidden form, there are two types of lines: the transaction line and the item lines. For each transaction, there should be only one transaction line, which is indicated by the "T" immediately after the "UTM:". This line specifies the total for the transaction, including any taxes or shipping costs, and other information. For each item in the receipt, create an item line, which is specified by the "I". The Item lines can contain product names, codes, unit prices and quantities. There is no limit to the number of item lines per transaction.

Parameter Reference

Transaction line variables

[order-id] Your internal unique order id number

[affiliation] Optional partner or store affilation

[total] Total dollar amount of the transaction

[tax] Tax amount of the transaction

[shipping] The shipping amount of the transaction

[city] City to correlate the transaction with

[state/region] State or province

[country] Country

Item line variables

[order-id] Your internal unique order id number (should be same as transaction line)

[sku/code] Product SKU code

[product name] Product name or description

[category] Category of the product or variation

[price] Unit-price of the product

[quantity] Quantity ordered

Why are the numbers in Google Analytic's e-commerce reports different from the numbers I get from my shopping cart service?

There are several reasons that your shopping cart may have different data than is reported in your Google Analytics reports.

Your shopping cart may be configured to report data in a different time zone than your Google Analytics reports. For example, your shopping cart may be configured to report on Eastern Standard Time, while your Google Analytics reports are configured to report on Pacific Standard Time.

Under these circumstances, a transaction that occurred at 11PM PST on Monday will be recorded in your shopping cart as happening on 1AM on Tuesday. As a result, your daily reports will not be the same in your Google Analytics reports and your shopping cart.

Your reports may be off if you set up your Analytics e-commerce tracking in the middle of a certain day and are looking at your daily reports in your shopping cart. The transactions that happened before you implemented Google Analytics tracking will not appear in your Analytics reports.
Finally, Google Analytics e-commerce tracking may not be properly set up. Please read How do I track e-commerce transactions? to make sure that you have implemented the code properly.

If none of the above possibilities apply to your situation and your reports still do not match, please contact our support team and let us know exactly what is wrong. Please specify whether the total number of transactions is wrong, if the purchased amounts is wrong or if you have noticed certain products failing to appear in one of your reports.

My ROI reports show 0%. How do I set up ROI tracking?

Because Google Analytics can easily import your AdWords cost data, it's able to return detailed ROI tracking on any AdWords campaigns. At this point, ROI information is not available for other types of campaigns.

In order to see ROI information, you'll need to set up the following:

AdWords campaign tracking: if your Google Analytics account is linked to your AdWords account, you won't have to do anything to track your AdWords campaigns - Analytics will automatically track this information. If you haven't linked your accounts, you'll need to tag your AdWords URLs with campaign and keyword information. Please read How do I tag my links?
Conversion goals and funnels: you'll also need to define a conversion goal and, optionally, a funnel. The conversion goal settings will tell Google Analytics the value to assign to that conversion - whether it be an e-commerce value, or a static value. For information on defining your conversion goals, please read How do I set up goals?

Once you've set up these two elements, Google Analytics will be able to track your AdWords ROI.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Tracking something : Conversion Goals and Funnels

How do I set up goals and funnels for dynamically generated pages?

Dynamic URLs

If your URLs include query terms or other parameters, you may wish to make use of the matching options when entering funnel or conversion goal URLs. There are three matches available to you. They are explained below.

Exact match: this option requires that the URLs entered as your funnel or conversion goal match exactly - there can be no dynamic session identifiers, for example.
Head Match: if your URL is always the same for this step of your funnel, but is followed by unique session or user identifiers, use the Head Match filter and leave out the unique values. For example, if the URL for a particular user is www.example.com/checkout.cgi?page=1&id=9982251615 but the id varies for every other user, enter www.example.com/checkout.cgi?page=1 and select Head Match as your Match Type.
Regular expression: uses regular expressions to match your URLs. This is useful when the stem, trailing parameters, or both can vary between users. For example, if a user could be coming from one of many subdomains, and your URLs use session identifiers, use regular expressions to define the constant element of your URL. For example, page=1 will match sports.example.com/checkout.cgi?page=1&id=002 as well as fishing.example.com/checkout.cgi?page=1&language=fr&id=119

Identical URLs across multiple steps

You may also wish to track visitors' progress through a funnel which has the same URL for each step. For example, your sign up funnel might look like this:

Step 1 (Sign Up): www.mysite.com/sign_up.cgi
Step 2 (Accept Agreement): www.mysite.com/sign_up.cgi
Step 3 (Finish): www.mysite.com/sign_up.cgi

To get around this, you can call the urchinTracker Javascript function within each step (probably within an onload event), as follows:

urchinTracker("/funnel_G1/step1.html")
urchinTracker("/funnel_G1/step2.html")
urchinTracker("/funnel_G1/step3.html")

Then, set up each step of your funnel to be:

http://www.mysite.com/funnel_G1/step1.html
http://www.mysite.com/funnel_G1/step2.html
http://www.mysite.com/funnel_G1/step3.html

Note that the path/filename argument to urchinTracker need not represent an existing path or filename. The argument to urchinTracker simply provides a made-up pagename to which Google Analytics can attach pageviews.

Can I set up more than 4 goals per profile?

Google Analytics supports up to 4 goals per profile, each with a defined funnel and drawing value information as a set amount, or dynamically from your e-commerce pages. If your site requires more than 4 goals, you may wish to configure another profile for that site.

Why isn't Google Analytics tracking my goals?

There are a number of reasons why goals may not appear to be being tracked in your Google Analytics reports. Below is a list of the most common issues.

You are using an exact match for a goal
If you are using an exact match for a goal (i.e. http://domain.com/page.html), any trailing spaces will cause the goal to be invalid. If you are using partial matching (i.e. ^/page.html), trailing spaces are not an issue.

When setting your goals, it's ideal to only include the stem of the URL as your goal. For example, if your goal is www.domain.com/1/thanks.html, enter /1/thanks\.html as your goal.

Tip: when you're entering the stem of a URL (http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/any URL without the http://), Analytics treats it as a regular expression. You'll need to escape periods or other wildcards with a backslash (\).

The goal page is not tagged with tracking code
If the goal page is not tagged with tracking code, Google Analytics will not track this page and as a result will not report goals. You should also make sure that you've installed the correct tracking code on your pages - the code is specific to a profile. To find the correct tracking code for this profile, click the Edit link next to the applicable profile on the Analytics Settings page, then select Check Status at the top-right of the table.

Your goal page is a download (ex. PDF).
Google Analytics will not track downloads as goals directly. Instead, you'll need to use the urchinTracker function for the download link. For instructions on doing so, please read How do I track files (such as PDF, AVI, or WMV) that are downloaded from my site?

How do I use funnels to track dropoff rates on pages leading to a goal?

A funnel is a defined navigation path you want your visitors to follow in order to achieve a goal. Using funnels can help you to understand how your visitors navigate to your goal and how you can improve your site in order to increase goal conversions. The last step in a funnel will be your goal page.

For information on creating goals and funnels, please read How do I set up goals?.

For example, if you have an application on your site, each step in the application process can be steps in your funnel, with the "Thank you for submitting" page as your goal.

You can track drop-off rates on pages leading to a goal using the Defined Funnel Abandonment report in the Content Optimization section. This report will show you what percentage of visitors who begin a defined funnel path abandon it. Going back to the application example, this report can help you identify where in the application process visitors are most often dropping out, so that you may work to improve retention through this section of the application.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Tracking something : Flash, downloads, and Javascript events

How do I track files (such as PDF, AVI, or WMV) that are downloaded from my site?

Google Analytics provides an easy way to track clicks on links that lead to file downloads. Because these links do not lead to a page on your site containing the tracking code, you'll need to tag the link itself with the urchinTracker JavaScript if you would like to track these downloads. This piece of JavaScript assigns a pageview to any click on a link - the pageview is attributed to the filename you specify.

For example, to log every click on a particular link to www.example.com/files/map.pdf as a pageview for /downloads/map you would add the following attribute to the link's <a> tag:

<a href="http://www.example.com/files/map.pdf" onClick="javascript:urchinTracker ('/downloads/map'); ">

How do I track Flash events?

Google Analytics lets you track any browser based event, including Flash and Javascript events. To track an event, call the urchinTracker JavaScript function with an argument specifying a name for the event. For example, calling:

javascript:urchinTracker('/homepage/flashbuttons/button1');

will cause each occurrence of that Flash event to be logged as though it were a pageview of /homepage/flashbuttons/button1. The argument must begin with a forward slash. The event names may be organized into any directory style structure you wish, and actual pages with these filenames need not exist.

For example, if you wish to organize flash events by page, by type of event, you might organize a hierarchy along these lines:

/homepage/flashbuttons/button1
/homepage/clips/clip1

Flash Code Examples

on (release) {
// Track with no action
getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/"javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file');");
}

on (release) {
//Track with action
getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/"javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file');");
_root.gotoAndPlay(3);
myVar = "Flash Track Test"
}

onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/"javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file');");
}

How do I track JavaScript events?

To track an event, use the urchinTracker JavaScript function to specify a name for the event. For example, calling:

javascript:urchinTracker('/homepage/link1');

will cause each occurrence of the the calling event to be logged as though it were a pageview for the URL /homepage/link1. The argument must begin with a forward slash. The event names may be organized into any directory style structure you wish.

For example, if you wish to organize events by page > type of event, you might organize a hierarchy along these lines:

'/homepage/links/link1'
'/homepage/radiobuttons/button1'
'/contactform/rollovers/image1'

HTML Code Examples

The following illustrates how to log an onClick event:

<a href="javascript:void(0);" onClick="javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file');">

Or, to log a rollover event:

<a href="javascript:void(0);" onMouseOver="javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file');">

How do I set up goals and funnels for Flash pages?

You can track any browser based event, including Flash events, on your website. By using the urchinTracker JavaScript function, you can assign a page filename to any Flash action, and enter that filename into the appropriate goal or funnel step.

To track an event, call the urchinTracker() JavaScript function with an argument specifying a name for the event. For example, calling:

javascript:urchinTracker('/purchase_funnel/page1.html');

will cause each occurrence of the the calling Flash event to be logged as though it were a pageview under the name /purchase_funnel/page1.html. The argument must begin with a forward slash.

The event names may be organized into any directory style structure you wish. The path/filename argument to urchinTracker need not represent an actual URL on your website.

Flash Code Examples

on (release) {
// Track with no action
getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/"javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file.html');");
}

on (release) {
//Track with action
getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/"javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file.html');");
_root.gotoAndPlay(3);
myVar = "Flash Track Test"
}

onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
getURL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/"javascript:urchinTracker('/folder/file.html');");
}

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Tracking something : Something else

How do I track a new website?

Note: Google Analytics has experienced extremely strong demand, and as a result, we have temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity. In the meantime, please submit your name and email address at http://www.google.com/analytics/sign_up.html and we will notify you as soon as we are ready to add new accounts. Thank you for your patience.

There are two simple steps required to start tracking a new website: the creation of a new website profile, and the addition of Analytics tracking code to all of the pages you wish to track.

Create a new profile

From the Analytics Settings page, click Add Website Profile
Select Add a Profile for a new domain
Enter the URL of the site you will be tracking, making sure to select either http:// (most common) or https:// (secure site) from the drop-down list
Click Finish. The Tracking Status page appears, containing the tracking code necessary for the next steps

Add the tracking code to your pages

The code contained in the text box on the Tracking Status page must be copied and pasted into all of the web pages you will be tracking. It should be added immediately before the </body> tag, and can be added by hand or through the use of templates or includes, if available.

-----

Tip: Google Analytics tracking code is unique for each account and each profile within that account. To find your personalized tracking code at any time:

From the Analytics Settings page, find the profile for which you need tracking code in the Website Profiles table
Click Edit in that profile's Settings column. The Profile Settings page appears
Click Check Status at the top-right of the table

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : My report data : Why my report data looks wrong

Why does Google Analytics report different values than some other web analytics solutions?

Different web analytics products may use a variety of methods to track visits to your website. Therefore, it is normal to see discrepancies between reports created by various products. For example, while Google AdWords automatically filters malicious clicks from your reports, Analytics might report these clicks as visits to your website.

In addition, time-zone differences between various web analytics products may cause differences in how the data for a specific day or time period is reported.

I've submitted my Master Tracking Codes but the data in my reports hasn't changed.

Master tracking tables must adhere to strict formatting rules:

The first row of the file must begin exactly with the following:

#Fields:
A hyphen (-) must be used to indicate no value (empty cell).
The table must be saved as a tab delimited plain text file with an extension of ".lt".

Please double check that the table you submitted meets these requirements.

Why are "/" and "/index.html" tracked separately in my reports, even though they're the same page?

Even though www.example.com/ may be the same page as www.example.com/index.html, they show up as two separate entries in your logs. You can tell Google Analytics to treat them as the same page by defining the Default page for your profile:

Click the Analytics Settings link
In the Website Profiles list, find the profile to modify and click Edit
Click the Edit button next to Main Website Profile Information
In the Default page text box, enter the default (or index) page for this domain. This is the page that loads when a visitor enters only the domain of your site into their address bar. For example, if www.example.com loads your index.html web page, enter /index.html in this text box
Click Save Changes to update your default page, or Cancel to exit without saving

I'm using Urchin 5 with the IP+UserAgent tracking method, and now I'm trying Google Analytics. Why am I noticing lower pageview statistics?

Customers using Google Analytics may notice a difference in the session and pageview counts after upgrading from Urchin 5 to Google Analytics. While this may be attributable to a normal side effect of adopting a new technology, incorrect configuration is the most likely culprit. The most common reasons for the discrepancies in statistics are outlined below.

Common Configuration Problems

1. The _udn variable setting is being used in the tracking code, but has not been correctly set. This will result in no sessions or pageviews being recorded.

2. Some pages on the website are missing the tracking code. This will be obvious if the Google Analytics Top Content report is compared with the Requested Pages report from Urchin 5. The Google Analytics report will only list pages that have the script tag, whereas Urchin 5 will list all requests for files that it deems to be pages. For more information, please read How do I add tracking code to my website?

Differences in Tracking Technology

1. A pageview is only recorded for Google Analytics when the JavaScript on Google's servers is executed. Spiders and bots are not able to execute this file. Therefore, while Urchin 5's pageview totals using the IP+UserAgent method include spider and bot traffic, Google Analytics' pageview totals using the tracking code method do not. The resulting effect on pageview counts can be significant.

2. Visitors to your site who do not have JavaScript enabled will not register pageviews in Google Analytics, but will in Urchin 5 under the IP+UserAgent tracking method.

3. Google Analytics only records pageview requests with a status code of 200. The Urchin 5 software using the IP+UserAgent tracking method records pageviews for all requests that result in a status code of 2xx, 302, or 304.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : My report data : How to make changes to my report data

How can I exclude my internal traffic from my reports?

If you'd like to exclude internal traffic from your reports (such as traffic from your home or company intranet), you can set up a filter in your profile with the specific IP address or addresses to disregard. To do so:

Click Filter Manager from the Analytics Settings page
Enter a Filter Name for this filter
From the Filter Type drop-down list, select Exclude all clicks from an IP address
The IP address field will auto-populate with an example IP address. Enter the correct value. Remember to use regular expressions when entering any IP address. For example, if the IP address to filter is:
192.168.1.1

then the IP address value will be:

192\.168\.1\.1

You may also enter a range of IP addresses. For example:

Range: 192.168.1.1-25 and 10.0.0.1-14
IP address value : ^192\.168\.1\.([1-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-5])$|^10\.0\.0\.([1-9]|1[0-4])$
Select the profiles to which this filter should be applied in the Available Website Profiles box
Click Add to move the selected profiles into the Selected Website Profiles list
Click Finish to save this filter, or Cancel to return to the previous page

How do I create a custom filter?

Google Analytics provides a number of custom filter options that make it easy to manipulate your data to match your reporting needs. Each type of custom filter has its own settings and features. We've provided in-depth instructions for each type of filter in the articles listed below:

By default, visitor sessions timeout after 30 minutes of inactivity. How can I change this setting?

You can change the length of time that Google Analytics waits before timing out a visitor by adding a line to your tracking code. The session timeout value is defined by the _utimeout variable -by default, this value is set to 1800 seconds (30 minutes). Changing it to "3600" , for example, would change the timeout to 1 hour:

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  _uacct = "UA-xxxx-x";
  _utimeout="3600";
  urchinTracker();

</script>

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : My report data : How I can fix my _______ report (eg., site overlay)

The site overlay report is not working properly for me.

The site overlay report uses cURL to request a web page, and displays clicks on standard links that are embedded on that page. Its functionality is currently limited to static pages with unique links to content located elsewhere on the website.

The site overlay report is not currently able to work with the following types of content:

Javascript links
CSS content
Flash navigation
downloadable files (.pdf)
outbound links
frames
auto redirects.

In the above cases, it is common to see missing overlay bars, or bars with zero content. If there are multiple links on a page that all point to the same place, Google Analytics will total the clicks to on all those links and display the total number for each overlay bar on each of those common links.

How do I remove an e-commerce transaction from my reports?

It is sometimes necessary to back-out or cancel an e-commerce transaction. Cancelling orders which did not go through or which were disallowed ensures that your Google Analytics reports, including Campaign Tracking reports, provide accurate information.

To cancel an order or transaction, create and load a duplicate receipt (__utmSetTrans) page containing a negative transaction total. For example, if the the original transaction total is $699, the duplicate entry should have -$699 as the transaction total. Google Analytics will record this negative value and apply it against your totals, effectively erasing the transaction.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : A product feature : Filter Manager

What is a filter?

Filters are applied to the information coming into your account, to manipulate the final data in order to provide accurate reports. These filters can be set up to exclude visits from particular IP addresses, to report only on a subdomain or directory, or to take dynamic page URLs and convert them into readable text strings.

Google Analytics provides you with three predefined filter types, as well as a number of customer options.

Predefined filters:

Exclude all clicks from a domain (hostname): use this filter to exclude clicks that originate from a specific network, such as your internal work network.

Exclude all clicks from an IP address: this filter works to exclude clicks from certain sources. You can enter a single IP address, or a range of addresses

Include only traffic from a subdirectory: use this filter if you want a profile to report only on a particular subdirectory (such as www.example.com/motorcycles)

Custom filters:

Exclude Pattern: This type of filter excludes log file lines (hits) that match the Filter Pattern. Matching lines are ignored in their entirety; for example, a filter that excludes Netscape will also exclude all other information in that log line, such as visitor, path, referral, and domain information.

Include Pattern: This type of filter includes log file lines (hits) that match the Filter Pattern. All non-matching hits will be ignored and any data in non-matching hits is unavailable to the Urchin reports.

Search & Replace: This is a simple filter that can be used to search for a pattern within a field and replace the found pattern with an alternate form.

Lookup Table: Selecting this filter allows you to select a lookup table name which may be used to map codes to human intelligible labels. For example, the phone models table maps abbreviated phone platform identifiers to the model and manufacturer names for phone based web browsers.

Advanced: This type of filter allows you to build a field from one or two other fields. The filtering engine will apply the expressions in the two Extract fields to the specified fields and then construct a field using the Constructor expression. Read the Advanced Filters article for more information.

Uppercase / Lowercase: Converts the contents of the field into all uppercase or all lowercase characters. These filters only affect letters, and will not affect characters or numbers.

Custom filters are applied in the order in which they appear in your Profile Settings page. Use the Assign Filter Order link to rearrange the order of your filters.

For step-by-step instructions on creating filters, please refer to How do I create a filter?

What are regular expressions?

Posix regular expressions are used to match or capture portions of a field using wildcards and metacharacters. They are often used for text manipulation tasks. Most of the filters included in Google Analytics use these expressions to match the data and perform an action when a match is achieved. For instance, an exclude filter is designed to exclude the hit if the regular expression in the filter matches the data contained in the field specified by the filter.

Regular expressions are text strings that contain characters, numbers, and wildcards. A list of common wildcards is contained in the table below. Note that these wildcard characters can be used literally by escaping them with a backslash '\'. For example, when entering www.google.com, escape the periods with a backslash: www\.google\.com

Wildcard Meaning

. match any single character

* match zero or more of the previous items

+ match one or more of the previous items

? match zero or one of the previous items

() remember contents of parenthesis as item

[] match one item in this list

- create a range in a list

| or

^ match to the beginning of the field

$ match to the end of the field

\ escape any of the above

Tips for Regular Expressions

Make the regular expression as simple as possible. Complex expressions take longer to process or match than simple expressions.
Avoid the use of .* if possible since this expression matches everything and may slow down processing the expression. For instance, if you need to match index.html, use index\.html, not .*index\.html.*
Try to group patterns together when possible. For instance, if you wish to match a file suffix or .gif, .jpg, and .png, use \.(gif|jpg|png) instead of \.gif|\.jpg|\.png.
Be sure to escape the regular expression wildcards or metacharacters if you wish to match those literal characters.
Use anchors whenever possible. The anchor characters are ^ and $, which match either the beginning or end of an expression, respectively. Using these when possible will speed up processing. For instance, to match abc directory in /abc/xyz, use ^/abc/ instead of /abc/. Using the ^ will force the expression to match at the beginning and will improve processing speed.

How do I create a filter?

Google Analytics makes it easy to create filters to manipulate the data coming in from your website. There are two ways to create a filter in Google Analytics: using a predefined filter, or creating a custom filter. Predefined filters are:

Exclude all clicks from a domain (hostname): use this filter to exclude pageviews of a specific domain or subdomain. For example, filter out sub.example.com pageviews by entering sub\.
Exclude all clicks from an IP address: this filter works to exclude clicks from certain sources. You can enter a single IP address, or a range of addresses
Include only traffic from a subdirectory: use this filter if you want a profile to report only on a particular subdirectory (such as www.example.com/motorcycles)

Custom filters allow more advanced manipulation of data. Creating a custom filter is covered in How do I create a custom filter?

To create a predefined filter:

Click the Filter Manager link from the Analytics Settings page
Click Add. The Create New Filter page appears
Enter a Filter Name for this filter
From the Filter Type drop-down list, select a filter type to use. Each filter type is explained above (custom filters are covered in How do I create a custom filter?)
Enter one of the following values:
- Domain: enter the domain name or portion thereof to filter. For example, if your profile is set up to track example.com, but you do not want to include traffic to sub.example.com, enter:
  
  sub\.
- IP address: enter the IP address or range of IP addresses using regular expressions. For example, if the IP address to exclude 192.168.1.1, enter the following:
  
  192\.168\.1\.1
If you are filtering out a range of addresses, such as 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.25 as well as 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.14, enter:

Subdirectory: using regular expressions, enter the subdirectory to include. For example:

japanesemaples/

From the Available Website Profiles list, select the profile(s) to which this filter will be applied
Click Add to move the selected profiles into the Selected Website Profiles list
Click Finish to create this filter and start applying it to incoming data, or Cancel to return to the previous page without saving
Your new filter will be applied after any existing filters on this profile. To change the order, visit the Profile Settings page and click the Assign Filter Order link

What are some of the ways I can use filters?

Exclude internal traffic from your reports
If you'd like to exclude internal traffic from your reports (such as traffic from your home or company intranet), you can set up a filter that includes all of the IP addresses you'd like to exclude. We've provided step-by-step instructions in How can I exclude my internal traffic from my reports?

Track activity in a specific directory
If you'd like to report solely on activity in a specific directory, you can set up an Include filter. Likewise, if you'd like to see data for all but one or several pages or directories, an Exclude filter will take care of it for you. Read How do I create a custom filter? for instructions.

Track subdomains in separate profiles
Do you want to track www.example.com as well as help.example.com and info.example.com, but view separate reports for each? This is easily accomplished by creating a unique profile for each, and using an Include filter to return data on the specified subdirectory only. We've covered this in How do I track all of the subdomains for my site in separate profiles?

Display dynamically generated pages in the same report as static URLs
Query patterns are broken out of the Requested Pages report and displayed in a special subreport located in ???. If you prefer to display the full page and query pattern in the Requested Pages report, you can use the an Advanced filter. Please read How can I make my dynamic URLs appear alongside static URLs in my reports?

Tag your campaign links using master tracking codes instead of individual variables
You can hide your campaign variables in tracking URLs with the use of master tracking codes - to set up your master code table and the applicable filters, please read How do I hide the campaign tracking variables in my links?

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : A product feature : Website Profiles

What is a website profile and what can I do with it?

A website profile is essentially a set of rules that define the reports that you see. Generally, a website profile corresponds with a domain - you'll have one profile per domain, so that you can view reports for each domain separately.

You can also use profiles to track subdomains separately, by setting up filters on the profile to return data only from that subdomain. We've provided instructions on setting this up - please read How do I track all of the subdomains for my site in separate profiles?

If you would like to track sections of a site, you can again create multiple profiles and use filters to return the applicable data. How do I track unique areas within my website separately?

Profiles are also useful for controlling report access. As the types of reports available for a profile are defined with the profile's settings, you may create two or more profiles for a domain, each with a different set of reports. Assigning users to the appropriate profile will ensure that they are viewing only those reports that apply to them. Please read How do I restrict a user's access to certain domains or reports? for more information.

Can I add more profiles?

Google Analytics provides multiple profiles, allowing most users to create one or more profile per web domain that they would like to track. If you have more sites that you need to track, you can combine multiple domains into a single profile by adding that profile's tracking code to all pages, and use custom filters to display the request stem, as outlined in How do I track all of the subdomains for my site in one profile?

How do I add a profile?

Profiles allow you to view reports on specific domains, subdomains, or on filtered data for your webpages (more information about the use of Profiles is available from What is a website profile and what can I do with it?).

To add a new profile:

Click Analytics Settings
In the Website Profiles box, click Add
Select a radio button to add a profile for an existing domain (one for which a profile already exists) or to add a profile for a new domain or subdomain.
If you're adding a profile for an existing domain, select the appropriate value from the Select Domain drop-down list, and enter the Profile Name as you would like it to appear in your account
If you're creating a profile for a new domain, enter the value in the text field provided. You may enter a subdomain or domain path if desired, and make sure to specify if the domain uses http:// or https:// from the drop-down list.
Click Finish to add the new profile, or Cancel to exit without saving.

Once you've created a profile, you'll need to add tracking code to your pages. To do so, please read How do I add tracking code to my website?

How do I grant users access to specific profiles?

To grant access to one or more profiles for an existing user:

Click Access Manager
In the Existing Access list, find the user to update and click Edit
Select the profiles to which this user should have access from the Available Website Profiles list
Click Add to move the selected profiles to the Selected Website Profiles list
Use Remove to move any profiles away from the Selected... list if access is not required
Click Save Changes to update this user's access, or Cancel to return to the previous screen without saving

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : A product feature : Visitor segmentation

How can I classify my visitors according to what pages they visit on my site or what their responses on a form are?

In addition to segmenting users along pre-defined segments such as geographic region and language preference, Google Analytics allows you to define custom segments and analyze the behavior of each segment. For example, you might ask visitors to select their job category (such as Engineering, Marketing, motorcycle stunt riding, etc) from a form. You could then analyze browsing and buying behavior based upon the selected job categories.

You can view conversion behavior for each of your custom segments in the Marketing Optimization > Visitor Segment Performance > User-Defined report. Also, many other reports allow you to cross-analyze data according to visitor segment. To cross-analyze, click the Analysis Options button at the far left of any entry in most reports. Select User-Defined to view your custom segments.

To set a visitor segment, simply call the JavaScript __utmSetVar function. For example, make the following call anywhere on the web page below your tracking code:

<script language="text/javascript>__utmSetVar('Marketing/PR');< /script>

Examples:

Assign visitors to a particular page to the "Marketing/PR" segment

In this example, anyone who visits the page will be assigned to the "Marketing/PR" segment.

<body onLoad="javascript:__utmSetVar("Marketing/PR")">

Assign users to a segment when a link is clicked

<a href="link.html" onClick="__utmSetVar('Marketing /PR');">Click here </a>

Assign visitors to a segment based on their form selection

In this example, visitors are assigned to a segment according to their selection in a form.

<form onSubmit="__utmSetVar(this.mymenu.options
[this.mymenu.selectedIndex].value);">
<select name=mymenu>
<option value="Technical/Engineering">
Technical/Engineering</option>
<option value="Marketing/PR">Marketing/PR</option>
<option value="Manufacturing">Manufacturing</option>
<option value="General Management">General Management</option>

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : A product feature : Campaign variables (Tagging links)

How do I hide the campaign tracking variables in my links?

Google Analytics allows you to tag your non-AdWords campaign links using master tracking codes (known as a utm_id) instead of including a list of individual variables. You simply use the utm_id in your links, and define the meaning of each utm_id in a table. For example, instead of

http://www.example.com/?utm_source=overture
&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=springpromo

you can use a utm_id as follows:

http://www.example.com/?utm_id=2

Using a utm_id hides your campaign tracking variables from web surfers and makes your tagging process less error-prone, since campaign tracking variable values are specified in a table, where corrections and changes are easily made.

To use master tracking codes, you'll need to:

Define your codes in a table
Email Google Analytics support at analytics-support@google.com and submit the table. Please indicate which profile the master tracking table should be applied to and if you require your historical data to be re-run in order to show the effects of the new tracking table
Use your master tracking codes in your links

For additional information about creating your master tracking codes in a table, please read Using Master Tracking Codes.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : A product feature : Another feature

What is urchinTracker and how can it help me?

Google Analytics' urchinTracker allows you to track events on your site that do not generate a pageview. Using the urchinTracker JavaScript, you can assign a specific page filename to Flash events, JavaScript events, file downloads, outbound links, and more.

For more information on using urchinTracker, please refer to the following help articles:

What is A/B Testing and how can it help me?

A/B Testing allows you to compare different versions of advertising content and their effectiveness at referring quality leads and customers.

Often, multiple versions of promotional content link to the same landing page on a web site. A/B Testing provides a way for you to tag each version of the promotional content, even when all versions link to the same landing page, so that you can see which ones are most effective (version A or version B). You can view data on clickthrough rates, new leads, average page depth, visitor loyalty, conversion figures, and revenue for each version of content.

A/B testing uses the variables set in your tracking URLs to compare values. Specifically, A/B testing requires the use of utm_source , utm_medium, and utm_content.* If you have multiple types of products or multiple campaigns, you should also use the utm_campaign variable. For example, if you have a 'spring sale' campaign as well as a 'brand X' promotion, you can indicate the appropriate campaign in your link.

The following example illustrates the use of these variables in an email newsletter. In this example, the newsletter contains multiple links to a single page on your web site.

The first link is a text link:

http://www.example.com/buy_page?utm_source=newsletter
&utm_medium=email&utm_content=buytext

The second link is a hyperlinked image:

http://www.example.com/buy_page?utm_source=newsletter
&utm_medium=email&utm_content=buypict

Google Analytics provides a URL builder tool that creates links for you, embedding the campaign information that you specify. Using this tool ensures that your links contain the correct syntax. It is important that you use consistent names and spellings for all of your campaign variable values. For example, choose a code or name that indicates 'cost-per-click' and use it consistently. To Urchin Campaign Tracking, utm_medium=cpc and utm_medium=cost_per_click are different mediums.

A master tracking code feature is available that significantly reduces the possibility of consistency errors.

* For AdWords campaigns, it is only necessary to add the 'utm_content' variable to your links. The 'source' and 'medium' variables are filled automatically by AdWords autotagging for AdWords campaigns.

What is __utmLinker and how can it help me?

__utmLinker is a JavaScript function that is used when the links on your site require users to change root domain names - for example, from www.example.com to www.shoppingcart.com. For instructions on setting this up, please read How do I use Google Analytics to track a 3rd-party shopping cart?

It is not necessary to use utmLinker when switching between subdomains. If your site contains multiple subdomains, you'll need to configure your profiles appropriately - please read the following help articles for more information:

How do I track all of the subdomains for my site in one profile?

How do I track all of the subdomains for my site in separate profiles?

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : User permissions : Access my account

How do I log in to Google Analytics?

You can log in to your Google Analytics account at any time from the home page at http://www.google.com/analytics. If you've forgotten your password, click the Forgot your password? link below the login area to reset it.

If you're also an AdWords advertiser, Google Analytics is fully integrated with your AdWords account. Simply sign in to AdWords at https://adwords.google.com and click the Analytics tab.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : User permissions : Control others' access to my data

How do I restrict a user's access to certain domains or reports?

Google Analytics' Access Manager screen allows you to add new users to your account, so that they may view reports. Their access to particular reports and/or domains is configured through a combination of profile access and Report Dashboards and Categories.

The first step is to add a user to your Google Analytics account - instructions are available from How do I grant other users access to my Analytics reports?.

Profile Access When adding or editing a user, the Allow access to section allows you to grant permission to that user to any or all of the existing profiles. Available Website Profiles are listed on the left - select one or more and click Add to move those profiles to the Selected Website Profiles frame. Click Finish to save these changes. Using these settings, you can ensure that each user has access to reports only for those profiles which are appropriate.

Report Dashboards and Categories If you would like a user to have access to a certain subset of reports only, you can set the available reports on a profile level. For example, if ProfileA shows all reports for domain www.example.com, but you'd like user JohnDoe to view only the marketing reports for www.example.com:

Create a new profile (ProfileB) with the same settings as ProfileA
From the Analytics Settings page, click edit to update ProfileB's settings
In the Main Website Profile Information section, click edit
Select reports for JohnDoe from the Available reports section and click Save Changes
Click the Access Manager link
Click in JohnDoe's row
Select ProfileB from the Available Website Profiles list and click Add to move it to the Selected... list
Click Save Changes

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Contact Form Topics (Hidden) : Something else : Other

I would like to cancel my Google Analytics account.

To cancel your account, you need only remove the Google Analytics tracking code from the source code of your pages. This will prevent your data from being collected by our servers. We hope you'll try Google Analytics again in the future when it may better suit your needs.

The Terms of Service seem to indicate I can't use Google Analytics for commercial purposes.

Please be assured that you may use Google Analytics on your websites. We are working to clarify this language in our Terms of Service.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Conversion Goals & Funnels : Funnels for non-HTML Pages

The URLs for each step in my Defined Funnel Path are identical. How can I track each step as if it were a unique URL?

You may wish to track visitors' progress through a funnel which has the same URL for each step. For example, your sign up funnel might look like this:

Step 1 (Sign Up) - www.mysite.com/sign_up.cgi
Step 2 (Accept Agreement) - www.mysite.com/sign_up.cgi
Step 3 (Finish) - www.mysite.com/sign_up.cgi

To get around this, you can call the urchinTracker Javascript function within each step (probably within an onload event), as follows:

urchinTracker("/funnel_G1/step1.html")
urchinTracker("/funnel_G1/step2.html")
urchinTracker("/funnel_G1/step3.html")

Then, set up each step of your funnel to be:

http://www.mysite.com/funnel_G1/step1.html
http://www.mysite.com/funnel_G1/step2.html
http://www.mysite.com/funnel_G1/step3.html

Note that the path/filename argument to urchinTracker() need not represent an existing path or filename. The argument to urchinTracker simply provides a made-up pagename to which Google Analytics can attach pageviews.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Conversion Goals & Funnels : Funnels Overview

What is a funnel?

A 'funnel' is a series of pages through which a visitor must pass before reaching the conversion goal. The name comes from a graph of visitors who reach each page - the first page counts the most visitors, and each successive page shows less visitors as they drop off before reaching the final goal.

The purpose of tracking these pages is to see how efficiently your pages direct visitors to your goal. If any of the funnel pages are overly complicated, or not designed to be user-friendly, then you will see significant drop off and lower conversion rates. You can track drop-off rates on pages leading to a goal using the Defined Funnel Abandonment report in the Content Optimization section.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Conversion Goals & Funnels : Goals Overview

How do I set up goals?

A goal is a website page which a visitor reaches once they have made a purchase or completed another desired action, such as a registration or download. Before Google Analytics can calculate goal conversion metrics, you must define one or more goals. A goal is defined with the following information:

URL for the goal page: Specify a page that can only be reached by achieving a goal. In the case of a registration goal, for example, the goal page might be the Thank You page. If your goal page can be reached by visitors who have not completed the goal, your conversion rates will be inflated.
The name of the goal: Specify a name that you will recognize when viewing reports. Examples of names you might use include "email sign-up" and "article ABC download".
The defined funnel: You may specify up to ten pages in a defined funnel. A funnel represents the path that you expect visitors to take on their way to converting to the goal. Defining these pages allows you to see how frequently visitors abandon goals, and where they go. For an e-commerce goal, these pages might be the first page of your checkout process, then the shipping address info page, and finally the credit card information page.
The value of the goal: For e-commerce goals, Google Analytics can use the actual value of the purchase. To allow Analytics to do so, leave the Goal Value field blank and set up your purchase receipt page as described in How do I track e-commerce transactions?.

For non-e-commerce goals, Google Analytics uses an assigned goal value to calculate ROI, Average Score, and other metrics. A good way to value a goal is to evaluate how often the visitors who reach the goal become customers. If, for example, your sales team can close 10% of people who request to be contacted, and your average transaction is $500, you might assign $50 (i.e. 10% of $500) to your "Contact Me" goal. In contrast, if only 1% of mailing list signups result in a sale, you might only assign $5 to your "email sign-up" goal.

To set up your goals, Enter Goal Information:

Log in to your Google Analytics account and click Analytics Settings
Find the profile for which you will be creating goals, and click Edit
Select one of the 4 goal slots available for that profile and click Edit
Enter the Goal URL. Reaching this page marks a successful conversion. For example, a registration confirmation page, a checkout complete page, or a thank you page
Enter the Goal name as it should appear in your Google Analytics account
Turn the goal On or Off. This selection decides whether Google Analytics should track this conversion goal at this time. Generally, you will want to set the Active Goal selection to On

Then, Define a funnel by following these steps:

Enter the URL of the first page of your conversion funnel. This page should be a page that is common to all users working their way towards your Goal. For example, if you are tracking user flow through your checkout pages, do not include a product page as a step in your funnel
Enter a Name for this step
If this step is a Required step in the conversion process, select the checkbox to the right of the step. If this checkbox is selected, users reaching your goal page without travelling through this funnel page will not be counted as conversions
Continue entering goal steps until your funnel has been completely defined. You may enter up to 10 steps, or as few as a single step

Finally, configure Additional settings by following the steps below:

If the URLs entered above are Case sensitive, select the checkbox
Enter a Goal value. This is the value used in Google Analytics' ROI calculations, and can be either a set value for the page, or a dynamic value pulled from your e-commerce receipt page. If the former, enter the amount in the field; if the latter, leave this field blank and refer to How do I track e-commerce transactions?
Click Save Changes to create this Goal and funnel, or Cancel to exit without saving

How do I use actual e-commerce values as my goal value?

Once you have set up e-commerce tracking on your web pages, it's easy to use the transaction values as conversion goal values in your reports. This allows for extremely detailed ROI information when paired with AdWords or imported cost information. If you haven't yet set up e-commerce tracking, please read How do I track e-commerce transactions?

Once you've set up tracking on your pages, you'll need to set up a conversion goal and, optionally, a funnel that leads to the goal. Instructions are available from How do I set up goals? Make sure to leave the Goal Value field blank, so that Google Analytics knows to look for your e-commerce information as the goal value.

How does Google Analytics differ from Adwords Conversion Tracking?

These two products, though separate, are geared toward a similar purpose - helping website owners analyze their website performance so that they can make better business decisions and get great performance results. You can use either one of these products alone, or use both at the same time - they will not interfere with each other's tracking.

AdWords conversion tracking

In online advertising, a conversion occurs when a click on your ad leads directly to user behavior you deem valuable, such as a purchase, signup, page view, or lead. Google has developed a tool to measure these conversions, and ultimately, help you identify how effective your AdWords ads and keywords are for you.

It works by placing a cookie on a user's computer when he/she clicks on one of your AdWords ads. Then, if the user reaches one of your conversion pages, the cookie is connected to your web page. When a match is made, Google records a successful conversion for you. Please note that the cookie Google adds to a user's computer when he/she clicks on an ad expires in 30 days. This measure, and the fact that Google uses separate servers for conversion tracking and search results, protects the user's privacy.

Google Analytics

If you'd like to take advantage of more robust website analytics, we encourage you to create a free Google Analytics account. In addition to basic conversion tracking, Urchin also offers sitewide pageview analysis, advanced goal definition, conversion funnel analysis, and various advanced conversion reports. Just like AdWords conversion tracking, Google Analytics is fully integrated into your AdWords account, allowing you to view your reports and settings from the Analytics tab in AdWords. Learn more about Google Analytics.

What are examples of conversion goals?

Conversion goals can be any page on your site (with some extra code, they can even be file downloads or on-page actions). Some examples of good conversion goals are:

A 'thank you' page after a user has submitted information through a form. This can track newsletter signups, email list subscriptions, job application forms, or contact forms.
A purchase confirmation page or receipt page
An 'About us' page
A particular news article
Any other page that you are trying to drive your visitors to

What do the abbreviations in the column headers mean?

G1, G2, G3 and G4 refer to the site conversion goals specified in the profile settings. The URLs associated with particular conversion goals can be found in the Content Optimization > Goals & Funnel Processes > Goal Verification report.

P refers to the pageviews associated with a visit. The Content Optimization > Content Performance > Depth of Visit report covers this in detail.

T refers to the transactions posted during a visit. The complete list of transactions recorded with Google Analytics can be found in the E-commerce Analysis > Commerce Tracking > Transaction List report. If you're not currently tracking transactions, read How do I track e-commerce transactions?

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Filters : Filter Configuration

What filter fields are used by the reports?

Overview

During processing, each hit in the log file is separated and calculated into different fields. These fields are then used to update data tables which are queried for report views. Some reports have special storage and are not included in the data tables.

The following table lists all of the predefined reports and which data is queried for each.

Analytics Report Regular Fields (from Regular Field List) Integers Fields (from Integer Field List)

Key Performance Summaries

Visitor Summary n/a visits, pages

Visitor Type visits

Vistor City , Visitor Region, Visitor Country visits

Campaign Source visits

E-commerce Summary n/a revenue, transactions

Visitor Type revenue

Visitor City, Visitor Region, Visitor Latitude revenue

Campaign Source revenue

Conversion Summary n/a visits, goals1, goals2, goals3, goals4

Marketing Summary Campaign Source visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits

Campaign Term visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits

Campaign Name visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits

Content Summary Request URI entrancepages, bouncepages, bouncepages/entrancepages

Request URI exitpages, pages, exitpages/pages

Request URI visits, pages, pagetime/pages-exitpages

Marketing Optimization

Unique Visitor Tracking

Daily Visitors n/a hits2

n/a newvisitors/hits2

Visits&Pageview Tracking n/a visits

n/a pages

n/a pages/visits

Goal Conversion Tracking n/a goals1/visits

n/a goals2/visits

n/a goals3/visits

n/a goals4/visits

Absolute Unique Visitors n/a newvisitors, priorvisitors

Visitor Loyalty n/a validhits

Visitor Recency n/a hits

Visitor Segment Performance

New vs Returning Visitor Type visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Referring Source Campaign Source, Campaign Medium visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Geo Location Visitor Country, Visitor Region, Visitor City visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Geo Map Overlay Visitor Country, Visitor Region, Visitor City, Visitor Latitude, Visitor Longitude visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Network Location Visitor ISP Organization visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Language Visitor Language Settings visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

User-defined User Defined Variable visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Marketing Campaign Results

Campaign Conversion Campaign Name , Campaign Source, Campaign Medium visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Source Conversion Campaign Source , Campaign Medium visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Medium Conversion Campaign Medium , Campaign Source visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Referral Conversion Campaign Source , Campaign Content visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Campaign ROI Campaign Source , Campaign Medium visits, cost, revenue, cost/visits, revenue/visits, revenue-cost/cost

Source ROI Campaign Name , Campaign Medium, Campaign Source visits, cost, revenue, cost/visits, revenue/visits, revenue-cost/cost

Medium ROI Campaign Medium , Campaign Source visits, cost, revenue, cost/visits, revenue/visits, revenue-cost/cost

Search Engine Marketing

CPC Program Analysis Campaign Source , Campaign Medium, Campaign Name impressions, clicks, transactionscostrevenue, clicks/impressions, transactions/clicks, cost/clicks, revenue/clicks, revenue-cost/cost

Overall Keyword Conversion Campaign Name , Campaign Source, Campaign Medium visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

CPC vs Organic Conversion Campaign Source , Campaign Medium, Campaign Name visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Keyword Considerations Campaign Name, Campaign Term visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Day Parts Breakdown Campaign Term , Campaign Hour responses, responses, goals2/responses, goals4/responses, goals4/responses, transactions/responses

Content Optimization

Ad Version Testing

Overall Ad A/B Testing Campaign Content visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Source Specific Testing Campaign Source, Campaign Medium, Campaign Content visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Keyword Specific Testing Campaign Term, Campaign Content visits, pages/visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

Content Performance

Top Content Request URI visits, pages, pagetime/pages-exitpages, exitpages/pages, errorhits6/visits

Content Drilldown Request URI visits, pages, pagetime/pages-exitpages, exitpages/pages, errorhits6/visits

Content by Titles Page Title visits, pages, pagetime/pages-exitpages, exitpages/pages, errorhits6/visits

Page Query Terms Request URI pages

Depth of Visit n/a errorhits

Length of Visit n/a bytes

Navigational Analysis

Entrance Bounce Rates Request URI entrancepages, bouncepages, bouncepages/entrancepages

Top Exit Points Request URI exitpages, pages, exitpages/pages

Site Overlay - -

Initial Navigation P1, P2, P3 visits, goals1/visits, goals2/visits, goals3/visits, goals4/visits, transactions/visits, revenue/visits

All Navigation Request URI pages

PA*, PB* pages, goals1/pages, goals2/pages, goals3/pages, goals4/pages, transactions/pages, revenue/pages

Goals&Funnel Process

Goal Tracking n/a goals1

n/a goals2

n/a goals3

n/a goals4

Goal Conversion n/a goals1/visits

n/a goals2/visits

n/a goals3/visits

n/a goals4/visits

Defined Funnel Navigation PG*, CD* visits

Defined Funnel Abandonment n/a goalstarts1-goals1/goalstarts1

n/a goalstarts2-goals2/goalstarts2

n/a goalstarts3-goals3/goalstarts3

n/a goalstarts4-goals4/goalstarts4

Reverse Goal Path R3*, R2*, R1*, GX* goals1, goals2, goals3, goals4

Goal Verification Campaign Goal goals1, goals2, goals3, goals4

Web Design Parameters

Browser Versions Browser Program , Browser Version visits

Platform Versions Visitor Operating System Version, Visitor Connection Speed visits

Browser&Platform Combos Visitor Browser Program, Visitor Browser Version, Visitor Operating System Version, Visitor Connection Speed visits

Screen Resolutions Visitor Screen Resolution visits

Screen Colors Visitor Screen Colors visits

Languages Visitor Language Settings visits

Javascript Enabled Visitor Javascript Enabled? visits

Javascript Version Javascript Version visits

Flash Version Visitor Flash Version visits

Connection Speed Visitor Connection Speed visits

Hostnames Hostname pages

E-Commerce Analysis

Commerce Tracking

Revenue&Transactions n/a revenue

n/a transactions

Conversion Rate Graph n/a transactions/visits

Average Order Value n/a revenue/transactions

Transaction List n/a revenue, tax, shipping, items

Loyalty&Latency

New vs Returning Visitor Type visits, transactions, revenue, revenue/visits, revenue/transactions

Time to Transaction n/a nonpages

Visits to Transaction n/a pages

Revenue Sources

Referring Sources Campaign Source, Campaign Medium bouncepages, transactions, revenue/transactions

Languages Visitor Language Settings revenue, transactions, revenue/transactions

Organizations Visitor ISP Organization revenue, transactions, revenue/transactions

User-defined User Defined revenue, transactions, revenue/transactions

Top Cities E-Commerce Transaction City, E-Commerce Transaction Region, E-Commerce Transaction Region revenue, transactions, revenue/transactions

Country Drilldown E-Commerce Transaction Region, E-Commerce Transaction Region, E-Commerce Transaction City revenue, transactions, revenue/transactions

Affiliations E-Commerce Store or Order Location revenue, transactions, revenue/transactions

Product Merchandising

Product Performance E-Commerce Item Name, E-Commerce Item Code items, transactions, itemrevenue, itemrevenue/items, items/transactions

Product Country Correlation E-Commerce Item Variation, E-Commerce Item Name, E-Commerce Item Code items, transactions, itemrevenue, itemrevenue/items, items/transactions

Product City, Region Correlation E-Commerce Item Name, E-Commerce Transaction Region items, transactions, itemrevenue, itemrevenue/items, items/transactions

E-Commerce Item Name, E-Commerce Transaction Region, E-Commerce Transaction City items, transactions, itemrevenue, itemrevenue/items, items/transactions

Product Keyword Correlation E-Commerce Item Name, Campaign Term items, transactions, itemrevenue, itemrevenue/items, items/transactions

Product Source Correlation E-Commerce Item Name, Campaign Source, Campaign Medium items, transactions, itemrevenue, itemrevenue/items, items/transactions

What information do the filter fields represent?

The following table lists all available Fields and their purpose.

Filter Name	Description
Regular Field List
Request URI	Includes the relative URL, or piece of the URL after the hostname. For example: for http://www.google-analytics.com/requestURL/index.html?sample=text the Request URI is /requestURL/index.html?sample=text
Hostname	The full domain name of the page requested. For example: for http://www.google-analytics.com/requestURL/index.html?sample=text the hostname is www.google-analytics.com
Referral	The external referrer, if any. This field is only populated for the initial external referral at the beginning of a session.
Page Title	The contents of the <title> tags in the HTML of the delivered page.
Visitor Browser Program	The name of the browser program used by the visitor.
Visitor Browser Version	The version of the browser program used by the visitor.
Visitor Operating System Platform	The visitor's operating system platform.
Visitor Operating System Version	The visitor's operating system version.
Visitor Language Settings	The language setting in visitor browser preferences.
Visitor Screen Resolution	The resolution of the visitors screen, as determined from the browser program.
Visitor Screen Colors	The color capabilities of the visitors screen, as determined from the browser program.
Visitor Java Enabled?	The java enabled variable describes whether JavaScript is enabled in the visitor's browser program.
Visitor Flash version	The Flash version variable describes what version of Flash is installed in the visitor's browser program
Visitor IP Address	The visitor's IP Address.
Visitor Geographic Domain	The visitor's geographic domain. For example, the geographical domain of http://www.google.co.uk/ is .co.uk.
Visitor ISP Organization	The ISP organization registered to the IP address of the user. This is the ISP the visitor is using to access the internet.
Visitor Country	The visitor's geographic country location obtained by information registered with the IP address. ex: United States
Visitor Region	The visitor's geographic region or state location obtained by information registered with the IP address. ex: California
Visitor City	The visitor's geographic city location obtained by information registered with the IP address. ex: San Francisco
Visitor Connection Speed	The visitor's connection speed, as determined by the visitor's internet connection as determined by the browser.
Visitor Type	Either "New Visitor " or "Returning Visitor," based on Google Analytics identifiers.
Custom Field 1	An empty, custom field for storage of values during filter computation. Data is not stored permanently in this field, but can be written to Custom Field 1 or 2 to be used by a subsequent filter.
Custom Field 2	An empty, custom field for storage of values during filter computation. Data is not stored permanently in this field, but can be written to Custom Field 1 or 2 to be used by a subsequent filter.


User Defined Variables These variables can be set by modifying javascript through the GATC, E-Commerce fields, or variables in a tracking link.
Filter Name	Description
Campaign Source	Campaign Source is defined by the tagged page request query. This usually denotes the resource that provided the click. For example: "AdWords". This variable is automatically generated for AdWords hits when auto-tagging is turned on through the AdWords interface.
Campaign Medium	Method of Delivery. Campaign Medium is defined by the tagged page request query. This typically refers to the medium used to generate the request, for example: "Organic," "CPC," or "PPC." This variable is automatically generated for AdWords hits when autotagging is turned on through the AdWords interface.
Campaign Name	Campaign Name is defined by the tagged request query. This usually refers to name given to the marketing campaign or used to differentiate campaign source. For example, "OctoberCampaign." This variable is automatically generated for AdWords hits when auto-tagging is turned on through the AdWords interface.
Campaign Term	The term defined by the tagged page request query. The campaign term usually refers to the term used to generate the ad from the referring source or campaign source, such as a keyword. This variable is automatically generated for AdWords hits when auto-tagging is turned on through the AdWords interface.
Campaign Content	Campaign Content is defined by the tagged request query. The Content tag typically defines multivariate testing, or is used to disseminate campaign target variables in an advertising campaign. This variable is automatically generated for AdWords hits when auto-tagging is turned on through the AdWords interface.
Campaign Code	The campaign code, defined by the tagged request query, can be used to refer to a campaign lookup table, or chart of referring codes used to define variables in place of multiple request query tags.
User Defined	A custom variable name, for use by the end-user.
E-Commerce Transaction Id	An ID variable used to correlate to a designate transaction, usually ecommerce related.
E-Commerce Transaction Country	The Transaction Country variable is used to designate the country defined by the transaction process.
E-Commerce Transaction Region	The Transaction Region variable is used to designate the region defined by the transaction process.
E-Commerce Transaction City	The Transaction City variable represents the city where the commerce transaction occurred
E-Commerce Store or Order Location	The Transaction Affiliation tag describes the affiliating store or processing site.
E-Commerce Item Name	The name given to the subject of e-commerce transaction
E-Commerce Item Code	The identifier or code number given to the item of the e-commerce transaction.
E-Commerce Item Variation	A custom e-commerce variable, most often used to store distinguishing information about items. For example, this field may hold "blue" and "white" as distinguishing characteristics of two otherwise similar hooded sweatshirts.

Integer Field List

Overview
When a hit is processed by Google Analytics, certain integer fields are populated, indicating whether the hit is a pageview, whether it is part of a new session, how many bytes were transferred, etc.

These integer values are used in updating many of the data tables. In particular, the Data Map (which maps all of the text-type data tables) references these integer fields by number.

Integer Field List
The following table lists all of the available integer fields and their corresponding id number.

IFIELD id Field Name

1 hits

2 validhits

3 errorhits

4 bytes

5 pages

6 nonpages

7 entrancepages

8 exitpages

9 bouncepages

10 pagetime

11 visits

12 visitors

13 newvisitors

14 priorvisitors

15 transactions

16 customers

17 newcustomers

18 priorcustomers

19 revenue

20 tax

21 shipping

22 items

23 itemrevenue

24 responses

25 impressions

26 clicks

27 cost

28 goals1

29 goals2

30 goals3

31 goals4

32 goalstarts1

33 goalstarts2

34 goalstarts3

35 goalstarts4

36 score

In what order are my filters applied?

By default, a profile's filters are applied to the incoming data in the order in which the filters were added. However, you can easily modify the order from your Profile Settings page, using the Assign Filter Order link in the Filters Applied to Profile table.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Filters : Filter Types

Advanced filters

The Advanced filter option allows you to construct Fields for reporting from one or two existing Fields. POSIX regular expressions and corresponding variables can be used to capture all or parts of Fields and combine the result in any order you wish. For general information on how filtering works and a list of what each Field is used for, please read the Filtering Overview and Filter Fields articles at the beginning of this section.

Using Advanced Filters

An Advanced Filter takes up to two fields, Field A and Field B, to construct the Output Field. The Extract A expression is applied to Field A, and the Extract B expression is applied to Field B. These expressions can use complete or partial text matches and include wildcards. The following is a list of the most common wildcards and their meanings. The expressions conform to POSIX regular expressions.

Wildcard	Meaning
.	match any single character
*	match zero or more of the previous item
+	match one or more of the previous item
?	match zero or one of the previous item
()	remember contents of parenthesis as item
[]	match one item in this list
-	create a range in a list
\|	or
^	match to the beginning of the field
$	match to the end of the field
\	escape any of the above

Use the parenthesis () to capture parts of the Fields. These can be referenced in the Constructor using the $A1, $A2, $B1, $B2 notation. The $A or $B refers to the Field, and the number refers to which parenthesis to grab. In the above example, the entire Field A and the entire Field B are captured and assembled as the new field. The Output to Field can be a separate field or the same field as Field A or Field B.

Controls

The Override Output Field radio button allows you to decide what to do if the Output to Field already exists. The Field x Required option allows you to decide what to do if one of the expressions does not match. Finally, Case Sensitive indicates whether the data must match the strings with exact capitalization.

Include and exclude filters

Exclude and Include Filters are used to eliminate unwanted hits when processing a log file. The filters use regular expressions when matching against data in the fields of a hit. If you are unfamiliar with regular expressions, please read What are regular expressions? before proceeding.

How Google Analytics Uses Exclude/Include Filters

If the filter being applied is an Exclude Filter and the pattern matches, the hit is thrown away and Analytics continues with the next hit. If the pattern does not match, the next filter is applied to that hit. This means that you can create either a single Exclude Filter with multiple patterns separated by '|' or you can create multiple Exclude Filters with a single pattern each.

Include Filters are applied with the reverse logic. When an Include Filter is applied, the hit is thrown away if the pattern does not match the data. If multiple Include Filters are applied, the hit must match every applied Include Filter in order for the hit to be saved. To include multiple patterns for a specific field, create a single include filter that contains all of the individual expressions separated by '|'.

Controls

The 'Case Sensitive' control allows you to specify whether the filter should be applied with or without case sensitivity.

Search & Replace filters

Search & Replace Filters are used to replace a matched expression with another string. They require a filter field, an expression to search for, and a replace expression. The search expression is a regular expression, while the replace expression is any text that you wish to use to replace the original text.

You may use Search and Replace filters to remove a leading directory from your reports, for example. To do so, select the Request URI field and enter ^/directory/ in the Search String field. The Replace String would then be /

Another use would be to replace category id numbers with descriptive words in the query string of a request. For example, suppose that samples of the requested file with attached queries looks like:

/docs/document.cgi?id=1000
/docs/document.cgi?id=2000

Using the search and replace filter, you could convert the 1000 or 2000 ids to readable equivalents. For example, 1000 could be changed to books and 2000 to magazines. This would make your reports more useful for people who are not familiar with the individual id codes.

Lookup Table Filters

One useful application of a lookup table is to substitute human readable text for the often cryptic request parameters used with dynamic URLs. To substitute readable names for query parameters, follow the instructions below. This could, for example, substitute "Software overview" for www.example.com/page.html?id=691 in your reports.

TIP: if you'd like to substitute a readable name for a static filename (such as "installation guide" for /012248_ug_v12.html) you can follow the instructions below and omit Step 3.

Create a spreadsheet table that maps your codes to text labels. An example is shown below. The first row of the file must begin with "#Fields:", followed by "request_stem" in column 2.

#Fields:

request_stem

691

/help/software overview

790

/help/installation guide

1555

/documents/whitepaper

Save the Excel table as a tab delimited plain text file with an extension of .lt and send it to the Analytics support team. Make sure to specify which profile you would like this table to be applied to.
Create an advanced filter to map your query parameters to the request stem. This will rewrite /page.html?id=691 to /691 and will allow the lookup table to function properly:

Filter Type: Advanced
Field A: request_uri (AUTO)
Constructor A: id=([^&]*) <-- where id should be replaced with the actual query token
Field B: (None)
Extract B:
Output To: request_stem (AUTO)
Constructor: $A1
Override Output Field: Yes
Required Fields: A Required Only
Case Sensitive: No

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Filters : Troubleshooting Filters

I applied a filter to a profile but my existing report data hasn't changed.

When a filter is created in your profile, it is immediately applied to new data coming into your account. It will not affect historical data, nor are we able to reprocess your old data through the new filter.

I have added an "Include" filter to my profile. Why am I no longer seeing any data in my reports?

Adding more than one Include filter to a profile can cause data to not appear in your reports. To allow data to populate your reports again, we recommend assigning a maximum of one Include filter to each of your profiles.

To remove Include filters from a profile:

From the Analytics Settings screen, click Filter Manager
Click the Edit link adjacent to the filter to be removed
In the Selected Website Profiles list, click to select the profile from which the filter will be removed
Click Remove
Click Save Changes

Data should begin populating your reports 24 hours after the include filters have been removed.

If you have only one Include filter assigned to your profile, and data is still not appearing in your reports, you may have a syntax error in your filter. Common mistakes include filtering domain names when directories are expected. Try updating or removing the Include filter, and wait 24 hours to see if data appears in your reports.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Managing Profiles : Profile Limits

How many websites can I analyze with Google Analytics?

Google Analytics will track as many websites as you own! You're limited only by the 5 million pageview limit per month - but even that is removed if you're also an active AdWords user. We've provided multiple profiles in your account, so you can view individual reports for specific domains or subdomains. To learn how to start tracking a new site, please read How do I add a profile?

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Managing Profiles : Profile Management

How do I delete a profile?

To delete a profile:

Click Analytics Settings
In the Website Profiles box, find the profile you would like to delete
Click Delete
When prompted, click OK to delete the profile, or Cancel to return without deleting

Please note that deleting a profile also deletes all historical data associated with it. Google Analytics is not able to recover this data should you wish to restore it in the future.

Monitoring Performance : Google Analytics : Common Tasks : Tagging Links : Overview

Tool: URL Builder

Google Analytics URL Builder

Fill in the form information and click the "Generate URL" button, below. If you're new to tagging links or this is your first time using this tool, read How do I tag my links? If your Google Analytics account has been linked to an active AdWords account, there's no need to tag your AdWords links - Google Analytics will do it automatically.

Step 1: Enter the URL of your website.

Website URL: *
(e.g. http://www.urchin.com/download.html)

Step 2a: If you are using a Master Tracking Code, type the code and go to Step 3.

Campaign ID/Master Tracking Code: * (e.g. 1003)

Step 2b: Or, if you are not using a Master Tracking Code, fill in the fields below and go to Step 3.

Campaign Source: * (referrer: google, citysearch, newsletter4)

Campaign Medium: * (marketing medium: ppc, banner, email)

Campaign Term: (identify the paid keywords)

Campaign Content: (use to differentiate ads)

Campaign Name: * (product, promo code, or slogan)

Step 3

Helpful Information

Campaign ID/Master Tracking Code (utm_id)
If you are using master tracking codes, enter the code with which to tag this link. If you do not enter a Campaign ID, you must enter a Campaign Source and a Campaign Medium.

Campaign Source (utm_source)
Required. Use utm_source to identify a search engine, newsletter name, or other source. Example: utm_source=google

Campaign Medium (utm_medium)
Required. Use utm_medium to identify a medium such as email or cost-per- click. Example: utm_medium=cpc

Campaign Term (utm_term)
Required for paid search. Example: utm_term=running+shoes

Campaign Content (utm_content)
Required for A/B testing and content-targeted ads. Use utm_content to differentiate ads or links that point to the same URL. Examples: utm_content=logolink or utm_content=textlink

Campaign Name (utm_campaign)
Required for keyword analysis. Use utm_campaign to identify a specific product promotion or strategic campaign. Example: utm_campaign=spring_sale

* Required Fields. You must enter a Campaign ID or enter a Campaign Source and Campaign Medium.

Can I use AdWords' {keyword} parameter to set utm_term?

No, utm_term cannot be set using the {keyword} dynamic URL parameter in AdWords.

Monitoring Performance : Conversion Tracking (Google and Google Network) : Setting up and Using Conversion Tracking

What value(s) do I enter for the conversion options I selected?

You can still get detailed tracking data without filling in this optional field. However, you can further customize your statistics by entering conversion values.

What you enter into the (Advanced option: conversion value) Value field will depend on your conversion type and how your site is set up. For example, if all of the conversions recorded on a conversion confirmation page are evaluated the same way, and you measure signups as worth US$20.00 to your company, you would simply enter in the numeric value 20. If you're tracking page views as conversions, you could also enter a constant number such as 1 as your value. This allows you to track the total number of signups or leads that the visitor generated.

The number you enter here must be formatted with the decimal separator appropriate for your interface language. For example, in the US English interface you would use a dot (20.50) whereas other interfaces may call for a comma (20,50) to denote the same value. Currency symbols ($ and E) and characters other than your decimal separator are not accepted.

If the value is not a constant but instead changes (as with a shopping cart), you'll need to place a dynamic variable (such as Total_Cost) into the field in order to track properly. Make sure that the value of the variable will be the total value of the purchase(s) when the page is loaded.

When you select Refresh, the value you entered is inserted into the Google code. Once you place this individualized tracking code within your website code, a conversion occurs, and your conversion statistics are updated, you'll get detailed conversion tracking data in your AdWords report.

How do I set up conversion tracking?

To set up Google AdWords conversion tracking on your site, you will need to place a snippet of JavaScript code on your conversion confirmation pages (the 'Thank you for your purchase/subscription/visit' page). When you activate conversion tracking, Google will transparently assign an advertiser ID and enable conversion tracking for your account. The code snippet will show a visible Google Site Stats text block on the user-facing end pages to indicate that a conversion has been completed. Here's what happens:

A user clicks your AdWords ad.
Our googleadservices.com server places a temporary cookie on the user's computer.
If the user reaches one of your designated conversion confirmation request pages, his/her computer passes back the cookie and requests that our server send the conversion tracking text.
Google records the conversion event and correlates it with your campaign, Ad Group, URL and keyword.
At the next report update, you will see conversion statistics from the campaign level down to the keyword level.

You can also track conversions and your ad activity across your other advertising channels - such as Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) or email campaigns - with cross-channel conversion tracking. To set up cross-channel tracking, visit your Conversion Tracking page in the Campaign Summary section of your AdWords account.

Where do I put the tracking text block on my page?

To keep the text block as unobtrusive as possible, we recommend placing it in the lower right-hand corner of the conversion page (the Thank you for your purchase/subscription/visit page).

However, the text block should still be available for your visitors to view. You should not hide, obscure, tamper with or distort the text block in anyway. Please note that you may only select the background color for your text via the conversion tracking setup page; you may not alter the color of your text. Finally, the text block should also be placed no further than a quarter of the screen away from the last line of content on the page.

To install the text block on your page, you'll need to place the JavaScript code snippet between the <body> tags of your web page HTML, closer to the </body> tag. You should not add the code to dynamically-generated header and footer code. Doing so will cause you to track every page sharing the same header or footer, leaving you with meaningless conversion statistics.

Please be sure to copy-and-paste the entire code snippet we provide. The conversion code you place within your site code should not interfere with any other code, including other tracking code.

What can I do to verify that the conversion code is working?

You can easily verify that you have inserted the code snippet correctly on your website by completing a test conversion on your site. You should see the Google Site Stats text on your post-conversion page.

To verify that the code and conversion reporting are working correctly, you can wait for a conversion to occur on your site from an AdWords ad. Once this happens, check the conversion column in your reports to see that the conversion registered. Please note that updates to your account information take at least an hour.

Finally, you can also verify the full process yourself by searching on Google, clicking on one of your ads, and completing a conversion on your site. We recommend that you wait for a conversion to occur, though, because this method costs you an ad click. You should see a small but clearly visible text block on the conversion pages where you've placed the code. Again, you should then check your conversion reports to ensure that the conversion has recorded correctly.

When will my users see the Google Site Stats text?

Users will see the Google Site Stats text after clicking on your AdWords ad and making a transaction if you placed the code snippet on your confirmation page (the Thank you for your purchase/subscription/visit page). If users are confused or concerned, they can simply click the text to learn more about conversion tracking and reassures them that Google respects their privacy by not recording any personal information. Users will also have the option to provide their feedback about their experience with your website.

Where can I find detailed information on conversion data?

If you are using the AdWords conversion tracking tool, you will find general conversion data down to the keyword level on the Campaign Summary page.

You can also create customized reports featuring conversion data via the Create Report page (within the Reports tab section). To do this, fill out the form with your preferences for Report Type, View, Date Range, etc. Then use the Advanced Options section to customize your report column settings; click on 'Add or Remove Columns' and then choose the Conversion Columns you want included in your report. The report columns display will change to reflect your selections.

When you complete the form, click Create Report; it will be viewable as one of your last five saved reports in your Report Center.

For more information about running reports, please visit the Report Center FAQ.

Can I track two kinds of conversions?

Yes. You can track more than one kind of conversion by creating a customized report in your account. The AdWords Create Report section lets you generate reports showing performance statistics and conversion data for your account, Campaigns, Ad Groups, keywords, ad text, ad image, and URLs.

To create a customized report:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the Reports tab at the top of the page and then on the Create Report link.
Designate the information you'd like in your report by selecting your Report Type, Values, Date Range and which Campaigns and Ad Groups you want included.
Use the Advanced Options section to customize your report column settings; click on 'Add or Remove Columns' and then select from among the many options for the 'Conversion Columns' you want included in your report. The report columns display will change to reflect your selections. To further refine your results, you can set up to four data filters to screen out irrelevant statistics.
Schedule your report, save it as a template if you want to re-use it, and provide an email address and file format if you want it sent via email.
Click Create Report.

Your report will begin running based on your specifications and will be emailed (if you selected that option) as well as saved to your Report Center as one of your most recent five reports.

For more information about running reports, please visit the Report Center FAQ.

Lesson: Implementing Advanced Conversion Tracking

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Implementing Advanced Conversion Tracking": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Will users not referred by Google still see the Google Site Stats text?

The conversion tracking code snippet will show a visible Google Site Stats text block on your website's user-facing confirmation pages to indicate that a conversion has been completed. If you've set up AdWords conversion tracking (and not cross-channel tracking), the Google Site Stats text will only appear to users who have been referred to your site by Google. Here's what happens:

A user clicks your AdWords ad.
Our googleadservices.com server places a temporary cookie on the user's computer.
If the user reaches one of your designated conversion confirmation request pages, his/her computer passes back the cookie and requests that our server send the conversion tracking text.
Google records the conversion event and correlates it with your campaign, Ad Group, URL and keyword.
At the next report update, you will see conversion statistics from the campaign level down to the keyword level.

If you want to track conversions across other channels - such as Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) or email campaigns - you can set up cross-channel conversion tracking. With cross-channel tracking, the Google Site Stats text will appear to users who click on your ad that you're tracking from other networks. To learn about cross-channel tracking, visit your Conversion Tracking page in the Campaign Summary section of your AdWords account.

Can I stop conversion tracking?

Yes. You can stop either AdWords or cross-channel conversion tracking (or both) from the Conversion Tracking page in the Campaign Summary section of your account. Please note that if you pause your campaign, Google will stop collecting and displaying conversion information for your account. Also, even if you choose to stop conversion tracking, your historical conversion data will always continue to appear in your Report Center reports.

After you stop conversion tracking from within your account, review the relevant section below for the type of tracking you'd like to stop; additional steps may be required if you'd like to fully disable (rather than temporarily stop) conversion tracking.

Stop AdWords Conversion Tracking

After you click Stop AdWords tracking, the conversion statistics columns will no longer appear on your Campaign Summary tables. Cross-channel conversion tracking will still be available as long as you keep the JavaScript code snippet on your conversion pages. If you don't need cross-channel tracking, we suggest that you remove the code snippet from your conversion pages.

To start tracking again: If you ever change your mind, you can always return to the Conversion Tracking tab and set up AdWords conversion tracking again, with one difference. If you never removed your original tracking code from your website pages, you won't need to add it again (unless you'd like to change the tracking parameters, values, or place them on different pages). When you're finished with the setup process, click Continue to Cross-Channel Setup.

Stop Cross-Channel Tracking

After you click Stop cross-channel tracking, the Cross-Channel tab and your cross-channel statistics will no longer appear on your Campaign Management page. In order to stop sending data to Google, please do the following:

Remove the cross-channel JavaScript code snippets from your landing pages.
Change the tracking URLs in your non-AdWords ads back to their old format, removing the special text that was added to enable cross-channel tracking. (If you'd still like to use regular AdWords Conversion Tracking, be sure to leave the code snippets intact on your conversion pages.)

To start tracking again: If you ever change your mind, you can always return to the Conversion Tracking tab and set up cross-channel conversion tracking again, with one difference. If you never removed your original tracking code from your website pages, you won't need to add it again (unless you'd like to change the tracking parameters, values, or place them on different pages). However, you will need to modify the tracking URLs for your non-AdWords ad campaigns again. When you're finished with the setup process, click Test Setup.

Why do I have to choose my site's language to track conversions?

When you place the conversion tracking code snippet on your conversion confirmation page and a conversion occurs via an AdWords ad, a small but visible text block containing the text Google Site Stats will appear wherever you've placed the code. By indicating the language of your website, we can match the text to your site's language. Therefore, we ask that you select your website language when setting up conversion tracking for your account.

Can I track conversions by ad text and keywords?

You can track conversions by ad text and keyword, at the same levels as you track ad clicks today: campaign, Ad Group, URL, and keyword. Learn more about interpreting your conversion data.

Can I isolate specific conversions?

No. It is not possible to isolate specific conversions that occur on your website. Google AdWords conversion tracking provides you with overall conversion data. The reason is that tracking conversions of specific users would violate user privacy.

Google's conversion tracking server complies with P3P privacy policies. For more information on Google's privacy policy, please click here.

Do I need different code to track different conversion statistic types?

You do not need different code to track conversions by campaign, Ad Group, keyword, or other statistic types. By placing the one snippet of code on one or more of your site's conversion confirmation pages, you will automatically receive all of those conversion report statistics.

Guide: Google AdWords Conversion Tracking Setup Guide (PDF)

For comprehensive information about AdWords conversion tracking, we recommend you download and review our Conversion Tracking Guide. (Viewing this document requires .)

Can I compare content conversion rates and search conversion rates?

Yes. It is possible to compare content conversion rates and search conversion rates. These statistics are detailed within your reports down to the Ad Group level.

How can I set up conversion tracking to send users to my own feedback form?

We're happy to hear that you're interested in gathering additional feedback more specific to your own website. If you'd like to collect feedback from your customers, we recommend placing a link to your own feedback form on your site's confirmation page. Our updated form should not detract from your overall website and does not preclude you from taking this additional step.

Also, per the terms of our free conversion tracking feature, advertisers may not modify the conversion tracking code supplied via the program, if even to send users to a more customized location. It is important that users see our posted explanation of Google Site Stats and how we monitor their interaction with an advertiser's website.

Click here to learn more about conversion tracking and feature requirements.

Monitoring Performance : Conversion Tracking (Google and Google Network) : Deciding Whether to Use Conversion Tracking

What is conversion tracking?

How are conversions determined?

A conversion is registered when an ad click leads to an event that you consider valuable. Depending on the business, a conversion can be defined as:

A purchase
A signup or registration
A request for more information
A page view
A demo download / game play

The page where you confirm that a user has successfully taken one of these actions is the conversion page. The Google Site Stats text block is placed (generally, the Thank you for your purchase/subscription/visit page), and is then seen by the user after a conversion occurs.

How can conversion tracking benefit me?

When you have access to conversion data in your reports, you can make smarter online advertising decisions, particularly about what ads and keywords you invest in. Given better data, you can better measure your overall return on investment (ROI) for your AdWords campaigns.

For example, Bob owns an online business that sells eBooks. He knows how many clicks his AdWords campaign gets, but would like to know specifically which keywords are converting to sales. With basic conversion tracking, Bob can get this valuable information. With customized conversion tracking, he can also report the dollar amount of each sale and get the total revenue generated by each of his keywords as compared to the total cost of the keyword.

With conversion statistics, Bob discovers that the keyword "independent eBooks" has a return on investment (ROI) of 500%. Consequently, he optimizes his campaign by increasing the spend on that keyword, thus maximizing his AdWords ROI.

Which conversions will be tracked by Google?

We offer two types of conversion tracking tools - one for AdWords ads and one for non-AdWords ads. If you're using the AdWords conversion tracking tool, clicks originating on Google.com and selected Google Network sites will be tracked. If you're using our cross-channel tracking tool, clicks originating on other networks where your non-AdWords ads appear (such as Yahoo! or Lycos) will be tracked in addition to clicks on Google.com and our network sites. To set up cross-channel conversion tracking, visit the Conversion Tracking page in the Campaign Summary section of your AdWords account.

Why do I have to specify the security level of my website?

If your conversion confirmation page is secure (the URL begins with https://), then you should choose the https:// security level option. This changes the security level of the JavaScript code snippet, and ensures that your customers won't see a security alert when they complete a conversion.

What does the conversion code do?

To implement conversion tracking, Google gives you a JavaScript snippet to paste on the pages you wish to track. This code builds a URL that passes parameters back to Google and allows you to display the Google Site Stats text on your page. The query string data is used in the following way:

google_conversion_id: A unique value that allows Google to identify the advertiser receiving the conversion.
google_conversion_value: A numeric value defined by the advertiser equaling the value of the conversion.
google_conversion_label: The type of conversion that occurred (purchase, sign-up, page view, or lead). Google does not currently support advertiser-defined conversion types. Consequently, you cannot customize this string.
google_conversion_language: The language of the conversion tracking Google Site Stats text that appears on your website.

How much does conversion tracking cost?

Google's conversion tracking feature is completely free. All you need to get started with conversion tracking is a Google AdWords account with running ads and keywords, and a basic knowledge of your website code.

Will users not referred by Google still see the Google Site Stats text?

The conversion tracking code snippet will show a visible Google Site Stats text block on your website's user-facing confirmation pages to indicate that a conversion has been completed. This text will only appear to users who have been referred to your site by Google. Here's what happens:

A user clicks your AdWords ad.
Our googleadservices.com server places a temporary cookie on the user's computer.
If the user reaches one of your designated conversion confirmation request pages, his/her computer passes back the cookie and requests that our server send the conversion tracking text.
Google records the conversion event and correlates it with your campaign, Ad Group, URL and keyword.
At the next report update, you will see conversion statistics from the campaign level down to the keyword level.

What tracking options do I have / should I use?

Google helps you obtain more detailed statistics by offering the following five tracking labels:

Purchases/Sales
Helps online commerce sites track purchases and sales to determine return on investment (ROI).

Leads
Appropriate for sales organizations interested in tracking how many users requested follow-up calls for more information from a member of the sales team.

Signups
Designed for sites interested in tracking sign-up statistics for subscriptions or newsletters.

Views of a Key Page
Helps sites track how many times users have landed on a single page that's important to your business.

Other
Tracks a category unique to your service or business.

What are the prerequisites for conversion tracking?

All you need to get started with conversion tracking is an AdWords account with running ads and keywords. For additional conversion tracking setup information in printable form, please download our Conversion Tracking Setup Guide (viewing this file requires Adobe® Reader).

To successfully place the conversion code into your website, you or someone in your organization must also have a working knowledge of and access to that code.

How does Google use cookies in conversion tracking?

The cookie that Google adds to a user's computer when he/she clicks on an ad expires in 30 days. This measure, and the fact that Google uses separate servers for conversion tracking and search results, protects the user's privacy.

Users who don't wish to participate in tracking activities can easily not accept this cookie by setting their Internet browser user preferences. These users will simply not be included in your conversion tracking statistics.

Lesson: Basic ROI and Conversion Tracking

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Basic ROI and Conversion Tracking": multimedia lessons | text lessons

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

How many conversion pages can I track?

There is no limit on the number of conversion pages you can track. To define conversion pages, you simply place the conversion code on them. Please note that you should track only conversion pages (the Thank you for your purchase/subscription/visit page).

When the conversion code is added to the pages you want to track, you'll automatically get basic conversion statistics (an overall number of conversions completed). You can also use an optional feature that calculates the value of your clicks based on a numeric amount you assign to the conversion. Learn more.

If I opt in to the conversion tracking feature, what are my responsibilities?

By opting to use Google's conversion tracking feature, you are solely responsible for:

Following all activation instructions as outlined in the conversion tracking FAQs.
Ensuring that the Google Site Stats text is visible at all times. You may not partially or fully hide or modify the text block in any way.
Following all usage instructions as outlined in the conversion tracking FAQS.

Please note that we reserve the right to exercise our discretion regarding appropriate usage of the conversion tracking feature.

Will conversion tracking slow down my web pages?

Conversion tracking will not have an impact on how fast your web pages load. The JavaScript snippet communicates with our conversion tracking server so quickly that site visitors shouldn't notice any change in page loading performance.

Can I opt out of the Google Site Stats page feedback form?

We are sorry to hear that you do not want users to access our Google ratings form via your website. Please note that it is not possible to opt out of this feature. The Google Site Stats logo must be posted on the websites of advertisers using AdWords' free conversion tracking feature.

This change is an update to an existing feedback format for users who successfully complete an AdWords conversion. This is a valuable user resource and we do not believe this change will detract from your existing visitors' experience with your website.

If you truly do not want to display the Google Site Stats logo or potentially lead users to our feedback form, you will need to remove the conversion tracking code from your website.

Click here to learn more about conversion tracking and feature requirements.

Will I be able to see conversion rates by Google Network site?

No. It is not possible to see your website conversion rates by individual Google Network channel. Conversion reports are currently available only across all sites in the Google Network. However, you can now track conversions and ad activity across your other ad channels - such as Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) and email campaigns - with cross-channel tracking. To learn more about and/or set up cross-channel tracking, visit your Conversion Tracking page in the Campaign Summary section of your AdWords account.

Is conversion tracking secure?

Yes. Google's security standards are stringent; we use data encryption and secure servers, and do not collect or store personal information. In addition, only those pages containing the Google conversion code are tracked.

Demo: Understanding Conversion Tracking

AdWords Demos are narrated lessons that show you how to make the most of your AdWords account. (You'll need Flash installed on your system to view AdWords demos.)

View this demo now: Understanding Conversion Tracking.

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Demos.

Monitoring Performance : Conversion Tracking (Google and Google Network) : Troubleshooting Conversion Tracking

Why use visible text for conversion tracking when everyone else uses an invisible image?

Google has chosen to use visible Google Site Stats text for the conversion tracking process to make this process apparent to users. Our goal is not to place our brand or promote our company on your web pages; however, we feel that it is important to be honest with and respect the privacy of users being tracked.

For example, if users see and click on this text, Google provides them with information about not accepting the conversion tracking cookie if they wish, and we assure them that none of their personal information is being used or recorded in any way. Users can also learn more about conversion tracking itself by clicking on this text, and will also have the opportunity to provide feedback about their experience with your site.

We made the Google Site Stats text block as unobtrusive as possible, and ask that you place it in a corner of your confirmation page (the page after a transaction has taken place).

Why are my reports showing lower conversion numbers than I think I should be seeing?

Currently, Google can report only conversions for ads shown on Google and some Google Network sites or products. This means that not all conversions originating from your AdWords ads will be reported. However, your conversion rate, cost-per-conversion, cost-per-transaction, and value / click are adjusted to reflect only those sites from which we can track conversions.

In addition, remember that Google AdWords conversion tracking only reports conversions that occur within 30 days of an ad click. If a customer converts after the 30 days have passed, we don't report that conversion. When viewing conversions for a specified time period, note that conversions are assigned to the date on which the ad click occurs, not the date on which the conversion occurs. Also, we won't be able to report conversion for users who disable cookies.

What if I don't see my conversion statistics in my reports?

There may be several reasons why your conversions are not showing in your reports. Check the following conditions:

Make sure that the conversion code has been placed on your website.
- Navigate to the conversion confirmation page on your website.
- Make sure that you can see the Google Site Stats text on that page.
Check that the conversion code is on the correct page. Remember that you need to place the code on the conversion confirmation page-when a user reaches this page, there should be no way to back out from the conversion. If you put it on a previous page, Google may report conversions for users who leave your site before actually completing a conversion.
Check again after more time has elapsed. The reports may not have been updated yet with your conversion(s) - this can sometimes take up to 24 hours.

What if I don't see the conversion tracking text on my confirmation page?

View the page source and make sure that you see the conversion code on the page (marked with a < ! -- Google conversion code --> comment tag). To do this, select View > Source in your browser menu.

Why is my conversion rate over 100%?

If your conversion rate exceeds 100% - i.e. 101%, 102% - it may be because certain browser types prevent us from recognizing Google customers returning to a specific webpage as a repeat customer. Therefore, each time the returning customer revisits your conversion page, we classify him/her as a new customer and record a conversion (instead of a transaction). In effect, your conversion rate may surpass 100% at times.

Why don't a single user's visits to my site appear as multiple conversions?

Since AdWords is a clicks-driven product, we record a user who clicks on your ad and visits your conversion page as a new conversion. If the user later visits your conversion page multiple times within a 30-day period without having clicked on your ad, these visits are seen as multiple transactions.

For example, an additional conversion page visit from a converted user who returns to your site via a browser bookmark would be a transaction. However, if he or she were to click on your ad again and visit your conversion page, they'd be reported as a new user, and a new conversion.

Why is your conversion tracking image now a text block?

Google has chosen to use visible 'Google Site Stats' text for the conversion tracking process to make this process apparent to users. Our goal is not to place our brand or promote our company on your web pages; however, we feel that it is important to be honest with and respect the privacy of users being tracked.

Previously, our conversion tracking feature used a visible image for confirmation pages. Now, our simple text format will fit more seamlessly into your website pages. You'll be able to choose the format of your text and select a color that coordinates with your website design.

We ask that you place your conversion tracking code (and therefore, the text block) in a corner of your confirmation page (the page after a transaction has taken place). Please note that this text block must appear as is; the conversion tracking code generated via your account must not be altered in any way. Please note that you may only select the background color for your text; you may not alter the color of your text either during or after the conversion tracking setup process.

NOTE: If you've already implemented the conversion tracking code and currently have the Google Site Stats image on your confirmation page, the code will continue to function as normal without any impact on your account statistics. If you'd like to use the new simple text format, you'll need to go through the code generation process from start to finish. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Log into your AdWords account.

2. Click Conversion Tracking under the Campaign Management tab.

3. Click Get conversion tracking code in the box to the left-hand side.

Why is the conversion tracking text visible?

We want to notify the user that his/her site activity is being tracked. However, because we also want to protect the user's identity, we also make it clear that we don't record or use the user's personal data in any way.

Monitoring Performance : Cross-channel Tracking (non-Google channels) : Deciding Whether to Use Cross Channel Tracking

What is cross-channel tracking?

Google's cross-channel tracking gives you quick and easy access to the performance data for all your online advertising channels - including pay-per-click ads on search, email, banners, and more - all from one convenient location. From your AdWords account interface, you'll learn which campaigns are producing the highest conversion rates so you can make more informed decisions about where and how to spend your advertising dollars. As an added bonus, this tool is available free of charge.

How does cross-channel tracking work?

Cross-channel conversion tracking is a tool for analyzing and comparing all your online advertising efforts in one location. The process for recording a conversion is the same as recording an AdWords conversion. The difference is that instead of tracking conversions for just those using Google.com and the Google Network, this tool tracks conversions and ad effectiveness across other locations where your ad might appear. Cross-channel tracking statistics will appear within your AdWords account on a separate Cross-Channel tab on your Campaign Summary page.

We'll provide you with a Google tracking URL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/s) for each channel campaign - such as Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) or banner ads - that you set up. You'll use this URL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/s) as the Destination URL for your other channel's ad(s). When a user clicks on this ad from any location, we'll place a cookie on the user's computer, which in turn sends information to the Google server about the activity of the click. We'll record the location from which your user found your ad and other details, such as the specific keyword query used.

We obtain detailed cross-channel tracking data from the parameters located in the Google tracking URL we provide for you. This Google tracking URL appears as follows (where the letters in all caps represent customizable text specific to your information):

HTTP://YOURDOMAIN.COM?gkw=KEYWORD+KEYWORD&gad;=CHANNELADINO

For example, if your Destination URL is http://electronics.com/canon.html, your keyword phrase is 'canon cameras,' and your Google ad ID ("gad ID") is A9078783, your Google tracking URL will appear as:

http://electronics.com/canon.html?gkw=canon+cameras&gad;=A9078783

For more information on how to set up cross-channel tracking within your AdWords account, please click here

Will my Yahoo! Search Marketing ads be subject to review again if I add tracking URLs?

No. Your Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) ads will not need to be reviewed again if you add Tracking URLs. By simply clicking the On button from the Account Set-Up page within the Yahoo! Search Marketing DirecTraffic Center, your existing URLs will be appended with information that will allow you to identify traffic driven by Yahoo! Search Marketing and its affiliate network.

For more information on enabling tracking URLs in your Yahoo! Search Marketing account, please click here.

What's the best way to manage a campaign with multiple keywords?

The most efficient way to manage a campaign with multiple keywords is to utilize Tracking URLs for your top performing keywords. As for your additional keywords, you can group them under a single keyword, such as general, and use the provided URL for any keywords that you don't wish to track. With this option, you won't have to add unique URLs for each additional keyword.

Will my other channels penalize me for using Google tracking code in my ads?

Your other online advertising providers should not penalize you for using Google tracking code in your ads, just as they wouldn't penalize you for using third-party tracking software.

Your other channels should be aware that the Google tracking URLs are provided merely for the purpose of tracking conversions. Please note that Google does not have a business relationship with any of the various other online advertising channels, including Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture), email, banners and others. However, Google objectively monitors your other online advertising channels the same as a third party would.

What are tracking campaigns, and will they affect my current AdWords campaigns?

Tracking campaigns are mock ad campaigns that represent your cross-channel campaign setup. When you create one within the cross-channel conversion tracking wizard, you're only creating the shell of your non-AdWords ad campaign.

Rest assured that you aren't creating additional AdWords advertising or influencing the existing ad campaigns within your non-AdWords advertising accounts. The sole purpose of these mock campaigns is to help us organize how we set up tracking for and eventually report your conversions within your account.

I already use third party cross-channel tracking. How will this benefit me?

While other providers charge monthly rates for a standalone tool, you can take advantage of similar features from within your AdWords account for free. This gives you quick, easy access to your performance data for multiple advertising channels - including pay-per-click ads on search, email, banners, and more - from one convenient location. You'll learn which campaigns are producing the highest conversion rates so you can make more informed decisions about where and how to spend your advertising dollars.

Will my non-AdWords ad campaigns stop running after I insert the tracking URLs?

No. You can conveniently set up cross-channel tracking without worrying about affecting or interrupting ad delivery for your other non-AdWords advertising channels.

How much does cross-channel tracking cost?

Google cross-channel tracking tool is free for AdWords advertisers. All you need to get started is to have conversion tracking already enabled in your Google AdWords account and an active ad campaign through another (non-AdWords) online advertising channel.

For more information on how to set up cross-channel tracking within your AdWords account, please click here.

Lesson: Introduction To Cross-Channel Conversion Tracking

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Introduction To Cross-Channel Conversion Tracking": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Why should I use cross-channel tracking?

By collecting and comparing performance data for ad campaigns that you may run across different advertising channels - like Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture), email, and banner ad campaigns - you can find out which campaigns serve you best. When you've identified the campaigns that produce more sales and leads for your service or business, you can edit your campaigns to focus your dollars where they count. This means that you spend your advertising budget on campaigns that get you results.

Monitoring Performance : Cross-channel Tracking (non-Google channels) : Setting up Cross Channel Tracking

How do I set up cross-channel tracking?

First of all, you'll need to have AdWords conversion tracking enabled for your account. After you set up conversion tracking from your Conversion Tracking page in your AdWords account, you'll see the option to Continue to Cross-Channel Setup.

There are two set-up options - one for PPC channels and one for non-PPC channels. You'll need to set up one or more campaigns for each channel that you want to track. The easiest way to set up cross-channel tracking is to create a separate channel campaign for each Destination URL that you use. For instance, if you've created three different ads pointing to unique landing pages for Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture), you'll want to create three different channel campaigns in the cross-channel tracking setup wizard.

In overview, here are the steps to set up cross-channel tracking:

Choose an advertising channel.
Create a campaign for this channel.
Insert our JavaScript code into your website's landing page. Then, insert the auto-generated URL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/s) into your related channel's ad.
Test your setup.

VERIFY YOUR CROSS-CHANNEL TRACKING SETUP
The best way to verify that you have correctly set up your cross-channel campaign is to complete a test conversion on your site. You should see the Google Site Stats text on your transaction confirmation page.

You can also verify the full process yourself by conducting a search on Google, clicking on one of your ads, and completing a conversion on your site. We recommend that you wait for a conversion to occur, though, because this method will cost you an ad click. You should see a small but clearly visible text block on the conversion pages where you've placed the code. Again, you should then check your cross channel reports to ensure that the conversion has recorded correctly.

Please note that conversion statistics reporting within your account may be delayed up to 24 hours.

How do I set up tracking URLs for my Yahoo! Search Marketing account?

To set up tracking URLs for your Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) account, please follow these steps:

Log in to your Yahoo! Search Marketing account.
In your DirecTraffic Center, click Account Set-Up.
Under Yahoo! Easy Track, click the On button.
Click Submit.

Where do I put the cross-channel tracking text block on my page?

To keep the text block as unobtrusive as possible, we recommend placing it in the lower right-hand corner of the conversion page (the Thank you for your purchase/subscription/visit page). However, the text block should still be available for your visitors to view. You should not hide, obscure, tamper with, or distort the text block in any way. Finally, the text block should also be placed no further than a quarter of the screen away from the last line of content on the page.

When you set up cross-channel tracking, you'll be able to select the format of how the text block is displayed on your selected conversion pages. You'll also be able to customize the background color.

How many cross-channel campaigns should I set up?

You can set up tracking campaigns for all of your other online advertising channels. To get the best overall picture of how all of your channels are performing in relation to each other, you should set up one or more unique campaigns for each channel, such as search, email, banners, and others. Each campaign should include one Destination URL for the most comprehensive tracking.

From the Cross-Channel tab on your Conversion Tracking page in your AdWords account, you'll learn which campaigns are producing the highest conversion rates so you can make more informed decisions about where and how to spend your advertising dollars for the best overall return on investment (ROI).

The most efficient way to manage a price-per-click (PPC) channel campaign (see our glossary of terms) with multiple keywords is to utilize Tracking URLs for your top-performing keywords. As for your additional keywords, you can group them under a single keyword, such as general, and use the provided URL for any keywords that you don't wish to track. With this option, you won't have to add unique URLs for each additional keyword.

Can I alter Google's tracking URLs?

In order to maintain the most accurate conversion data and ensure that this feature works correctly, Google requires that you don't alter the tracking URLs provided for you.

Lesson: Cross-Channel Conversion Tracking: Setup and Maintenance

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Cross-Channel Conversion Tracking: Setup and Maintenance": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Monitoring Performance : Cross-channel Tracking (non-Google channels) : Analyzing Results

How do I maintain accurate cross-channel conversion data?

The best way to maintain accurate conversion data for pay-per-click (PPC) channels is to enable Tracking URLs for your respective channel's account. To learn more, please visit your other provider's FAQ page.

TRACKING URLS DISABLED
When Tracking URLs are disabled or you don't have this option, you'll need to monitor each of your non-AdWords campaigns more regularly. Each time you modify or add a keyword in your active non-AdWords ads, you'll need to update your Google tracking URL in order to maintain accurate tracking statistics.

For instance, if you use the keyword "cats" for a Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) ad, and change this keyword to "cat food" in your Yahoo! Search Marketing account, you'll need to use a new Google tracking URL that matches the keyword "cat food."

To generate a new Google tracking URL, please follow these steps:

Log in to your AdWords account, and navigate to your Campaign Summary page.
Click the Cross-Channel tab.
Click on the appropriate channel campaign.
Click Get new keyword URLs link.
Enter your new keyword(s) into the correct box.
Click Continue.
Log in to your channel account, and navigate to the listing containing the new keyword.
Copy and paste each new Google tracking URL from your AdWords account into the appropriate URL field of the ad within your channel account.
Save all changes in your channel account. You should receive tracking data within 24 hours after someone clicks on your ad.

Shortcut: Alternatively, you can make manual edits to your Google tracking URL when you make any changes to your current keyword in your channel account. Simply replace the current parameter located after gkw= with your new keyword(s).

HTTP://YOURDOMAIN.COM?gkw=KEYWORD+KEYWORD&gad;=CHANNELADINFO

CHANGING DESTINATION URLS
Whenever you change your Destination URL in any of your channel's ads, you'll need to generate a new Tracking URL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/s). Follow these steps when you change your Destination URL:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Navigate to your Campaign Summary page.
Click Cross-Channel tab.
Click the channel campaign that you want to edit.
Click the Edit settings link at the top of the page.
Enter your new Destination URL into the appropriate field.
Click Save Changes.
If you haven't already done so, paste the JavaScript code into your landing page's code.
Log in to your channel account, and navigate to the listing containing the new keyword.
Finally, paste the new tracking URL(http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://adwords.google.com/s) generated into the appropriate URL field of your other channel's ads.
Save all changes in your channel account. You should receiving tracking data within 24 hours after someone clicks on your ad.

Shortcut: Alternatively, you can make manual edits to your Google tracking URL when you make any changes to your current Destination URL in your channel account. Simply replace the parameter at the beginning of the Google tracking URL before ?gkw' with your new Destination URL. In the example below, you'd replace HTTP://YOURDOMAIN.COM with your new Destination URL.

HTTP://YOURDOMAIN.COM?gkw=KEYWORD+KEYWORD&gad;=CHANNELADINFO

When will I start seeing cross-channel statistics?

Once you've set up cross-channel tracking, we'll automatically start showing statistics for each new keyword you add as soon as it gets a click. Please note that conversion statistics reporting within your account may be delayed up to 24 hours.

You can easily verify that you have correctly set up your cross-channel campaign by completing a test conversion on your site. You should see the Google Site Stats text on your post-conversion page. You can also verify the full process yourself by searching on Google, clicking on one of your ads, and completing a conversion on your site. We recommend that you wait for a conversion to occur, though, because this method costs you an ad click. You should see a small but clearly visible text block on the conversion pages where you've placed the code. Again, you should then check your cross channel reports to ensure that the conversion has recorded correctly.

What information will I receive using multiple Tracking URLs?

Generally, multiple URLs offer more specific keyword data but are harder to maintain. One URL is easier to maintain but only provides one set of data for all your keywords.

When you use multiple Google tracking URLs, you'll generate a URL for each specific keyword for your channel campaign, and paste each URL into its corresponding ad. This allows you to receive specific data for each keyword you add. Note that if you have a large number of keywords, you can add your top performers individually and use one URL for the rest, aggregating them under one keyword such as general.

What information will I receive using one Tracking URL across multiple keywords?

Generally, one URL is easier to maintain but only provides one set of data for all your keywords. Multiple URLs offer more specific keyword data but are harder to maintain.

When you use one URL for your campaign, you'll paste the same URL into multiple channel ads, and receive one set of data. Basically, all of your traffic for your channel will be aggregated under one Google tracking URL, and you'll see one set of statistics for that channel in your Cross-Channel tab on your Conversion Tracking page.

Where will I see my cross-channel statistics?

Once you've set up cross-channel conversion tracking, you'll be able to view detailed click stats, including clicks and conversion rate, for all of your related online advertising channels. You'll also be able to compare how individual keywords convert across channels.

To view cross-channel conversion statistics:

Log in to your AdWords account.
From the Campaign Management tab, click on the Conversion Tracking link.
The Cross-Channel tab displayed on this page will allow you to access the performance data for all of the channels which you've set up across the date range you specify.

Improving Performance : Performance Overview

How do I know if my account is running and performing well?

If you have a post-pay AdWords account, your ads should start running almost immediately once you submit your billing information. You can check to see that your ads are running by logging in to your AdWords account and viewing your account statistics on the 'Campaign Management' tab. (Note: Because account reporting is not in real-time, it may take up to three hours for your statistics to show.)

To get an immediate idea of how well a campaign is doing, check the clickthrough rate (CTR). The higher the CTR, the better the campaign is probably doing. Also, our system will help you monitor your results by automatically evaluating your keyword performance and letting you know the status of each of your keywords. An active state means your keyword is triggering ads on Google and the search network, if you have opted in to the search network. An inactive keyword means your keyword is not triggering ads on Google or the search network. If your keyword enters into an inactive state, you have several options for improving the quality of your ad and keyword.

Another way to evaluate the effectiveness of a keyword-targeted campaign is to check your minimum bid by running a report or editing your CPCs. A low minimum bid usually means your ad is performing well.

The most effective way to track your results is to implement AdWords conversion tracking. This is an easy way to see precisely which clicks (and which keywords) are leading to sales or to other desirable actions. For details, please see our Conversion Tracking FAQ.

How can I improve my campaign performance?

Based on our experience with managing numerous AdWords ads, we've found a number of techniques that help improve an account's performance. These techniques include:

Fine-tuning your keywords
- Experiment with keyword matching options. Some keywords work better as exact matches, others with phrase match. Sometimes adding a negative match gets great results. Of course, there are always some words that just don't work, so delete those.
- Add plurals, synonyms, and related phrases to your keyword lists.
Revising your ad text. Include a call-to-action - language designed to entice the customer to take an immediate action.
Organizing your Ad Groups based on your products, services, or other categories.
- Shape your ads around your keywords.
- Try running 2 to 4 ads per Ad Group. We'll automatically monitor the CTR of each ad and show the better performing ads more often than ads with lower CTRs.
Making sure the destination, or landing, page for your ad is a page where users can find the product or service promised in your ad.
- Keep your original objectives (sales, leads, downloads) in mind.
- Refer to specific keywords, offers, and calls to action on your landing pages.
- Make your landing page navigation as simple as possible.
- Help people get what they want in three clicks or fewer.
- Don't create obstacles that discourage easy transactions.
Enabling content bids. When you enable content bids, you can set one price when your ads run on Google and its search partner sites, and a different price when your ads run on Google Network content sites. Learn more in our content bids FAQ.
Tracking your results. Your AdWords account will provide you with clickthrough rates and costs, but it is often useful to understand how many clicks actually convert into your customers. For this type of analysis, you can use our free conversion tracking tool. To start tracking today - simply select the 'Conversion Tracking' link at the top of the 'Campaign Summary' page in your account.

We also offer a more detailed Optimization Tips page. We suggest that you use this page for guidance when creating and refining your campaigns. However, these tips are not exhaustive, and we encourage you to experiment with your own ad text and targeting techniques to find what works best for you. We call this optimizing, an ongoing process of tracking and evaluating leads and sales, and then revising keywords and ads to get the most clickthroughs and sales from each ad. By continually optimizing, you can maximize your return on investment (ROI) from your AdWords ads.

How is the Quality Score calculated?

We want to ensure that your keywords get a fair chance to run and that we do all we can to properly gauge their performance. We use a Quality Score to do this. Each keyword is given a Quality Score based on data specific to your account, including your keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of ad text, historical keyword performance, the quality of your ad's landing page, and other relevancy factors.

Quality Score = keyword's CTR + relevance of your ad text + historical keyword performance + other relevancy factors

Your keyword's Quality Score and maximum CPC (at the keyword or Ad Group level) determine your ad's rank on Google search and content sites. (For the top positions above Google search results, however, we use your keyword's actual CPC.) Remember that improving the relevance of your ad text and keywords will increase your keyword's Quality Score and reduce the price you pay when someone clicks on your ad.

How do I know what my Quality Score is?

The best way to determine your Quality Score is by looking at each keyword's minimum bid. The lower the minimum bid, the higher your keyword's Quality Score. You can find your minimum bid for active keywords by generating a report for minimum bids in your 'Reports' tab. Your minimum bid for inactive keywords will appear beneath these keywords in the keyword status column of your Ad Group details page.

For pointers on increasing your Quality Score, please visit our Optimization Tips page.

Optimization Tips

In addition to our database of frequently asked questions, we have a series of web pages dedicated to providing an overview of particular topics. You may be interested in this page: Optimization Tips.

How can I improve my ROI?

Google AdWords is an effective way to attract potential customers to your site. If you find that a large percentage of visitors have clicked on your ad but have not made any purchases, the following may help you increase your conversion and return on investment (ROI):

Does your landing page match your ad?

When users click on your ad, they expect to find the product or information that drew them to click on your ad. If they don't find what's promised as soon as they arrive, they're more likely to leave your site without making a purchase or signing up for your service. Be sure that advertised promotions and discounts are visible on your landing page.

Is your site easy to navigate?

You may want to evaluate your site's overall design, layout, and functionality. If users can't navigate through your site easily, they're less likely to stick around and make a purchase.

Are your keywords and ad text relevant?

If you use general keywords and ad text, a user may arrive at your site expecting to find something you don't offer. Highly targeted keywords and ad text will help ensure your ads show only on searches relevant to your product or service. Learn more about creating targeted ads and keywords.

Demo: Optimization Tips

AdWords Demos are narrated lessons that show you how to make the most of your AdWords account. (You'll need Flash installed on your system to view AdWords demos.)

View this demo now: Optimization Tips.

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Demos.

What does it mean to optimize my account?

An optimization is the process of creating/editing keywords and ad text (or adjusting other parts of the account) to improve the performance of AdWords ads

Based on your advertising goals, optimizations may consist of simply adding a few new keywords, while other optimizations may involve adjusting maximum cost-per-clicks (CPCs), reorganizing Ad Groups, rewriting ads, changing targeting options, adjusting keyword matching types, and changing Destination URLs.

Generally, optimization involves techniques for improving the quality (also called Quality Score) of your keywords, ads, and campaigns. Through optimization, you can help lower your ad's cost-per-click (CPC) without losing your position on a search results page. Remember: The higher the Quality Score, the lower the minimum bid and price you'll pay when someone clicks on your ad.

For tips on optimizing your account, visit our Optimization Tips.

What is ad relevance? How does it work?

The AdWords system works best for everybody -- advertisers, users, publishers, and Google too -- when the ads we display match our users' needs as closely as possible. We call this idea 'relevance.'

We measure relevance in a simple way: Typically, the higher an ad's Quality Score, the more relevant it is for the keywords to which it's tied. When your ads are highly relevant, they tend to earn more clicks, move higher in Ad Rank, and bring you the most success.

We use several methods to help make AdWords ads as relevant and effective as possible.

We measure relevance and rank relevant ads higher. Ad Rank is determined by the maximum cost-per-click (CPC) of your keyword or Ad Group times the Quality Score on Google and the Google Network. (For the top positions above Google search results, however, we use your keyword's actual CPC.) Here's the formula:

Ad Rank = CPC x Quality Score

You can help move your ad higher by bidding more, but your ad must also prove popular with users on that keyword to be ranked highly.

We stop showing ads for keywords that don't perform well. If your ad has a low Quality Score on a given keyword, it means those users are not finding your ad relevant to their needs. You can improve the performance of a keyword by increasing its Quality Score through optimization.

We show your ads on closely-related queries. The AdWords system seeks out the most likely variations of your broadly-matched keywords and shows your ads on those terms. For example, if you're an advertiser specializing in Alaskan cruises, you may have selected the keyword cruises for your campaign. With a keyword that broad, your ad might also show on searches for Panama Canal cruises or Greek island cruises. But our system analyzes your ad's performance and identifies specific query variations that are more relevant to your ad. This results in more traffic to your site, fewer inappropriate clicks, and a better return on your investment.

As your ads accrue impressions, our system analyzes your keywords and assigns each an ongoing state: active (showing ads) or inactive for search (not showing ads on Google or its search network partners). To learn more about these states, please see Keyword status labels and definitions.

Google recognizes that AdWords advertisers know their businesses best. If you're concerned that your ads may not appear for keywords that are crucial to your campaign, we encourage you to focus on optimizing your account to maximize its performance. You can also increase your maximum CPC to the recommended minimum amount. Learn your options for improving an inactive keyword.

Improving Performance : Ad Position

What if my overall ad position is dropping?

If your ads are dropping in display rank, it's probably a sign that users are finding competing ads more relevant to their needs, or that other advertisers have raised their maximum cost-per-click for those keywords.

We recommend that you further optimize your account to make sure that your keywords are targeted as precisely as possible, and that your ad messaging is as clear and direct as possible. You can learn more about optimization and our keyword matching options by reviewing the information and helpful links below. You may also wish to consider increasing your maximum cost-per-click for those keywords you are most concerned about.

Additional Optimization Tips

To refine your keywords and ad text and to improve your campaign performance, follow the steps below:

1. Use multiword, specific keywords to replace singular and/or general keywords. Try using our Keyword Tool to refine your keywords.

You can also view our keyword matching demo.

2. Create new Ad Groups which contain your target keywords in your ad headlines or text. Whenever a user's search keyword appears in the text of your ad, the word will be printed in boldface to help emphasize its relevance.

3. Use keyword matching options to help weed out irrelevant searches. For ideas on negative keywords, try looking at the irrelevant results from our Keyword Tool as potential negative keywords.

4. Use descriptive and specific ad text to highlight the relevancy of your ad.

5. Delete poorly performing ads with low clickthrough rates (CTRs) to improve the overall CTR for your keywords and campaign.

6. Review more tips on improving your CTR.

What should I do if my overall clicks decrease or my ad rank drops?

A decrease in clicks is most likely due to a decrease in impressions for your keywords or to a decrease in the average position of your ad.

If your ads are dropping in display rank, it's probably a sign that users are finding competing ads more relevant to their needs, or that other advertisers have raised their maximum cost-per-click for those keywords. You may wish to consider increasing your maximum cost-per-click for those keywords you are most concerned about.

The AdWords system is designed to provide the most relevant, targeted ads available. We therefore recommend that you further optimize your account to make sure that your keywords are targeted as precisely as possible, and to make your ad messaging as clear and direct as possible. You can learn more by reviewing our full page of Optimization Tips.

How do I get my ad in the top position every time?

Google believes strongly in providing high-quality and relevant advertising to our users, so Google AdWords does not rank ads solely on cost. There is no way to reserve top placement in the AdWords program. However, even if your ad doesn't appear above search results on the first page, your ad may still be promoted above the results on subsequent pages.

Ad placement is based on your maximum cost-per-click (how much you're willing to pay per click) times Quality Score (Ad Rank = maximum CPC x Quality Score). For the top positions above Google search results, however, we use your keyword's actual CPC.

So the best way to improve the position of your ad is to improve your Quality Score through optimization and/or increase your maximum CPC.

How can I make my ads appear above the search results?

On Google search results pages, the highest ranking AdWords ads appear in the top positions, just above the search results. While we show only up to three ads above search results per page, several top-performing ads can be eligible for the same position. Therefore, we cycle through all eligible ads for subsequent pages until there are no eligible ads left; when this happens, we'll return to showing the first competing ad at the top of the page.

Ad placement is based on an ad's Ad Rank on Google and the Google Network. Ad Rank is determined by your keyword or Ad Group's maximum cost-per-click (CPC) times your keyword's Quality Score (clickthrough rate, relevance of ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors). For the top positions above Google search results, however, we use your keyword's actual CPC. By adjusting these two levers - quality and maximum CPC - you can better control the position of your ad. Remember: The higher the quality, the lower the CPC, and vice versa.

Could a low clickthrough rate on content affect my ad position on search pages?

On a busy content page, an ad has to compete more to get the attention of a reader than it would on a search page, so content CTR is typically lower than search CTR. It's nothing to worry about, because content CTR does not affect the ranking of your ad on search pages.

Why doesn't my ad appear at the top of every search results page?

We've recently updated how we place top-performing ads above Google search results. Previously, your ad may have appeared above search results not only on the first page, but on every page thereafter for a given search. Because we show up to three ads above search results, other top-performing ads eligible for the same position couldn't be shown. Now, we'll cycle through all eligible ads for subsequent pages until there are no eligible ads left; when this happens, we'll return to showing your ad at the top of the page.

If your ad previously appeared at the top of all pages for a given search, you may experience a slight decrease in clicks. However, this change should be minimal since we've found most users are less likely to click on the same ad on subsequent pages (having chosen not to click on the ad on the first page). We believe this change improves quality for our users and allows other advertisers with top-performing ads the chance to show their ads in the same location.

About top placement: Ad placement is based on your maximum cost-per-click (how much you're willing to pay per click) times Quality Score (Ad Rank = maximum CPC x Quality Score). For the top positions above Google search results, however, we use your keyword's actual CPC.

Lesson: Ad Ranking

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Ad Ranking": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

How are keyword-targeted ads ranked?

Your keyword-targeted ad is ranked on the search results and content pages based on various performance factors including: maximum cost-per-click (CPC), clickthrough rate (CTR), and ad text. Having relevant ad text, a high CPC and a strong CTR will result in a higher position for your ad.

Visit our Optimization Tips page to learn more about account optimization, including how to maximize performance for your ads and improve your ad's position without having to raise your maximum CPC. You can also learn about how to optimize ad serving for your ads on this page.

When you choose a maximum CPC for your keywords, our Traffic Estimator gives you the estimated average ad position per keyword. This estimate is based on your maximum CPC and the average CTR for each of the keywords you've chosen.

Improving Performance : Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

Is there a minimum required clickthrough rate or quality threshold?

The simple answer is no. The long answer is that the quality of your keyword and ad is the most important factor in your ad's ranking and performance. To protect the overall value of the AdWords program for Google users (and your potential customers), Google constantly monitors the quality of all keywords to ensure they're performing as well as they should.

Each keyword is assigned a Quality Score, which is determined by the keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors. The minimum bid indicates the quality of your keyword. The higher the Quality Score of your keyword, the lower the CPC needed to trigger ads on Google. Learn more about our performance monitor and how you can maintain a high Quality Score.

Lesson: Relevance and Clickthrough Rate

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Relevance and Clickthrough Rate": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Improving Performance : Refining Keyword Lists

My keyword has a high CTR. Why is it inactive for search?

To ensure all ads are evaluated on the same criteria, we determine keyword quality based on an ad or keyword's performance on Google search results pages only. If you're currently running ads on Google search results pages and across the Google Network, the clickthrough rate (CTR) you'll see in your account reports represents the combined average CTR across the various distribution locations. For example, a keyword may have a high CTR across the Google Network, but still be inactive as a result of a low CTR on Google.com alone. Remember that CTR is just one of the factors we use to determine your keyword's quality. We also look at the relevance of your ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors.

If you delete an keyword that is inactive for search, and then add it to your account in any other format or any other location (another Ad Group, for instance), our system will still take the keyword's account-wide performance into consideration. A poor performer can affect an entire Ad Group or campaign, if it is used multiple times. For this reason, we recommend that you regularly review your account's performance and edit or delete any poorly-performing keywords.

For another chance to run your ads on similar keywords, you can try the following: In the same or different Ad Group, combine your keyword with two or three other words to create a more specific keyword phrase. (Like changing 'hotels' to 'London luxury hotels.') This will result in better targeting, and potentially, better performance.

Helpful Links:

Options for activating an inactive keyword

Additional optimization tips for creating relevant ads and keyword lists

How to create a targeted keyword list

Improving Performance : Improving Ads

How do I tailor my ad campaigns to reach different target audiences?

Simply create new campaigns, each targeted to different geographic locations, to maximize your advertising reach.

For example, your account might contain a campaign showing ads to one or more countries/territories, a campaign showing ads to regions/cities, and a campaign only showing ads within a set distance from your business location. You can then modify keywords and ad text in each campaign to make your ads more relevant to your target prospects in various geographies.

When you're tailoring your campaigns, remember the following:

Include place or region names in keywords and ad text of your country- and territory-targeted campaigns. When we can't determine the user's location, we'll show country- and territory-targeted ads that relate to the user's search query (instead of regionally targeted ads). By including place or region names, you're likely to attract potential users outside your targeted area.

Don't include location-specific keywords and ad text in your regionally targeted and customized campaigns. This is because we automatically show your regionally targeted and customized ads to the areas you've specified. So you can focus your ad text and keywords on other things, like your key product offerings.

Here's an example of two different campaigns for a recycled tires dealer in San Francisco — one region- and city-targeted campaign and another country- and territory- targeted campaign.

Campaign 1: Region and City
Location Targeting: San Francisco

Keywords

recylced tires
used tires
used wheels
tire dealer

Campaign 2: Country and Territory
Location Targeting: United States

Keywords:

San Francisco recycled tires
San Francisco used tires
San Francisco used wheels
tire dealer in San Francisco

How do I make my ad text bold?

Your ad text will appear bold whenever it exactly matches a user's search terms. This includes your ad title, body, or Display URL.

For instance, if the search was 'rental car,' and your ad text included the words 'Find rental car bargains,' then 'rental car' would be bold in your ad: 'Find rental car bargains.' The match must be exact. A search for 'rental cars' or 'auto rental' would result in only 'rental' being bold: 'Find rental car bargains.'

This is the only situation in which ad text appears bold. You can't manually format your ads to appear in boldface or italics.

For a related topic, see our entry on special characters.

How do I optimize my ads?

Optimization is a technique you can use to improve the quality (also called Quality Score) of your keywords, ads, and campaigns. Through optimization, you can help lower your ad's cost-per-click (CPC) without losing your position on a search results page. Remember: The higher the Quality Score, the lower the minimum bid and price you'll pay when someone clicks on your ad. Here are some ways to optimize your ads to improve their quality:

Use multi-word, specific keywords in place of singular and/or general keywords. For example, we recommend using a keyword such as London hotel rather than the keyword hotel alone. You can use our External Keyword Tool to find additional keywords or to refine your existing keywords. You can also use the Keyword Tool via any Ad Group within your account.

Use keyword matching options to help weed out irrelevant searches. For ideas on negative keywords, look at the irrelevant results from our Keyword Tool as negative keywords.

Create new Ad Groups containing your targeted keywords in the ad headlines or text. When your ad contains words used in the user's search, those words will appear in bold in your ad.

Use descriptive and specific ad text to highlight the relevancy of your ad.

Delete poorly performing ads and keywords with low clickthrough rates (CTRs) and high minimum bids to improve the Quality Score for your keywords and campaign.

To learn more about making your keywords and ads more relevant, visit our Optimization Tips page.

Lesson: Writing Well-Targeted Ad Text

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Writing Well-Targeted Ad Text": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

How do I optimize my ad text?

As a basic rule, use clear, well-written, and specific ad text that highlights the differentiating characteristics of your product/service. Below are some more specific tips to help you create compelling ad text.

Include prices and promotions. The more information about your product that a user can gain from your ad text, the better. For example, if a user sees the price of a product and still clicks the ad, you know they're interested in a potential purchase at that price. If they don't like the price, they won't click your ad, and you save yourself the cost of that click.
Include a call-to-action, such as 'buy', 'order', and 'purchase'. While 'find' and 'search' may be accurate, these words imply that the user is still in awareness/interest mode, and won't qualify the user as a buyer as much as the first three.
Review your keyword list to choose your ad title. Find keywords with the highest number of clicks or impressions. For example, if the keyword phrase 'online advertising' is clearly generating the most clicks and impressions in your account, use this term in the title of your ad. This is an effective way of increasing clickthrough rate because users can see immediately that your ad is relevant to their query. Also, any keywords you include in any part of your ad text are automatically highlighted in bold type on Google, when a user enters the keywords as part of their query. This helps draw the user's attention to the ad.

Using your company name or website domain in the first line of ad text doesn't typically attract more clicks unless you're advertising an established company with a compelling brand that can distinguish your ad from others.
Choose a Destination URL for your ad and keywords that takes the visitor directly to the page that has the information or product promised in your advertisement. If users do not find what is promised as soon as they arrive, they are more likely to leave your site. Be sure that advertised promotions and particular products mentioned are visible on your landing page.

Lesson: Choosing Landing Pages

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Choosing Landing Pages": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Managing Multiple Accounts

AdWords API

The AdWords API is currently available in the English language only. To sign up, please visit http://www.google.com/apis/adwords/.

Because AdWords API is a beta program, our resources are limited, and we cannot offer advertiser support at this time. However, for questions about AdWords API, we suggest that you join our Developer's Forum at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/adwords-api. Here, you can discuss any issues concerning AdWords API with other members of the AdWords API community, read past postings, and gain insight about the product.

We appreciate your continued support as we work to improve AdWords API.

Google Advertising Professionals Program

If you're an individual who currently manages or wants to manage multiple AdWords accounts, or if you represent a professional service firm, the Google Advertising Professionals program can help you become a more successful ad manager - for free.

With unique marketing and training materials that are constantly being updated, you can gain AdWords knowledge, get Google recognition, and increase your chances to make more money. Here are some of the benefits you can receive:

My Client Center: This account helps you manage multiple AdWords accounts more efficiently.
Training: Our Learning Center provides text and interactive lessons chock-full of up-to-date information.
Promotional credits: Receive up to 60 credits, each worth a specified amount of free AdWords advertising, to help bring in new business.
Program features: Get tools that will help you become more marketable, such as a customizable presentation and industry-specific documents.
Google's name recognition: Become Qualified, and receive the Google Advertising Professional Logo, a Professional Status page, and more to show off your expertise.

Learn more by visiting the Google Advertising Professionals Help Center.

Enroll in the program to create your client account and become Qualified.

Managing Multiple Accounts : My Client Center : MCC Overview

What is My Client Center?

In response to advertiser feedback, Google AdWords offers a powerful tool for handling multiple AdWords accounts: My Client Center (MCC). MCC allows support for large advertisers with multiple AdWords accounts and third-party agencies, such as search engine marketers (SEMs), search engine optimizers (SEOs), and automated bid managers (ABMs), who manage and optimize multiple AdWords accounts.
With MCC, client managers can:

Easily view up to 1,000 linked AdWords accounts, including other client manager accounts, via the My Client Center view.

See relevant information for all linked AdWords accounts in one place.

Run reports across multiple client accounts at once or download the client "dashboard" into a .csv file.

Use a single login to access all AdWords accounts.

Create AdWords accounts and link them to this master account.

Clients can, as always, log in to their individual accounts and still maintain access to their login information. The benefit is primarily for the client manager, who can now access the client manager account via one login, as well as easily view all linked AdWords accounts within the My Client Center view. The client manager account acts as a master account, providing access to all AdWords accounts linked to it.

How do I get a My Client Center account?

You can receive a My Client Center account by signing up to join the Google Advertising Professionals program. The program is designed for client managers, such as SEMs, resellers, or agency representatives who currently manage or want to manage multiple AdWords client accounts. Upon enrollment, you'll receive your My Client Center account.

Remember that once you sign up for My Client Center, your personal AdWords account will be moved over to this new master account.

Who has access to AdWords and client manager account information?

AdWords Accounts
AdWords accounts belong to their respective owners. Clients can access their own accounts at any time and can terminate the relationship with the client manager at any time. Although the client account is linked to the client manager account along with other clients, no clients have access to any other accounts but their own.

Client managers can update campaigns and otherwise manage account tasks for their clients but do not have access to change proprietary client information such as login information. Client managers can view billing summary history information and edit billing information for their client accounts.

Client Manager Accounts
Only a client manager and Google Client Service Representatives have access to the client manager account. By extension, they will also have access to information regarding all related accounts via the My Client Center view. Like clients, client managers can terminate relationships with clients at any time.

What is a client manager account?

A client manager account is a Google AdWords umbrella account containing access to individual AdWords accounts and other client manager accounts that have the same client manager. This functionality is possible because AdWords accounts are linked to the client manager account, which acts as a master account.

Client managers can access multiple AdWords accounts via the client manager account login — no more logging in and out to switch between AdWords accounts. In addition, client manager account owners can now see all their individual and client manager AdWords accounts in one place via the My Client Center view.

Lesson: AdWords API Overview

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "AdWords API Overview": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Lesson: My Client Center

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "My Client Center": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

What types of reports can I run through My Client Center?

You can run many different performance reports through your My Client Center's Client Reports tab: Site and/or Keyword, Text Ad, Image Ad, URL, Ad Group, Campaign or Account. For each report, you can choose to generate data for all or selected client accounts that are linked to your My Client Center account, and you can customize your report with configurable columns and performance filters that limit the data shown to exactly what you want reported.

Google provides full online statistical, financial, and conversion reporting to help you keep track of your ads performance.

What can I / can't I do using My Client Center reports?

Your My Client Center reports offer much of the same functionality as your individual AdWords account's reports. The main difference is that instead of accessing data for just one AdWords account, you can generate information across all or selected client accounts. Your My Client Center reports offer:

Multiple file formats: Download reports in .csv, .csv (for Excel), .tsv, .xml, or .html.
Stored Reports: In the Report Center, you'll find recently created reports listed under Last 5 Reports. Older reports are automatically deleted as new ones are stored upon arrival.
Scheduled and on-demand report templates: Save any report as a template when creating the report. Then edit it to use for a new report, run it on demand, or schedule it to run automatically on a regular basis. The report and its parameters will be saved in your Report Center under Saved Templates.
Email reports: When you create a report, you can request that it be sent via email (in .csv, .csv for Excel, .tsv, .xml, or .html) to whatever email address you specify. (Very large reports, over 2MB when zipped, cannot be emailed.)
Customized reports, sortable by column: When you create your report, you can select among a wide range of column options (both standard and for conversion data) for your report. When viewing the report, just click the title at the top of the column you wish to sort by. To reverse the order of ranking, click the black up/down triangle at the top of your selected column.
Download and print graphs: Please note that we cannot provide graphs for data based on different currencies across multiple accounts.

Currently, you cannot receive cross-currency reporting. Only the currency that your account uses will be shown.

For more information about reporting functions, please visit the Reports Center FAQ.

How often are my MCC statistics updated?

Reporting to your MCC is not real-time. The data displays are updated every 24 hours. The timestamp at the bottom of your MCC dashboard tells you when the account information display was last updated. Read more about updates to AdWords account statistics.

Lesson: Selling the Benefits of AdWords

AdWords Lessons are in-depth learning sessions that help you understand and use your AdWords account. You can even take quizzes to reinforce your new expertise.

You can view lessons in text or as multimedia presentations (Flash® required) with narration and images.

View "Selling the Benefits of AdWords": multimedia lesson | text lesson

You may also wish to see the complete list of AdWords Lessons.

Can I generate reports across all My Client Center accounts?

Yes. To generate reports across multiple accounts in your My Client Center:

Log in to your My Client Center account.
Then click the Client Reports tab.

For more information about My Client Center reports, please visit the Client Reports FAQ.

Managing Multiple Accounts : My Client Center : Managing Accounts

How do I link or unlink an account?

Your My Client Center (MCC) provides functionality so you can easily link and unlink an existing or new AdWords account to your client manager account.

Linking an existing AdWords account

To link an existing AdWords account to your MCC:

Retrieve your client's AdWords Customer ID number (which appears in the upper right corner of AdWords account pages).

Click the Link existing account link above your client accounts table.

Enter your new client's Customer ID number in the appropriate field.

Identify the access level you are requesting ('User interface and API' or 'API only') depending on whether you will be providing traditional account management services (which may include API services as well) or only program-based management (solely API) services.

Click Submit.

When you click Submit, the client will receive a notification that invites him/her to link to your account. During this process, you'll see a pending notification for the client account in your MCC. Upon the client's acceptance, you'll receive a confirmation notification and the client account will be automatically linked to your account.

Linking a new AdWords account

To create an AdWords account and link it to your MCC:

Log in to your MCC at https://adwords.google.com.
Click the Create new account link above your client accounts table.
Complete the form, and click Create Account.
Click Create a campaign to create your client's campaign in the AdWords sign-up wizard. Then, return to your MCC to enter your client's billing information. You'll need to enter this information to activate your new client account. You can also return to this step later by clicking the client's account in your main MCC view.

Unlinking an account

To unlink an account from your MCC:

Log in to your MCC at https://adwords.google.com.
Click on the client account you would like to unlink.
Click the My Account tab.
Click the Account Preferences link.
Under Client Manager Account Access, locate the account you want to disable in the appropriate access level ('User Interface and API' or 'API only') and click Disable manager access.
Click OK.

What’s the difference between ‘User Interface and API’ and ‘API only’ access levels in my MCC?

You may have noticed that the Link Existing Accounts page now asks you to choose a level of account access - 'User Interface and API' and 'API only.'

'User Interface and API' provides account managers with traditional access to a client's AdWords account through both the AdWords user interface and the Application Program Interface (API). ‘API-only’ access is designed for third-party developers and bid managers who access their clients’ accounts purely through the API.

Managers who provide a range of services for their clients - including API-based bid management as well as traditional account management - can now easily view accounts with either or both of these access levels within a single MCC.

Those accounts with API-only access are identified on the main MCC page by a notation beneath the associated account's unique Customer ID number.

What's my client manager type?

When you sign up for a My client Center, you'll be asked for your client manager type. Here are your options:

Agency: You work for an agency specializing in online marketing or advertising for clients. Usually, agencies work with individuals and businesses to build a stronger web presence.

SEM/SEO (Search Engine Marketer/Optimizer): You work for yourself or represent a company focusing on search engine marketing. One of your main job functions is to help increase a client's listing on a search results page.

Web Consultant: You provide clients with broad or specialized web support, which might include web design, web marketing, hosting services, or a combination of these.

Advertiser: You manage large AdWords campaigns for yourself or others. In addition, you might manage campaigns with other online companies, such as Overture, for your clients.

Affiliate: You participate in other companies' affiliate programs to help advertise a good or service online.

What happens if I change my client manager?

Your account will not be affected by this change. A client account can be linked to or unlinked from a client manager account without losing your campaign history or your access to any AdWords program features. While you have access to unlink your account from a client manager's account, a client manager and your Google AdWords Account Manager only have the ability to link accounts.

To unlink your account from your client manager's account, please follow these steps:

Log in to your AdWords account.
Click the My Account tab.
Click the Account Preferences link.
Under Client Manager Account Access, click Disable manager access.
Click OK.

Once unlinked, you can ask your new client manager to link your account to your new manager's account.

How do I manage other client manager accounts?

Once you or your Client Service Representative links another client manager account to yours, you can manage the account in the same way that you currently manage other individual AdWords accounts. This means that you retain the same granular level of functionality for managing accounts. The main difference can be seen from your top-level My Client Center view, which distinguishes client manager accounts from individual accounts.

To access one of your client manager accounts, log in to your My Client Center account. From here, you can navigate to other client manager accounts by doing one of the following:

Select the client account from the My Client Center Jump to client drop-down menu listed at the top of the page. Client manager accounts are denoted by asterisks.
Click on the account from the main client account box. Client Manager is indicated beneath Customer ID.

A client manager account is similar to a tree's architecture in that each client manager account can support other branches of individual accounts and client manager accounts. In turn, branches made up of client manager accounts can also produce other branches of individual and client manager accounts, and so on and so forth. To help you navigate through this structure, a breadcrumb located at the top of each account page records how many account levels deep you are.

Why is my client's account not showing on the My Client Center view?

When your existing service relationship with a client has ended, you will no longer have access to that client. Therefore, if you or your client removes the link between the client and the client manager accounts, you will not see that client listed within the My Client Center view.

What happens to a client account history when linked to a client manager account?

Individual AdWords accounts remain unchanged, except that they are now linked to a client manager account. For example, invoicing and payment methods are not affected when an account is linked to a client manager account. Clients continue to have access to their billing and login information. From the client's perspective, the account will look the same as ever, and is accessible with the same login information as before.

With My Client Center, client managers can now switch between AdWords accounts without using multiple unique logins or logging out. They can now view information across multiple AdWords accounts within the My Client Center view.

If, as a client manager, you own a Google AdWords account with its own campaigns, we can convert that account into a client manager account. You will retain your account history and you can access your campaigns as any client would. However, agencies that did not previously have their own AdWords account will be given new, fully functional client manager accounts.

How do I link to other client manager accounts?

With My Client Center, you can manage other client manager accounts in the same way that you manage individual AdWords accounts. In order to link another client manager's account to yours, you'll need the manager's Customer ID number, which can be found in the upper right corner of AdWords account pages.

Please follow these steps to link the account:

Retrieve your client manager's AdWords Customer ID number.

Click the Link existing account link above your client accounts table.

Enter your new client manager's Customer ID number in the appropriate field.

Click Submit.

When you click Submit, the client manager will receive a notification that invites him/her to link to your account. During this process, you'll see a pending notification for the client manager account in your MCC. Upon the client's acceptance, you'll receive a confirmation notification and the requested client manager account will be automatically linked to your account. You can link to a maximum of two levels of client manager accounts - above or below your own.

How do I run reports for other My Client Center accounts linked to my master account?

If you manage other My Client Center accounts, you can run reports across all or selected clients linked to these accounts. However, you must be in the client manager's directory - not one above it - to do so. Here's how:

Log in to your My Client.
Choose the My Client Center account you'd like to access from your Jump to client drop-down menu. Or, click on the account in your account view.
Click the Client Reports tab in the client manager's account view, and run a report.

My Client Center has a tree architecture. Because only the My Client Center directly linked to the branch of client accounts has the functionality to run reports for them, it's important to be in the correct directory when running reports across multiple clients.

How do I run reports across multiple client accounts?

You can now generate reports for all or selected client accounts through your My Client Center's Client Reports tab. Here's how:

Log into your AdWords Account / My Client Center.
Click the Client Reports tab and then click Create Reports.
Create your report based the range of accounts you want included and the various parameters and statistics you want reported.
Schedule your report, save it as a template if you want to re-use it, and provide an email address and file format if you want it sent via email.
Click Create Report and your report will begin running based on your specifications.
Click into the Report Center link to view and download your new report.

For more information about running reports, please visit the Report Center FAQ.

How many client accounts can I run reports for at once?

You can run each report type - Account, Campaign, Ad Group, Keyword, Ad Text, Ad Image, URL, and Custom Reports - for as many client accounts as you wish. When you select a report, you'll have two options for choosing your client accounts. These options will appear beside the Account(s) field as follows:

All account types - Runs data for all your client accounts
Manually select from list - Runs data for client accounts that you select from a list

How many reports can I save in the My Client Center Download Center?

You can store up to five reports in your My Client Center's Report Center. This total does not count against the number of reports you can store in your individual account's Report Center. Also, you can email or download reports so you can run as many reports as you need. New reports will automatically replace old ones as they arrive beyond the limit of five stored reports.

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