How to Set Up Google Adwords Conversion Tracking
You don't to be a superhero or a detective to set up conversion tracking for Adwords traffic, but it doesn't hurt.
Have you ever used Google Adwords to drive traffic to your site? Adwords can be a great way to immediately increase the amount of eyeballs on your site.
Though, with Adwords, you’re paying for every click, so it makes sense that you’d want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth, right?
I agree that you should know what your Adwords traffic is doing on your site (and whether those clicks are turning into buys/signups, etc.). Measuring Adwords traffic means knowing more about what’s working with your campaign and what isn’t and maybe if it’s time to pull the plug or pour some more dollars into your campaign.
How do we measure it? With my favorite tool, Google Analytics of course 
Measuring Adwords traffic with Google Analytics is simple but not necessarily ready-to-go.
Here are a few steps for setting Adwords conversion tracking up:
1 – Make sure you have Google Analytics installed on your site (Check out this post if you don’t)
2 – Make sure the email address you use for Google Adwords has admin access to your Analytics account (see Step 3 in this post if you need guidance)
3 – Make sure you have at least one Google Analytics goal set up (beginner-friendly instructions found here if you don’t have one yet)
4 – Sign in to your Google Adwords account
5 – Head to My Account – Preferences
6 – Make sure Auto-Tagging is enabled under Tracking
At this step, Google Analytics will be able to tell what traffic is from Adwords (because of the auto-tagged links that Adwords will now automatically attach to your campaign). HOWEVER, if you’d like to see your traffic by campaign detail, including ad groups and keywords (i.e., which paid keywords are signing up/buying from me and which ones aren’t), continue on to finish linking your accounts.
7 – Head to your Tools and Analysis Tab – Select Google Analytics
8 – Select I already have a Google Analytics account
9 – Keep all the defaults Google has set up, and select your Analytics account that you’d like to link
10 – Click Link Acccount
You’re done! Within the next 24 hours (if your Adwords campaign has activity), you’ll start to see your campaign-level traffic detail within your Analytics account.
Congratulations! Now you can start making more informed decisions about your Adwords campaigns.
What about you? Have you ever used Google Adwords? Were you able to see what that traffic was doing on your site? Did you find this helpful? Let me know in the comments!
Want more on Adwords? Check out How to Setup Your First Google Adwords Campaign or How to Get the Most Out of Your Google Adwords Dollar.
photo credit: Jenn and Tony Bot via photo pin cc
