If you’re new to digital marketing, you might have a grateful yet casual attitude toward conversions. “I don’t care how my customers get here,” you might think, “I’m just glad that they’re here!” But if you explore your assisted conversions, you’ll gain a better understanding of what’s actually working in your marketing campaign. Then, you can look into ways of duplicating your successful tactics. Today, we’re focusing on assisted conversions in Google Ads. What are the various types of assisted conversions in Google Ads? How can you track these conversions? And how can you amplify your success?
Assisted Conversions in Google Ads
Before we dig in, let’s review the basics of assisted conversions.
It’s important to understand that customers may travel through a variety of channels before they convert via your website. All of the interactions that lead to a conversion action are known as assisted conversions. Today we’re focusing on assisted conversions that involve Google Ads. These include conversions that were assisted by ad clicks (excluding the last ad click, which is the click on a Google Ad that happens just before conversion) or ad impressions (excluding the last ad impression, which is sometimes called the last ad view).
How to Review Your Assisted Conversions in Google Ads
To learn more about assisted conversions that have been generated via your ads, you can use the Assisted Conversions report in Google Ads. Use the following steps to get started:
- Set up conversion tracking in Google Ads. Google has created a handy guide to help you understand how to set up tracking based on what you want to track. For example, you could track website purchases, newsletter signups, button clicks, app installations, phone calls, and more.
- Wait at least 30 days. This will give your account time to collect data. If you review the information too soon, the data may be skewed and lead to false conclusions.
- Review the collected data. To do this, open your Google Ads account, click on the Tools tab, and click Search Attribution, which is listed under Measurement. Finally, click on the Assisted Conversions link.
You’ll notice right away that Google Ads divides the results into click-assisted conversions and impression-assisted conversions. You can sort these results by campaign, ad group, keyword, or match type. In addition, you can apply a second or third dimension to the data table by clicking on the plus (+) drop-down menu.
The click-assisted conversions value is the total value (i.e., revenue) of your click-assisted conversions. For example, let’s say that you’re looking at the conversion action “purchase.” The click-assisted conversions value will tell you the total revenue you gained from website purchases that were assisted by ad clicks (excluding last ad clicks). Of course, you can also view the impression-assisted conversions value.
What Are Last-Click Conversions?
As you might guess by the name, last-click conversions are conversions that were assisted by last ad clicks. The report shows you the total number of last-click conversions as well as the percentage of total conversions represented by your last-click conversions. In addition, you can explore the last-click conversion value to learn the total value associated with your last-click conversions.
Comparing Assisted Conversions and Last Click Conversions
You’ll notice ratio metrics called Click-Assisted Conversions / Last Click Conversions and Impression-Assisted Conversions / Last Click Conversions. These metrics tell you whether a campaign, ad group, keyword, or match type (1) played a bigger role in assisting conversions, (2) played a bigger role in directly completing conversions, or (3) played an equal role in both types of conversions.
If the ratio is 1 or near 1, the segment (campaign, ad group, keyword, or match type) played an equal or near-equal role in assisting and completing conversions. If the ratio is greater than 1, it plays a bigger role in assisting conversions; if the ratio is less than 1, it plays a greater role in completing conversions.
Why Is This Information So Valuable?
The Assisted Conversions report in Google Ads can help you weigh the value of each of your keywords (or campaign, or ad group) based on its role within the conversion process. Sometimes keywords that aren’t directly responsible for a conversion still play a crucial role in the process. Understanding their indirect influence can help you fine-tune your advertising campaigns. For example, perhaps a keyword that you thought was relatively useless is actually playing an indispensable role in conversions. If you aren’t paying attention to assisted conversions and looking at the bigger picture, you might blindly cut this consequential keyword.
This is why it’s also important that you look at a lengthy period of time when reviewing your Assisted Conversions report. If you’re viewing a short time span, you might misconstrue the results, assuming that the short-term data reflects a bigger trend when in fact that’s not always true.
For whatever reason, many people avoid using the reporting tools provided by Google Ads. Although they may seem intimidating at first, with a little research and practice, they can become valuable pieces of your marketing strategy.
If you’re hoping to build a beautiful, effective website that will rank on Google, contact 417 Marketing for help. Our team of knowledgeable, creative, and passionate professionals specializes in SEO, web design and maintenance, and Google Ads, and we have successfully completed over 700 websites since our inception in 2010. Contact us and learn more about what we can do for your company.
