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FAQs About Reports

General Questions

What if the date range for the report begins before report data is available?

The report will be generated, but it will only include data for the dates for which data is available. For more information about when data is available for each report type, see "The Data Used for Reports."

What's the difference between click date- and transaction date-based reports?

When you report conversions by transaction date, the data includes transactions whose transaction date occurred during the specified time period. This is the default setting in basic reports and advanced reports, and it will show you how much revenue was earned within the specified time period.

When you report conversions by click date, the data includes transactions that have resulted from a click that occurred during the specified time period. When a portfolio has significant delay between clicks and transactions, this type of report is useful for computing the historical revenue per click for the portfolio, which will give you an idea of what revenue behaviors to expect over time.

Report by click date versus report by transaction date

What happens if I change the click lookback window or impression lookback window?

(Advertisers with the Media Optimizer pixel-based conversion tracking only) Media Optimizer will have a longer or shorter period in which to collect data for events resulting from the initial click.

An advertiser's click lookback window and impression lookback window determine the number of days after a paid click or a display impression (respectively) occurs in which the event can be attributed to a conversion. Changing a value to a longer or shorter period may be important for advertisers with especially short or long click-to-revenue or display impression-to-revenue periods.

Best practice:  Make sure the lookback windows are longer than the click-to-revenue and display impression-to-revenue times for most of your keywords or ads. When they are shorter, some conversions won't be associated with the initial click or impression.

How do I know which conversions resulted from a Google ad extension or product listing?

You can see which conversions resulted from a click on a Google ad extension (rather than on the ad itself) or on a product listing ad by generating a Transaction Report. The Link Type column shows the type and title of a link that was clicked:

  • Product Extensions are listed as pe:<product ID>, such as pe:8525822.

  • Product Listings are listed as pla:<product ID>, such as pla:8525822.

  • Sitelinks are listed as sl:<Sitelink text>, such as sl:See Current Offers.
     
    You can also identify a Sitelink if you include the Tracking URL column in the report; the Tracking URL for a Sitelink includes the attribute &ev_ltx=sl:<link-name>.

Note:  Conversions from Google Locations and Phone Extensions are included in the data for the ads they accompany. They are not reported separately.

The "Keyword" column in my report includes a value "(adgroup content) <ad group name>."

When the row includes data for content-enabled search campaigns, display campaigns, or social campaigns — which don't include keywords — the Keyword column will show the applicable ad group name instead.

Note:  When you set up Facebook campaigns, you don't create ad groups. However, Media Optimizer automatically creates an ad group for each ad.

Because of seasonal or market changes, my reports show atypical data. Will this affect bids once the...

Media Optimizer builds its revenue models for each bid unit daily to ensure that it identifies and immediately responds to trends, and the models incorporate long-term historical data to help predict seasonal performance. The revenue model half-life setting for the portfolio also determines how heavily Media Optimizer weights recent revenue data, and the best practice is to lower the half-life during a period of atypical performance but increase it again after the revenue model is adjusted. If you have questions about if this is necessary, contact your Account Manager.

If you don't want the data for the period to affect future bids at all, you can choose to exclude those dates from the model. Contact your account manager to do this.

Can I receive reports by FTP?

Yes, Media Optimizer can send reports to an FTP location rather than to an email address. See "About FTP Access to Reports."