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GA Data Always Lower Than Advertisers Report

by devonkrusich
1 replies
We just wrapped up some different advertising campaigns with 2 digital mobile ad agencies as well as some banner ads on websites.

The problem is that the reports we are receiving regarding ad clicks to our landing page do not match and are not close. I have read some threads on this forum previously regarding similar issues but this one seems to be different.

The ad agencies consistently reported more clicks than we see on our Google Analytics. The percentage of variance is not consistent.

Here is an example:
Agency 1 - Reported 10183 clicks but our GA shows 3304 clicks - these are going to a unique url for this campaign only.

Agency 2 - Reported 8200 clicks and our GA shows 2100 clicks - going to another unique url for this campaign only.

Any ideas? Is GA not capturing a significant portion of traffic to our site? or do ad agencies use some settings to boot clicks and show better CTR?
#advertiser #advertisers #data #lower #report
  • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
    Hi Devon,

    All I can offer is my own opinion, and I venture to say that no one else on here can answer you with absolute certainty, either.

    But, for what it's worth...
    Google is also an "ad agency", right? Probably the world's largest.

    Their search engine is their mainstream advertising vehicle, but they broadened the reach for those ads by offering the AdSense program so that their advertisers' message could be seen in more targeted venues (context sensual).

    They are renowned for providing free tools for webmasters (Google Analytics is just one example) not out of the goodness of their hearts, but so that we will install their tracking code onto our web sites, allowing them to glean ever more information for the ultimate purpose of... you guessed it. Advertising.

    I applaud them for that.

    They've gotten to where they are, largely by providing online merchants with the means to manage and analyze their data, while at the same time giving Google more and more data mining capabilities.

    You apparently have enough confidence in those tools (specifically GA) to have been using them for a while. Add to that, the fact that hundreds of thousands of other webmasters have that same level of confidence in those tools - with GA probably being at the very top of the list - and you can make a pretty strong case in favor of GA's numbers.

    Now along come these two agencies you recently used.

    It wouldn't surprise me at all for there to be some discrepancy, but 300-400% greater than GA reports? I don't think so. If Google Analytics were that inaccurate, wouldn't you have noticed long before now? Wouldn't the army of other webmasters who rely on the information from GA to help run the online aspect of their businesses?

    Isn't it more likely (especially since the ad agencies are being paid to deliver clicks) that they have simply inflated their numbers in order to fulfill your contract for a certain level of clicks, or to allow them to represent their service as being less expensive than it actually is?

    Again... I don't know squat - but I think they have some serious explaining to do.
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    Sid Hale
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