But why? Why do you need a PPC tracking tool when all you have to do is put the Google AdWords conversion code on your website and integrate your Google Analytics account into AdWords?
This is a legitimate question, and the real answer is “it depends.” It depends on how you use PPC networks and how much you spend on PPC ads.
So Who Needs a PPC Tracking Software?
When you go beyond a single website or domain, using a good PPC tracking tool becomes more important. When you start using multiple PPC networks, logging into each network and downloading reports becomes a pain.
If you’re an affiliate marketer sending traffic to an advertiser’s landing page, you cannot access the advertiser’s Google Analytics account.
So you’re completely shut out from getting useful conversion data, other than the data that is already in your Google AdWords account, of course. (This data, while useful, does not give you the dollar value of the conversion, so you can’t know your ROI easily)
Those are some reasons you may want to consider investing in PPC tracking software.
LinkTrackr’s PPC Tracking Software
What all PPC software have in common is that you will be given a tracking link that redirects to your landing page. You will use this tracking link in your actual ads.
LinkTrackr works the same way. Here’s how it works:
- Create a tracking link, which acts as a redirect URL for your actual landing page.
- Create an ad tracking campaign for the link, and check the PPC tracking option.
- Assign a Cost Per Click for the campaign (actual click values can be updated later)
- We give you a campaign tracking link tailored for Google AdWords.
- Use that link instead of your actual landing page URL in all ads.
- Data is passed dynamically and automatically from AdWords to LinkTrackr.
- You can see full details, including ad group, campaigns, ad (creatives) and keywords in LinkTrackr’s reports.
Here’s how your AdWords PPC tracking link will look like:
http://gobala.tkr.me/udyboot_adwords?source=adwords&medium=cpc&campaign={campaignid}&adgroup={adgroupid}&content={creative}&term={keyword}
All the items in bold are actual parameters use by Google AdWords’ ValueTrack for PPC tracking. Everything else is specified manually by you when you create the PPC tracking link.
The ValueClick parameters act as placeholders. When your AdWords ad gets clicked, the actual campaign ID, ad group ID, creative ID, and the keyword is passed to LinkTrackr’s PPC tracking format.
You use this URL format in the “Ad URL options (advanced)” field like the image below:
That’s all there is to it!
Some PPC tracking software like Prosper202 may require you to manually build a duplicate version of your ad in their application, but this is an additional step that is redundant and time consuming.
With LinkTrackr, you need to use the special PPC tracking link format shown above in every ad you create. You’ll also need to modify the columns view in your AdWords account so you’ll be able to see the relevant IDs.
Campaign names and ad group names may change daily, but the campaign ID and ad group ID remain the same, and therefore it is more accurate to use them! Create your LinkTrackr account today to start using our simple but powerful PPC tracking software.
