Google AdWords Conversion Types

Earlier this month, Google AdWords formally launched Flexible Conversion Counting, a new type of conversion that allows advertisers to track the types of conversions that are most precious to their business.

This change changed how conversions appeared in our AdWords interface – “Conversions (1-per-click)” changed to “Converted Clicks” and Conversions (many-per-click) changed to “Conversions”. For many PPC professionals, we just made a mental note, updated some reporting templates or our data warehouse and moved on.

Below, we’ve broken out conversion types into three areas – Hard Conversions, expected Conversions and Percent-of Conversions.
 
Hard Conversion Types

These are your hard numbers, the bottom-line numbers, and likely what you’ve previously been reporting on, assuming all of your conversion tracking is set up accurately.
 

Converted Clicks

This is how many clicks resulted in one or more conversion actions. The actual number of conversions will be counted individually in the "Conversions" column. The number of converted clicks can help you estimated how many unique customers you're acquiring.

Conversions

This column reports whole conversions, across all the conversion actions you're tracking. However, this conversion type also takes into consideration how you’ve selected to count your conversions which affect the number shown in this column.
 
Phone Call Conversions
 
If you’ve set up call extensions, your Phone Call Conversions column will represent the number of phone calls that were longer than the call duration specific for that call extension. Keep in mind that in order for Google to track Call Extensions, you must use a Google Call Forwarding Number.
 

Predictable Conversion Types
 

These are practically new conversion types provided by Google and based on estimated data. There is no additional conversion tracking needed on your end to view these conversion types, as they rely on Google’s complicated tracking to provide you with more information about how your customers behave.

Estimated Cross-Device Conversions

Estimated Cross-Device Conversions take place when a client clicks on an ad on one device, then converts on a different device or browser. Using this conversion type, you can see how your ads crash conversions that happen across multiple devices and browsers.

expected Total Conversions

This is Google’s best estimate of the total number of conversions that AdWords drives all together. This metric will comprise Estimated Cross-Device Conversions, Conversions and Phone Call Conversions. According to Google, you can use this column to understand your return on investment and make better decisions about your bids and budgets.

Percent-Of Conversion Types

“Percent-of Conversions” in an completely made up name. However, I’ve named the conversion types below “Percent-of Conversions” because when optimizing and adjusting bids, many PPC professionals take a percent of these conversions into thought. While many advertisers won’t fully rely on these metrics, many will be grateful for their value and use a percent of them to say their events.

Click-Assisted Conversions

Appearing only for search campaigns, Click-Assisted Conversions is the total number of conversions for which a finicky keyword contributed one or more assist clicks. Assist clicks can be clear as the total number of clicks a keyword received prior to a conversion, without the last click.
 

Impression-Assisted Conversions
 

The Impression-Assisted Conversions column shows the total number of conversions for which a exacting keyword triggered assist impressions prior to the last click. This is the same idea as Click-Assisted Conversions and is only shown for Search campaigns, with the variation being that it relies on assist impressions rather than assist clicks.

View-Through Conversions
 

View-Through Conversions happen when a customer views your image or rich media ad before converting, but never really clicks on the ad. If these customers later convert, this metric counts their conversions as “View-Through Conversions.” This swap type automatically excludes conversions from people who've also clicked your Search ads.
 

Summary

Choosing the right exchange type for your business can seem overwhelming at first. Hopefully reading through this article has helped you further appreciate the types that are available, and how they are used by advertisers today.

In most cases, the road to success starts by just defining what success looks like – and with Google now offering conversion types for nearly every business model, it's becoming easier for businesses to see the bigger picture and attain their goals that much faster

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