Connect Google AdWords to Analytics – PROPERLY

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Jexley

I’ve gotten so much traffic from that last blog post, where I rant and offer up little of value, that I thought I’d actually document the proper way of Connecting your Google AdWords account to your Google Analytics account.

And the various and inevitable pitfalls along the way.

Firstest and Easiest

If they’re on the same Google Account then:

Log in to Google AdWords
Click on the Reporting tab > Google Analytics
At this point Googs will ask if you want a new account or to connect to an existing account.
If you want to keep the data separate (and I don’t know why you would) you can set up a new account. Otherwise, you can choose to connect to the existing account that (if you’re lucky) you’ve already set up.

Secondest and a bit Harder

You’ve got a My Client Centre account or are setting up a Google AdWords account separate from the original Google Analytics account, then you’ll follow the above until Step 4, in which you’ll find that you either don’t see the Analytics account profile in the dropdown or this message:

Although this AdWords account is linked to an Analytics account, your AdWords login email address is not listed as a user on that Analytics account. Please contact the administrator of the Analytics account and request that they add you as a user to this Analytics account.

Which is the one I freaking HATE, and prompted my last blog rant.

Your options now consist of:

Simply logging into the existing Google Analytics account, as an admin, and giving at least "View" access to the email address showing for the AdWords account…

OR trying to ferret out the account that actually DOES own the connection between this AdWords account and an existing Analytics account and then going back to the previous step.

Which is where I’m at. And is frustrating. And makes me want to kick things. A lot.

Thirdest and probably not even really that difficult but really shouldn’t have to be this way goddamit Google

Back away slowly.
Take the AdWords account and data dump it. A backup method if you will. Save it down for later uploading.
Find a different email address that you haven’t really used before.
Sign up to Google.
Set up AdWords.
Set up Analytics through AdWords.
Install a whole other set of tracking code on your website.
Import your old AdWords account data.
Curse an organisation composed almost entirely of Engineers.

Boogers

So there you go. No real satisfactory solutions if you’re confronted with certain things, and I patently refuse to accept forum posts and blog entries that suggest that I "ask Google for help" because if I ever get an actual human at Google returning my emails and directly answering the questions I’ve asked, then I’ll eat this laptop.

Cheers, and Have a Good Website.

Category: Analytics | 1 Comment

Teh Googs Catering to Small Bidness

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Jexley

Almost serendipitously Google has started a Small Business Blog aimed at helping those that aren’t ninjapimps at Web Promotion actually do things that are good for their business online… without spending a wad of their precious cash.

Why serendipitously? Because I was just telling wife (business partner and what makes Jex a "we" when it’s relevant) last night that I’m sick to death of Google Toys that come out, make no sense, and then fade away (Adios Google Wave) and that a company almost entirely composed of ENGINEERS is bound to sit in the dark, playing WOW and eschewing girls and sunlight for Fritos and Mountain Dew.

I know I’m a bit hard on the nerds, but I’m allowed, because I’m one of them.

Sure, I like kissing females and have even been known to be successfully socially interactive, but I’m also floundering in a pit of UN-usability and lack of Understanding with the ~~suckers~~ users that have agreed to help me with my Jex Solutions site.

It’s got loads, and I mean LOADS of valuable and wonderful data in it, but can YOU find it? Do YOU know how to extract it and apply it’s knowledgeness to YOUR website?

I’m finding the answer is more and more a resounding: NO.

So I’ve asked for help, here and there, and have finally unleashed the bitingly critical and leaving-no-stone-unturnedly Wifeage onto the poor and unsuspecting populace. Things are going to change, oh yes and surely.

So, good onya Googs for starting something that is sorely needed in your approach to… well, just about everything, a nod to those of us in Small Business, for we are certainly the most important overall and if you treat us right, we’re the ones that’ll see you through.

I’m certainly taking a page and trying something new too.

Let’s hope we’re both successful in our humility and further efforts.

Have a Good Website.

Category: Around the Web | 2 Comments

Google Referring Query Variable – “The OQ”

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Jexley

Since I have to use StatCounter in addition to Google Analytics, just so that I can get some more detailed user data (on a user-specific basis) I was able to find a potential client in my stats and view how he’d come onto the site and where he went after.

Pretty cool to get that insight into the user’s mind in seeing what he was most interested in before he eventually rang me.

Then I found this in his Referring URL Query String Variables, "&aq=0h&oq=marketing%20&ie=UTF-8&q=marketing%20experts%20perth"

I quickly jumped onto Teh Googs and saw how this li’l bit of data is gathered.

Google Suggest is undoubtedly a very powerful tool, seemingly doing the thinking for me sometimes (I can frequently be heard exclaiming to wife, “Hey, how’d Googs know that I wanted guitar tips for a Powderfinger song when all I typed was ‘pow’?!?”) and it would appear that the “oq” part of the referring query string above shows how much the user typed in before selecting something from the Google Suggest list.

Pretty slick.

So, a nice bit of insight into the mind of a searcher, available right there in your referring URL query string.