I recently (today!) posted about some search funnel data I’d examined, if you haven’t already done so have a read of my search funnels post before reading the rest of this post.
At the end of my previous post I mentioned that whilst the search funnel system provides us with vast amounts of data it does little to help Adwords managers who are typically working to tight timelines quickly identify influential key phrases and adjust bids accordingly.
So, I thought “what would help”? What we need is a metric that’s easy to understand and provides an at a glance summary of a key phrases importance/influence. In addition, this metric needs to be displayed in a prominent position on the main Adwords dashboard alongside the existing conversion types and not hidden away like the current search funnels are.
What I think we need is.. drum rolls(!).. Part Of Path (POP) Conversion, and it would look something like this:-
So what is POP Conversion?
POP conversion volume = the total number of conversions phrase X played a part in generating regardless of its position in the search funnel.
POP conversion rate = Total number of conversions phrase X played a part in / total number of clicks for phrase X.
POP conversion cost = total cost of clicks for phrase X in all converting paths / volume of conversions phrase X played a part in.
A now for a massively simplified example:-
The above data represents a fictitious campaign for an insurance company. For simplicity’s sake each path converts 1 or 0 times. Things can start getting very complicated, very quickly otherwise!
Now let’s take a look at the performance of the phrase “insurance”.
Last click conversion stats really don’t do this phrase justice, first click conversion stats are better but it’s only the POP conversion metrics that truly reflect the actual volume of conversions this phrase helps generate.
Ok, how about the performance of “affordable insurance”:-
Well, its tanking right? or at least you could be forgiven for thinking this is you were relying on last click conversion stats alone. In fact If you were relying on last click conversion data there’s a good chance you’d turn this phrase off completely. It’s only when we consider the the POP conversion that we realise that this phrase is actually a pivotal mid path phrase.
Summary
I don’t for a second think that a metric like POP conversion could replace existing first/last click measurements. I do however feel it warrants a place alongside them, its presence alone could help avoid deactivation of pivotal phrases that ultimately generate conversions.
It would act as a diagnostic tool, I.e if a phrase doesn’t appear to be performing using conventional conversion measurements a quick look at the phrases POP performance would quickly help determine the true value of that phrase.
In addition, I’m not suggesting that the information required to calculate POP conversion figures isn’t available in the existing search funnels reports. It would just take a hell of a lot of manual work to extract and compile.
