One of the first steps in search advertising is to define and measure campaign success – whether a transaction, signup, lead or page view. To measure conversions, you should install on your web site the simple conversion tracking code. This will enable the tool to report detailed activity around your campaigns, and apply that intelligence to deliver more profitable recommendations.
Our Conversion Tracking tool allows you to track performance across multiple search networks with a single, independent snippet of tracking code. Once you have enabled Conversion Tracking, you can use the Goal Value wizard, which allows you to set a CPA or ROAS target that the ActEngine will help you meet.
There are two stages to installing Conversion Tracking. First, you need to implement the Conversion Tracking script on your site; second, the wizard will tag your ads so that the tool can start tracking your conversions.
In the first step, you are asked whether you track revenues on your site. If you do not, you are taken to a screen where you can confirm your selection. Once you confirm, you are presented with two snippets of tracking code - one to install on every page of your site (typically in a universal footer) and one to install on conversion pages. The snippets will be automatically emailed to you, along with an installation guide and FAQ document.
If you do track revenues on your website, you will need to indicate whether all conversions have a fixed value, or if you have variable conversion values (for instance, with a shopping cart-style e-Commerce site, where the conversion value depends on what the user purchases). If you have a fixed value, you can enter it directly into the wizard. In the future, you'll be able to update your conversion value without making any changes to the tracking code on your site. Users with variable conversion values will need to include their "server variable" in the tracking code.
Once you confirm your selections, you are presented with two snippets of tracking code - one to install on each landing page of your site (typically in a footer) and one to install on conversion pages. The snippets will be automatically emailed to you, along with an installation guide and FAQ document. Your destination URLs will then be modified to include tracking parameters.
After you install the code snippets on your site, you should continue with the implementation of Conversion Tracking. Go back to the wizard, and confirm that the scripts have been installed on your site. After you do so and confirm the installation in the Setup Conversion Tracking wizard, your destination URLs are modified to include tracking parameters.
Search networks regard ads with new destination URLs as entirely new ads; therefore all historical data related to those ads are lost by the update. The tool tracks new data, and all new ads are modified immediately to include the tracking code on the destination URLs. A new baseline is soon established for the new ads.
Note: On the final screen of the wizard, you are also given the option to install the Conversion Tracking Firefox Add-On. More information on this add-on is available in the final chapter of this section.