Search Funnels Report: Part 3 of 3

In the second post of this series, we saw how Search Funnels reports help you collect powerful data with regard to how conversions take place. In this concluding post on Search Funnel Reporting, we are going to take a look at answers to some frequently asked questions that will help you better interpret the data to which you now have access.

"Search Funnels reports show only a subset of all of my keywords."

Search Funnels will only show keywords from which an impression or click showed up on at least one conversion path. Keywords with impressions and clicks that never occured on a conversion path will show up in the main AdWords interface, but not in Search Funnels.

"I notice repeated brand keywords on conversion paths."

There may be several reasons for this:

• Awareness of your brand could be driven by other offline / online advertising.
  
  
• Existing users could be searching on your organization's name, like 'Direct Relief', while new users could be searching on generic terms, such as 'earthquake relief'. You can determine which users are driving these brand keywords from Google Analytics. It will help you to know whether new or repeat visitors are converting on your website via branded keywords.
  
  
• Branded keywords may be performing well for your existing services. If you have recently diversified and also started aiding 'old age homes in Armenia' besides what you are known for, such as 'aid for orphans in Armenia', chances are that conversions from your brand name may still be related primarily to aid for orphans. You can set up different conversion paths for different projects you work with.
  
  
• Search Funnels reflect existing keywords, so if you have not invested sufficient keywords in the funnel, you will not see a lot of interesting funnels at work.

"How do I optimize my site to make repeat visits more efficient?"

If you know that users are visiting your website multiple times before converting, consider optimizing for this behavior by re-engaging repeat visitors to get them to convert more quickly (e.g. targeted website content, clearly stating tax exemption, other offers, etc.). This would be perfect to test using the Google Website Optimizer.


"What is the difference between an Assist Click and an Assist Impression?"

An Assist Click is one where the keyword was clicked on the conversion path. On the other hand, an Assist Impression is one where the keyword was shown, but not clicked, on the conversion path.

"What is the difference between the Assist Clicks and Impressions report and the Assisted Conversions report?"

Assist Clicks, Assist Impressions, Click-Assisted Conversions, and Impression-Assisted Conversions characterize how campaigns, ad groups, and keywords play an assisting role. The differences between how these are calculated include:

Assist Clicks vs. Click-Assisted Conversions

Here's an example. For a conversion path like:
keyword 1 (clicked) > keyword 1 (clicked) > keyword 2 (clicked) > conversion
Keyword 1 would earn 2 Assist Clicks, but only 1 Click-Assisted Conversion

The same definition applies for the difference between Assist Impressions vs. Impression-Assisted Conversions.

"Am I actually getting more conversions? Should I add Last Click Conversions and Assisted Conversions together?"

You are not getting any extra conversions - you are only getting as many conversions as AdWords reports. Search Funnels shows additional information about the conversions you are receiving from Google.com search ads. Assisted Conversions describe that some of the conversions you are earned today had additional ad impressions and clicks on the conversion path prior to conversion.

If you want to discuss Search Funnels in more detail, start up a discussion in the Google Grants forum to see how other grantees and non-profits are using these reports to better account for their traffic. Check out the AdWords forum to see what other advertisers are asking and talking about with regard to Search Funnels.

Part 1, Part 2

Posted by Reema Prasanna, Hyderabad AdWords Team