My Ad Tracking Go-To List

The field of online tracking related to advertising is a fascinating and endlessly complex one. There are both arts and sciences to it. Of course, it ultimately becomes a game of numbers. But knowing the most effective methods for gathering those numbers is tricky, as is knowing how to interpret them. The learning curve is not slight!

The most important (and often overlooked) aspect of tracking is the “why” of it. Many people start setting up tracking mechanisms because they think that’s what they are supposed to do, as if they are some solution in themselves. Yes, a lot of tracking can be done with some very simple implementations. A great deal of data can be attained. But a large amount of data (sometimes called a “data puke”) is not usually what you want. Typically, you want a small amount. Just a few numbers that are true KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). I liken analytics to a grocery store; When you shop, do you examine the thousands of products on the shelves? More likely, you just get the few you need and then be on your way.

A good thing to remember about tracking is that it should be about taking action. You’re not collecting data just for the sake of it. You’re collecting to help you understand and improve. Your changes, adjustments, and tweaks should be guided by reliable data and specific KPIs.

Another important aspect of tracking relates to the machine-learning capabilities of the online ad platforms. When meaningful actions are tracked because of ad views, the ad platforms themselves optimize for future results based on common denominators, such as demographics, interests, and behaviors of users, as well as targeting settings such as location, device type, time of the day, and day of the week.

It has taken years (too many!) for me to develop my own go-to tracking toolbox that I’m comfortable with and confident in. It evolved from extensive study, trial and error, and repetition. But here is a list of the practical implementations that I commonly use for tracking ads through both Google and Meta ad platforms. (These implementations assume that the base codes are already added for Google Analytics, the Meta Pixel, and Google Tag Manager in some cases.)

In today’s tracking lexicon, the word “event” is commonly used to describe a trackable action. Both Google Analytics and Meta Ads tracking use that term, so I will too in the following list.

Event – User Engagement

Although not one of the most valuable tracking metrics, I like to track user engagement in Google Ads as a secondary conversion. It’s based on the default event in Google Analytics called “user_engagement”. This event is recorded automatically if a user spends at least ten seconds on a webpage, looks at more than one page on a website, or completes a defined conversion action.

To track this event in Google Ads, I go to the Events report in Google Analytics. Then I mark the user_engagement event as a key event. Then, in Google Ads, I import the key event as a conversion action. Here’s an important step, though. In the conversion settings, be sure to click “One” instead of “Every.”

Event – Page View

A prominent staple of web tracking history, a page view is one of the most useful tracking implementations. It simply means that a viewer looked at a specific web page. A “thank you” page, for example. After making a purchase or submitting a web form, it’s customary for a “thank you” or confirmation page to load for the user. A view of this page indicates a conversion action. Other page views can have meaning, too. For example, if a user goes to a prices page, I consider it an indicator that this person is looking to do business. That’s a good sign for traffic generated from ads.

Event – Scroll

If someone arrives at a webpage and scrolls down to see more of it, that is a sign of an engaged user. Google Analytics now has a standard scroll event that can be tracked if the option is toggled on in the Enhanced measurement settings. It’s triggered if someone scroll 90% of a web page or more. In Google Tag Manager, a scroll event can also be created. If using Google Tag Manager, a customized scroll percentage can be set in the event trigger. For example, an event can be triggered if a user views 50% or 82% of a web page.

Event – 3+ Pages Visited

Another sign of an engaged user is that they visit several pages of a website. I sometimes create a tracking event for when a visitor views three or more pages in a session. For a high-traffic site, I sometimes create another event for when five or more pages are viewed. This can be a valuable strategy for determining the quality of visitor. For example, you can compare these event numbers for each targeted keyword individually in Google Ads.

Event – Phone Call from an ad

One of the simplest and most useful trackable conversions is a call directly from an ad’s call button. Both Google Ads and Meta Ads offer this feature and the tracking is built into their infrastructure, so little needs to be done to make use of this data. With Google Ads, you can choose the length of time a call needs to be to be counted as a conversion, such as 15 seconds, 2 minutes, or whatever custom time frame. In fact, different conversions can be created for calls of different lengths. In Meta ads, you can see data for the number of calls that have been placed. They also offer a metrics column to show the number of calls that were over 20 seconds in length.

Event – Phone Call from a Website

If phone calls are important to a business and website traffic from ads is part of the strategy, implementing phone call tracking from websites is valuable. Google Ads offers this type of tracking configuration in its conversion tracking (aka “goals”) settings, although it’s one of the trickiest to set up. I normally set up this tracker by using Google Tag Manager in conjunction with Google Ads. For it to work, the visible (or clickable) phone number on a website must dynamically change if the visitor came from a Google ad click. It requires that code be added to the website. There is a way to test if it’s working. Simply type the URL in the address bar of a browser and then add this string at the end: #google-wcc-debug. If the tracker is working, the phone number while testing will dynamically change to “999-999-9999.”

Event – Form Submission

Contact or “Get a Quote” form submissions are often considered an important conversion event on a website. I often track these events by using the page view method described above. For this to work, obviously, there must be a confirmation/ “thank you” page loaded automatically after the form submission. Fortunately for web admins, all contact form software (that I know of) has the feature that allows a redirect to another URL upon form submission. Aside from the page view method, Google Analytics has a built-in trackable event as one of its enhanced conversions. It tracks when a web page form submission is executed.

Event – Time Spent

Another useful way of tracking website engagement is time spent on the site. These events are tracked with thresholds, such as 3+ minutes or 5+ minutes. Google Tag Manager is useful for setting up a time spent event because one of its standard triggers is for time spent. You can simply decide how much time to set as a threshold and then create a tag that fires an event when that threshold is met. This is particularly useful for blogs and other sites that want to hold users’ attention with great content.

In Closing

The above list is my basic toolbox for tracking results from Google and Meta advertising. It’s important to have tools but also to understand when and how to use them. Choosing which trackers to use often depends on the business type, expected engagements, volume of traffic and amount of campaign budget.