View through data in Adwords is actually pretty cool, but only for people who run Adsense or a lot of display ads on the content network. This tool provides conversion data if you have display ads running via the content network. It’s not relevant for simple text ads running in your PPC account.
With that said, the new view through conversion data shows how many conversions were made within 30 days after a user viewed, but did not click on one of your display ads via the content network.
It’s very important to note, that if there was a click at any point from that user within 30 days of their initial ‘view’, then that conversion will be counted as a click conversion, not a view through conversion. View through conversions are tracked by the AdSense cookie on the content network. Meaning if your ad shows up on the content network, AdSense will track that users cookie, if that user did not click on that display ad, but came back to the website in some other fashion, then that one conversion will be counted as a view through conversion.
This is really great for people who have ads running and do a really great job branding for their clients, but then the user just ends up going back to the website through typing in the company domain name and the PPC display ad never gets the credit. I wish Google could somehow do this for all PPC ads, on the search and content network, but maybe that’s in the works!
The view through data is available in all Adwords accounts as a new column on the far right hand side of the page. Again, you will only see the data if you’re running a display ad on the content network.
The good things about seeing this data is to know which ad and on which website is truly generating the most conversions. If you can increase your bids on a particular placement on the content network or copy that display ad and add it throughout other CN campaigns you’re likely to see the same positive results.
     | do some of that social network stuff. |
Amber,
Is this something that you think should be counted in CPA calculations? meaning, do you think we should mind these conversions the same way as click through conversion?
One beef I have with this (and Google already has this issue) is the lag in reporting. Since the cookie lasts 30 days and the conversion gets reported back to the day of the initial impression you have a lag of up to 30 days in your reporting. Keep an eye on that people.
I second Erez’s opinion…any optimal way to reflect this in reporting to clients?
Amber,
As you mentioned in your post… “hopefully view thru conversions” will become available for other channels besides display ads.
I agree.
A huge frustration, major frustration, is mistakenly assuming that “research keywords” are money wasters, when in fact, they are invaluable acquiring “first touch” awareness for your client, who then may return later on a more focused search, or brand name search, or bookmark for that matter, and convert later. We feel this so extremeley common, as to totally confound most advertisers conception of their metrics.
Thanks for your post.
Cool blog! I commented here before, its nice to know there are still some great posts out there. Thanks for the great info. Oh, and G’day from downunder.
Nice explanation Amber, I think you did a nice job of explaining the process and limitations of the data. Thank you.
Also think Robert’s comment is right on target, so much of the conversion in PPC is latent that it’s important to check back and update reports accordingly. I’ve consistently seen one of my clients receive about 5-10% of their conversions more than a week after the click.