Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I am a bit mired in my search for a solid freeware adsense tracking system. I have a slight suspicion someone -may- be trying to fraud me out. Besides, I am interested in the metrics beyond google's reports. So, can anybody with some experience point me in a good direction?
How is that information more useful than what's in your log files? What use would you have for the IP and geo info of people clicking on your ads?
Would you put more Kentucky content if you noticed 17% of clickers are from Kentucky? But of course that would be counterproductive because AdSense Geotargets your ads. By changing your content you'd probably start ranking worse for the keywords that mattered, in exchange for a lousy Kentucky flavored ranking.
Don't optimize your site according to AdSense data. All the data you need to increase traffic and earnings is in your log files.
How is that information more useful than what's in your log files? What use would you have for the IP and geo info of people clicking on your ads?
mb,
having that information surely isn't more useful (or useful at all) if watched separately.
But with having both sides you can create the missing link between logfiles and clicks.
As an example, you can see which search terms lead to clicks (just like a page about 'free widgets in widgetville' that gets visitors via 'free widgets' and 'widgets in widgetville', but only people searching for 'widgets in widgetville' click on ads).
Don't optimize your site according to AdSense data. All the data you need to increase traffic and earnings is in your log files.
That's true, but the combination of both can tell you where to start ;)
Would you put more Kentucky content if you noticed 17% of clickers are from Kentucky?
Yep. That could be one of the tangible results.
"Geolocation of clickers" is a VERY helpful information to assign resources.
For example, one of my sites is mostly in English language. For some strange reason I translated parts to Elbonian a while back. Now, from my click tracker I realized that clicks from Elbonia on my Elbonian pages (often containing evergreen content) soared while the share of clicks on English pages from the U.S. slowly decreases (for whatever reason), even on pages with fresh, unique, quality content. For the Elbonian pages, the CTR is way better, and the absolute number of clicks increased.
Given this valuable information, I now made the decision to translate existing content to Elbonian rather than to add new English content. Maybe I go even further and translate to other languages as well (e.g. New Nepalese or Greenlandish).
Without this information I probably would have kept on focusing on English pages...
Not if people from Kentucky are typing "Blue Widgets" instead of "Kentucky Blue Widgets", information you can only find in your server logs. You don't need AdSense to tell you where people are coming from, just look at your logs, and look to your common sense to build out geographically relevant content. That's a no brainer.
As an example, you can see which search terms lead to clicks...
Have you ever used your channel data? Now correlate your channel data with your log data. I know exactly what search terms are leading to clicks. I know which pages are the most popular. I built several hundred pages to capitalize on longtail data in my server logs that correlated with what my channel data was telling me and now I'm earning a significantly extra amount per day because of it.
This is basic webmastering. Don't be afraid of your server logs. Stop operating in the dark. If you want to increase your earnings then you have to stop thinking of your AdSense control panel as a form of metrics. It's not. If you're not already mining your server logs for the important data to move you to the next level then start doing it today. There's a wealth of data there.
[...] Now correlate your channel data with your log data. I know exactly what search terms are leading to clicks.
When a certain page gets 100 impressions and the corresponding channel reports 5 clicks, then I can't tell from my logs alone which search terms were leading to clicks.
Don't be afraid of your server logs. Stop operating in the dark.
In my post above I said that you can expand the information found in logfiles. I didn't say that I don't use them.
You made, between the lines, pretty clear that you can't stand click trackers.
I know that log files are the most powerful tool in the hands of webmasters and I was just trying to point out that data from click trackers and logfiles can be combined in a useful way which makes trackers an additional tool.
I don't have anything against clicktrackers. I'm encouraging webmasters to use the tools they already have to make the adjustments they need to raise their earnings.
When a certain page gets 100 impressions and the corresponding channel reports 5 clicks...
Five clicks out of a hundred impressions is not enough data to make a meaningful decision about SEO or allocation of time. That kind of data makes more sense when it's viewed as a collection of phrases over a longer period of time. Except for when those phrases are for a huge keyword that your site ranks for on the third page. But you don't need AdSense to tell you that, it's already in your log files. This is all stuff you can find in your log files already.
A better example is to understand that the range of keyword phrases used to access certain pages or sections of a site are low earning, versus those of a certain page/section that are high earning. From this data you can perhaps observe:
1. Section A may need more ads to raise the CTR, or else a reconfiguration of ads.
2. Allocating time to page/section B may be more profitable than allocating more time to page/section A.
3. This data also gives a webmaster insight into the kinds of keyword phrases that result in clicks or higher earnings overall.
4. Logfile data tells you who is referring and for what reason. You can then make an intelligent determination of why people may or may not be clicking.
That's not a complete list, either.
Not if people from Kentucky are typing "Blue Widgets" instead of "Kentucky Blue Widgets", information you can only find in your server logs. You don't need AdSense to tell you where people are coming from, just look at your logs, and look to your common sense to build out geographically relevant content. That's a no brainer.
Whoa! Strong language.
If you reread my post, you will notice that I actually do not care about the search queries through which the users arrive at that site. That site is too deep (content-wise) that I could correlate that information to the clicks. BUT when I know that people from Elbonia actually click more often on the translated pages than people from the US do on the English pages of the same content, and this results in higher traffic (site stickiness) from Elbonia, then I know that I should invest my time into content for Elbonians and not for US citizens.
Logfiles contain valuable data. Rest assured, I *do* know my logfiles inside-out. But Adsense is hiding way too much data to really make use of this information.
What use would you have for the IP and geo info of people clicking on your ads?
Because I might want to attract more traffic from the country where the highest number of clicks orginate.
