Why does my google analytics show a massive discrepancy from facebook's reported website clicks?
-
We're running a Facebook news feed ad that is pointing at our homepage. Facebook says that for yesterday there were 47 website clicks. Google analytics shows 15 total visitors from facebook with 3 of them landing on the homepage. I understand that there is likely going to be some discrepancy with users accidentally clicking and clicking back before the page loads, but this seems a little insane. I tested the ad using a page that pulls the Analytics cookie data using php and it is working properly so I don't understand what's happening. The url isn't tagged with utm parameters, which is going to be fixed. Anyone experience this or have any insight as to what could be this issue? Is this click fraud?
Edit: For more clarification I was checking on my completely unfiltered google analytics profile/view.
-
I have the same thing but at a larger scale.
122k clicks according to facebook, 1450 visits according to Omniture... and no sales. That's the less optimized 2.5k€ I've spent on a campaign
-
My Facebook ad manager shows 3668 website clicks whereas in GA it only shows 1310.
-
We have exactly the same problem. According to Facebook 274 website clicks, but Google Analytics shows only 50. And this hasn't happened for the first time. Actually, this is the usual discrepancy in our Facebook campaigns. Probably most of the traffic is caused by bots, so a lot of Facebook budget is wasted for nothing....
-
Thanks for the response. That was all I could really find on the topic as well. I'm using the newest version of the asynchronous tracking code besides universal analytics. I understand the possibilities for discrepancies, even 50% might be understandable but my visitors in analytics is at 6% percent of recorded clicks at 3 out of 47 which just seems insane.
I guess I'll just have to suggest that we stop running those types of Facebook ads, at least for now.
-
I did some digging around and found some information:
https://www.facebook.com/help/community/question/?id=10153294676310223
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/analytics/pHOQxwrYh_s
http://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/inaccurate-google-analytics-traffic-sources/
Don't shoot the messenger -- I cannot know whether these reasons are true for you. Just to summarize some possible issues from those links:
Ad clicks is not the same think as website visitors
Old Google Analytics code
People blocking cookies or having other setups that interfere with GA trackingI hope these resources might help!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Unsolved Google Ads - Subdomain on Sitelinks & Composition Change for Strategy Status
I have a basic query but could not find a definite answer on the internet. I am currently running a campaign for the main website of a big education brand and they also have a secondary learning website on subdomain, and I want to add sitelinks of subdomain to the campaign, but I am not sure whether it is allowed or not. The brand I am running ads for is https://www.rauias.com/ and the secondary website is https://compass.rauias.com/ branded slightly different in a subdomain, so should I add the sitelinks of Compass to the main campaign? Also one more silly question My Max Conversion search campaign gave me this status today. "Learning (composition change): Campaigns have been added to or removed from the bid strategy. Google Ads is now adjusting to optimize bids. 5 days left for learning" What does this mean exactly? And Why does it reenter the learning phase whenever I make a small change?
Paid Search Marketing | | rauoff0 -
Huge Drop in Shopping Campaigns clicks
Anyone else experiencing a huge drop in impressions/clicks? we noticed on Friday a sudden drop with impressions/clicks on multiple shopping campaigns which have been running very successfully for a number of years, we have checked merchant centre for any errors or warnings, also checked our feed everything looks OK apart from the extreme sudden drop. All our search campaigns are performing as normal, our natural rankings are also perfectly normal, just affecting shopping campaigns, we cannot figure out why. Anyone else seen any extreme changes with shopping campaigns recently? We are based in the UK
Paid Search Marketing | | Haz0 -
Gap in Google PPC Ads & Organic search results - New test by Google?
Hi All, Just noticed an unusual gap in PPC ads and organic search results in google NZ. while searched the same term in Google AU, it wasn't the same. Did anyone here see something similar? Is this a new test by Google to get more clicks on PPC ads and pushing down organic results? Looking forward to hear from the community. Cheers, Rattan wcB6DL1.jpg
Paid Search Marketing | | FRL0 -
Is there a way to track visitors that watched my video on YouTube and became a direct visitor to my website after the fact?
I am trying to understand the impact my commercials are having on website beyond just the clicks I get from YouTube as a referring site. Google is telling me there is not a way to track users that have viewed a video. I am trying to think outside of the box to figure out a way to use the remarketing cookie to my advantage. Google says there is not a way to track a user that watched a video and then eventually came to my site. But at the same time the "Earned Views" metric is similar to what I am trying to accomplish. As per Google, "An earned view occurs when someone who views your video ad and then watches another video or videos in a linked YouTube channel within 7 days of the ad view." So I want to be able to apply this same method to people that view my video ad and then surface on my website eventually. Please let me know your thoughts on this and if there is a way to accomplish this goal. Thank you
Paid Search Marketing | | JoeyPasq0 -
Return of investment on spend on google adwords
Hi Running an adwords campaign for a builders/construction company namely double glazing what sort of return of investment could I expect to get on a return of £4000 per month? I know its a million dollar question but any insight or thoughts would be appreciated, especially on tracking ROI for example in this case it's just leads via a contact form on potential conservatory, windows or doors work which would be followed up via phone and an onsite visit.
Paid Search Marketing | | offonhols0 -
Doing Google Places for customer - best solution?
I work at a media agency in Denmark and I'm trying to open a Google Places-account for one of our retail-customers which is to be linked to the customers AdWords-account. I created a Places account and via bulk upload I submitted the customers 74 locations. I was then asked to verify my bulk upload, which I did. That's two weeks ago, and I've tried to get help from our Google contact but to little avail. Could the problem be that I am doing the places account on behalf of our customer, and thus when I am asked to verify the upload I supply my own information (contact phone and business name) rather than the customers? Have any of you had a similar experience? Is there an alternate path I can take to solve this?
Paid Search Marketing | | Iumreprise0 -
Google Adwords Book
Does anyone have a suggestion on a very recent Google Adwords book?
Paid Search Marketing | | phogan0 -
Your Google AdWords account has been permanently suspended for repeated violation of AdWords or Landing Page and Site policies in this or a related account.
My client nor I received any warning. We even had a google adwords team optimize the account and my rep does not yet know the reason for the ban. Not sure if its related but their google organic rankings dropped significantly at the same time. https://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164786 Any advice here? Do these Questions get indexed by google? I will ask my client if I can disclose the domain. Is there any way around a permanent ban? They were spending 50K per month. Is this enough to have any clout?
Paid Search Marketing | | webbroi0