Unbounce Statistics Don't Match PPC

  • 16 March 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 28 views

Hi guys,

I’ve just started an unbounce account, I’ve made 3 landing pages and 3 google ad campaigns to go along with these.

I put them live over the weekend, and despite AdWords pulling through aload of visitors and metrics through on the campaigns, the unbounce stats just don’t match up. On unbounce its reporting the landing page has only had 8 views, which is way out, seeing as we’ve had an ad campaign running on it for 2 days.

I might be doing something wrong, or have possibly set the page up incorrect - could someone point me in the right direction?

Regards
Dan

  • bump

4 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Are you also using Google Analytics as a third source of truth, so you can compare what Google Ads and Unbounce are each reporting?

And how big is the discrepancy?

Hi Nicholas,

Thanks for the reply,

So using the java function, i’ve setup each landing page with the GA-site tag and also adwords conversion tag. I’ve tested this and if I convert on unbounce it correctly lists a conversion within Adwords.

I’ve only just set these live, and therefore there isnt much data (and no conversions yet) but nethertheless there is a disparity and want to quash asap, as I need confidence in the data.

For example, I have 3 landing pages (Cobra, Air Tools, Power Packs) that list:-

Google Analytics = 37 Air Tools, 27 Cobra, 26 Power Pack
Google Ads = 43 Air Tools, 30 Cobra, 28 Power Pack
Unbounce Statistics = 19 Air Tools, 63 Cobra, 39 Power Pack

So none of them match up, making me wonder where i’ve gone wrong.

I’ve added site tags to the java like so:

<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Ads: XXXXXXXX -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-XXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());

  gtag('config', 'AW-XXXXXXXXX');
</script>

and then added the following in the java on the form confirmation page:

<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Ads: XXXXXXXX -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-XXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());   gtag('config', 'AW-XXXXXXXX');
</script>

<!-- Event snippet for Contact Form Atlas Copco LPs conversion page -->
<script>
  gtag('event', 'conversion', {'send_to': 'AW-XXXXXXXX/qcJDCNnbufsBELHYtaQD'});
</script>

Appreciate any help here

Regards
Dan

Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hmm, interesting. I’m not sure off the top what the issue could be, but one thing you might want to do to troubleshoot is change how you’re implementing the tracking snippets.

Instead of using the code snippet directly on the page, you could try using Unbounce’s built-in Google Tag Manager integration: https://documentation.unbounce.com/hc/en-us/articles/203814014-How-Do-I-Integrate-Google-Tag-Manager-With-Unbounce-

And then once that is in place, you would use Google Tag Manager to connect your Google Analytics and Google Ads tracking codes and set up all conversion tracking in there. This would simplify things and help isolate where the discrepancy may be coming from I think. It’s also easier to maintain, since all of your tracking would be within your Google Tag Manager container.

Userlevel 5
Badge +2

Hi @DanPearson

We typically rely on Google Analytics for our numbers (mostly because we pull them into our reports), but I was told that there is a difference in how page visits are counted. It’s best to pick one source-of-truth because you will be trying to tackle this forever.

This was the quote from a while ago, “For example, Google Analytics uses script-based tracking whereas Unbounce’s tracking is server-based.”.

Do make sure you exclude any IP address that may be visiting your pages within your company in Google!

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