Written by Jay Ratkowski
So I noticed an odd trend with a client:
As much as I’d like to believe my amazing remarketing ads generated an 27% view-through rate, it doesn’t quite match up with the fact that this is 500% more view-throughs than they had actual conversions (in this case, ecomm transactions, through all mediums).
Like any good marketer, I immediately blamed the website checked the conversion pixel. I discovered:
- It’s installed on the correct page and working properly (looked at the code myself, used Google Tag Assistant)
- AdWords conversion numbers match GA conversion numbers for Google/PPC traffic within 10%
- View-Through De-Duplication is on (Not that I think that would impact this, but just an added note)
Time to Investigate
So I dug a little deeper, segmenting by conversion name, I find this:
The “Purchase” line is my AdWords conversion. That number makes plenty of sense. The “default” conversion that is skewing my numbers to the point of insanity? No clue.
There is no “default” conversion type showing in AdWords:
I can assure you, neither of these conversions have anywhere near the volume that View-Throughs claim.
So what gives?
Have I been misunderstanding the definition of View-Through Conversions all this time? Did Google decide to ignore industry standards and change the definition?
Not according to Google’s definition:
“View-through conversions happen when a customer views (but doesn’t click) an ad before converting.
What it means: Some customers might see, but not click, your ad. If these customers later convert (by making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, for example), this metric counts them as view-through conversions. “
I also checked Google Analytics, even though I’m not importing any of their goals, it still doesn’t add up. If I combine all goal completions and transactions, it doesn’t hit anywhere close to the conversion volume of View-Throughs
Next, I checked with the rest of my search team. Turns out, the same thing happened with another client. Different site, different AdWords account (different MCC even). No resolution and no explanation. Seems that problem was self-correcting.
After some further digging, this discussion appears to represent the same problem. Again, this case seemed to naturally fix itself. In my case, not so lucky.
Google – Help!
At this point, I feel like I’ve exhausted my resources and Google is my only hope. I reach out with all of the information and background work I’ve done, go through some basic troubleshooting with them and wait for them to further investigate.
And wait.
My experience is, if you don’t get a resolution within 3 or so days, it’s probably because your problem is being reviewed by numerous teams over at Google. That means something is definitely broken. This one went on for 2 weeks.
It turns out, this is indeed a technical problem. For whatever reason, remarketing campaigns are mistakenly showing view-throughs under the “Default” conversion label in AdWords. It impacted this campaign, seemingly others. My guess is there are more impacted accounts out there. Sounds like the technical team can fix the bug, you just need to reach out to AdWords Support to get the ball rolling.
If you’ve seen something like this, hopefully this will help.
