Value Track: How To Get Better Data From Your AdWords campaigns

The era of Upgraded URLs for AdWords is finally here and by now all your campaigns should be upgraded – whether manually or automatically.

In May, we spoke about Upgraded URLs in a bit more detail and what you needed to know to prepare for their roll-out. You can check out that post here, if you need a refresh.

As part of this upgrade, Google have also expanded their list of Value Track parameters to include new options, such as location. In this article, we’re going to explore Value Track in more detail and explain how it can be used to collect more specific data about how your ads are performing.

What is Value Track?

Simply put, Value Track is a tagging feature for the landing pages you use in your AdWords campaigns. Google appends certain parameters to the end of your URLs according to specific attributes it records about the circumstances surrounding the click that drove a user from your ad to your website. This enables you to uncover more information about the online behaviours of people who interact with your ads, which will help you to optimise your campaigns.

What Can I Use Value Track to Find Out?

Some of the different categories Google offers Value Track parameters for include:

• Network – this tells you whether the user came from an ad that was shown on the Google Search Network or the Google Display Network;
• Device and device model – what type of device a click came from – mobile, tablet or desktop, as well as the name of the model, e.g. iPhone;
• Keywords and match types – see which keywords triggered ads that users clicked on, as well as the match types of these keywords;
• Ads –the exact ad that drove the click through to your website;
• Placement – the website the ad appeared on or the matched targeting criteria of the ad that triggered a click;
• Mobile vs Not Mobile – this differentiates clicks from mobiles from clicks from other devices, i.e. tablets, laptops, and desktops;
• Location – the geographical location of where the user who clicked on your ad is based

You can use multiple parameters in conjunction with each other to obtain a fuller picture of how your campaigns are performing and the specific characteristics and behaviours of those users you are targeting.

Google’s Value Track feature’s data capture capabilities offers an advantageous opportunity to marketers to capitalise on the performance of their online advertising efforts. It is important to remember however that data only becomes useful if you analyse it to gain insight and inform your actions. And, if the thought of that leaves you in a panic, we’d be happy to give you some advice!