FAQ on adCenter Conversion Tracking

There has been an ongoing discussion in the community and we had several questions outside about the conversion tracking results from adCenter. The team has prepared this FAQ on the topic. Thanks for using the community.

Q: Where can I find detailed information about conversion tracking?
A: For the most up-to-date information about conversion tracking, visit the following Microsoft adCenter Help topic: Add conversion tracking criteria to a report.  

Q: What is a conversion?
A: A conversion is the completion of an action that is initiated when a customer clicks an ad. The action could be a purchase, a completed registration, or whatever you consider the best measure of the ad's success.

Q: How are conversions measured?
A: A conversion is recorded when someone who visits your website in response to an ad completes a specified action. The action is typically to make a purchase or to sign up for a program on a page that includes a conversion-tracking code snippet. The report of this action is expressed as a percentage that is called the conversion rate. For example, if your ad is clicked 100 times and 25 of those who clicked make a purchase, the ad has a 25-percent conversion rate.

Q: Do I have to use conversion tracking?
A: No, this feature is optional.

Q: Can I remove conversion tracking?
A: Yes, you can remove conversion tracking at any time.

Q: What is a good way to track when a customer buys something or completes another type of action?
A: You can add a conversion-tracking code snippet to your thank-you page or to your confirmation page.

Q: What is the conversion-tracking code snippet? Where do I put it?
A: Microsoft adCenter generates a block of JavaScript code that you can add to a conversion page to track the number of conversions that occur when users click your ad. This code snippet is inserted between the HTML body tags of your conversion page.

Q: Why is it important to track conversions?
A: If the primary objective of your Web advertising campaign is to drive traffic, or "clicks," to your web site, conversion tracking is not required. But if your campaign has a different primary objective, such as to drive purchases, e-mail registrations, or downloads, conversion tracking can provide insight into what return on investment (ROI) you are receiving for your ads and keywords.

Q: What is ad optimization and how does it work?
A: You optimize your ads to obtain the best keyword and ad performance that is possible. To increase your conversion rate, you might try different versions of the headline and the ad text or different keyword combinations. Your adCenter reports show conversion rates, and you can use this information to improve your ad. The process of selecting the best version of your ad is known as optimization.

Q: What is a cookie?
A: A cookie is a small data file that is stored on a customer's computer for record-keeping purposes. The cookie contains information about the customer, such as online preferences, that is pertinent to a specific website. For an adCenter cookie, an anonymous, consistent, identifying number is used to match the clicks on advertisements to the resulting thank-you pages. 

Q: How do I start conversion tracking?
A: For the most up-to-date information about conversion tracking, visit the following Microsoft adCenter Help topic: Conversion tracking FAQ.

Q: Where do I put the code snippet?
A: You can put the code snippet anywhere within the HTML body tags of your conversion page. The code snippet displays an MSN Keywords text link. We suggest that you put the code snippet at or near the lower-right corner of the page so that it does not detract from your page design. Even though it is in the bottom part of your page, the link should be clearly visible to customers who visit your site.

Note: If you are adding a code snippet for Google and/or Yahoo!, the adCenter code snippet needs to be listed first. Otherwise, adCenter will count the conversions for Google and/or Yahoo! and you will see duplicate conversions.

Important: Do not put the code snippet within dynamically generated header and footer code. Doing this will inaccurately track conversions on every page in your site that shares the same header and footer code.

Q: How do I stop conversion tracking?
A: For the most up-to-date information about how to deactivate conversion tracking, visit the following Microsoft adCenter Help topic: Conversion tracking FAQ.

In your reports, you can still view the conversion data that was collected while conversion tracking was enabled.

Note: If you stop conversion tracking, this will stop the delivery engine from setting the cookie on the searchers' computers. However, any searcher who received a cookie within the previous 7 days will still be able to complete a conversion. These conversions will still be reported. To prevent this, you must remove the code snippet from your Web site.

Q: Where can I find conversion-tracking data?
A: Conversion data appears in delivery reports. For the most up-to-date information about how to add conversion tracking criteria to a report, visit the following Microsoft adCenter Help topic: Add conversion tracking criteria to a report.

Note: The data that appears in your reports can differ from the data that you see in your Web log. For information about this, visit the following Microsoft adCenter Help topic: Conversion tracking FAQ.

Q: Is there any cost to track conversions?
A: No. Conversion tracking is a free service that adCenter provides to help you measure the results of your advertising efforts.

Q: What are the requirements for using conversion tracking?
A: Make sure that you complete the following tasks:

·          Follow all previous instructions to start conversion tracking.  
·          Display the adCenter text link on your conversion web pages.  
·          Do not change or hide the text link.  
·          Make sure that your Web site supports JavaScript. 

Q: Do I need a different code snippet for each conversion page?
A: If you are tracking conversions for a single account, you can use the same code snippet on each conversion page.

If you are tracking conversions for more than one account, you will need one "block" of conversion code for each account. This is because the conversion domain ID that is assigned to your code snippet is the account ID. (The account ID differs from the account number that you see on the adCenter user interface.)

All pages will be tracked as generic "conversions" in the reports. Microsoft adCenter cannot report on the specific page from which the user triggered the conversion.

Q: Why do I have to display the adCenter text link on my conversion pages?
A: The adCenter text link must be displayed on your conversion page to inform customers that their visit to the page might have been tracked. By clicking the link, visitors to your site can learn that tracking information is anonymous and is used only to improve the quality and relevance of the ads that they view. Visitors can also read instructions about how to turn off cookies if they do not want their activity to be tracked.

Q: Will the code snippet slow down the loading of my Web page?
A: No. The code snippet should not affect the speed at which your Web page loads.

Q: Does conversion tracking occur at the ad group level or at the campaign level?
A: Conversion tracking works at the campaign level. The same tracking code is used for all the campaigns in an account. When conversion tracking is turned on, all ads and ad groups in a campaign are tracked.

To enable conversion tracking for a whole account, you must enable conversion tracking for each campaign within that account. In other words, you cannot enable conversion tracking at the account level.

You can enable conversion tracking on the Ad Group Settings page, on the Change Campaign Settings page, or from the list of campaigns under an account.

Note: When you select Enable conversion tracking on the Ad Group Settings page, you are enabling conversion tracking for all ad groups in that campaign.

Q: My hourly and daily conversion numbers do not match my adCenter reports. Why is this?
A: Both sets of data are correct. These are some differences between hourly data and daily data:

·          Hourly data tracks only the conversions that are completed within three hours of the customer's click.  
·          Daily data tracks all the conversions that occur within a 24-hour period.  
·          Hourly data can be used to see what terms and ads or similar items are driving fast conversions. 
·          Daily data can be used to see a more global overall view of the ad group. 

Q: How can I view all the conversions on my performance report?
A: When you run a report, make sure that the All Match Types check box is selected in the Customize options so that you can see all the conversions. Make sure that you specify that Conversion is to be added to the list of returned columns.

Q. I use Microsoft adCenter conversion tracking, but notice that sometimes adCenter conversions are higher than the numbers that I see from my own tracking method.  Why is this?

A. Currently, Microsoft adCenter conversion tracking reports all activity that occurs on your page with the conversion tracking script. This means that some normal activities that your web site user or customer can perform may send back repeat entries for the same transaction. These activities can include the following:

Q: How are my customers tracked?
A: When a customer clicks your ad, adCenter puts an anonymous cookie on the customer's computer, and the click is logged. If the customer then completes a tracked transaction, such as a purchase or a sign-up, within a 7-day period, adCenter retrieves the information from the cookie and records the conversion on the day when the conversion occurred. Please note: It may take up to 48 hours to for the conversion to register in your reports.