As we are aware, Google AdWords is a pay-per-click advertising model. This means an advertiser only pays for the clicks that they receive on their adverts.

If a potential customer, sat at home, wants to purchase some widgets, say some blue widgets, they go to their PC, click on Google, type in “blue widgets” click “Google Search” and receive a results page related to all things widgety and blue.

In the ideal scenario, the user would see my beautifully constructed ad, click through to my site, see my blue widgets and buy from me straight away.

But wait, who actually does this? Do we not shop around first? Do we not try to be thrifty or find the best deal, the steal, the sale of the century?!

Of course we do.

AdWords conversion tracking likes to report on the very last click. This means the very last ad click that provided a conversion is reported.

This can lead to a massive oversight in what is actually performing.

If we use the same customer searching for blue widgets, but this time, we will alter the scenario so they don’t click on my ad first (I have even got review extensions and descriptive sitelinks on mine), and instead, let’s say that they click on a competitor that offers “lowest priced widgets.”

This claim is true, they do have the lowest priced widgets, but charge £5 for delivery. The customer thinks “I’ll keep looking!” and they search for “blue widgets” again. They see my ad (it states “Free Delivery” too) and click through to my widget landing page and see with free delivery, that my widgets are cheaper.

I’d like to think they would make the purchase there and then but:

1. It would make this open letter/rant/defense defunct
2. This shopper is smart, he has already found blue widgets cheaper than he was going to pay. He remembers my website name and this time searches for “cheap blue widgets.”

He sees another ad, this one also states free delivery, he clicks through to the site and sees the price is similar. So it looks like he may buy from this site. But WAIT! It will take 72 hours before they are delivered!

Exampleallthewidgets have next day delivery. So he goes back to Google. Types in “exampleallthewidgets” and because I am protective of my brand, I have bid on my brand keywords. He makes the purchase and Google AdWords chalks a conversion up to the keyword “exampleallthewidgets”

I look at my data for the last 3 months and see that my brand is doing amazingly well, “I can’t believe so many people know me!” I chuckle while nursing a neat Jack Daniels.

I am disappointed in a couple of keywords though. Unfortunately, “blue widgets” has cost me a fortune and has not got a single conversion next to it! “I do remember selling a lot of blue widgets though,” so I shrug and execute the offending keyword.

Optimisation done, and saving myself a fortune, I give myself a slap on the back

The next month comes around and my brand has taken a bit of a slump. Traffic is down and so are my conversions. And I now have a warehouse full of blue widgets!

The moral of this story is that without proper attribution, how can we even say a keyword is successful/unsuccessful? If we teach the customer bad habits before they even have a chance to get started, what hope do they have?