New & Powerful: AdWords Search Funnels

Last week Google announced a new AdWords reporting feature called "Search Funnels" that has been getting a lot of attention.  At Enquiro, we were given a sneak preview of this new tool a few weeks ago and were able to use it with one of our major clients to get some more complete insight into paths that searchers are taking as they interact with advertising and the client’s site.  This enabled us to generate some ideas for optimization based on data, rather than conjecture.  So this increased visibility is most welcome!

Some brief notes on Search Funnels:
•    collection of 7 reports that include Assisted Conversions, First and Last Click Analysis, and Path Length
•    encompass only paid search activity (do not include clicks on organic results)
•    provides info not just on clicks, but also ad impressions seen
•    require AdWords conversion tracking or goals imported from Google Analytics into AdWords
•    reports look back 30 days from the conversion event
•    will be rolled out to AdWords accounts over the next few of weeks (accessible via Reporting > Conversions > "Search Funnels" link on the left, below "All conversion types")

Using "Search Funnels", AdWords advertisers will finally be able to look beyond "last-click" attribution to answer questions like:
•    how many times did a visitor click on an ad to visit the site before completing a conversion?
•    what keywords did the visitor search on and use to visit the site (via paid search) prior to completing a conversion?
•    what keywords did a visitor search on and see an ad for (without clicking) prior to completing a conversion?
•    for a given keyword (ad group, campaign), what is the ratio of assists to last click conversions? (closer to "0" indicates the keyword is a "closer", while a high number indicates the keyword is pulling searchers in to the top of the funnel)
•    after visitors clicked on a given keyword to visit the site, what were subsequent keywords that they used to get to the site prior to completing a conversion?
•    how many hours or days passed before the first ad they clicked on and the eventual conversion?

Especially for B2B marketers, with relatively long (and sometimes twisted) conversion paths, often involving a string of generic and brand terms, having access to this information is golden.

Posted on March 26, 2010 by John

---------------------------------