This document discusses evolving approaches to conversion tracking and optimization across paid search and other digital marketing channels. It notes that conversions were once a nice-to-have secondary goal but are now a core focus, and that channels have blurred together, making attribution more complex. The document advocates testing across channels, using all available analytics and conversion tracking tools, integrating efforts wherever possible, and continually optimizing practices rather than relying on past formulas. Change and exploration are important to leverage new opportunities across what were once separate "conversion channels."

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Susan Wenograd
VP, Channel Strategy
Goodway Group
@SusanEDub

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3.  “What was” and “what is”
 How to leverage the “what is”
 Evolving how we think about conversion
 Cultural habits and challenges
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The good news is, we’re not that bad now.
The bad news is, there’s a lot of data, a lot of specialists involved, and some folks
are just in a rut with the way they handle their paid search routine.
Sup?
I buy banner ads. I got us 10mm
views at a $0.50 CPM. I am
AWESOME.
Neat.
I bid on 500,000 keywords at up
to $45 CPC. We’re always #1.
We’re showing up on midget
porn sites and are #1 for that
keyword. Bitchin’.
• Conversions were a nice-to-have.
• Channels didn’t matter much – you just spent budget.

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M E A S U R E
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T
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DTEGRAT
ACINUM EMOC
L
C
S
E EGAGN
Share Conversion
Wins/Fails.
Every channel is different, but test, test,
test some more. (And for God’s sake
SHARE IT OUT.)
Your PPC Portal Shouldn’t
Exist in a Vacuum
• Dynamic value tracking
• Consider longer-term conversion plays
by tiering the actions people can take
that indicate success, such as “on-click”
goals in Analytics.
Use Analytics Assisted
Conversions & Conversion
Types.
Conversions aren’t just about the last-ad-
seen attribution. They’re often a longer road
with signals along the way.

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• New channels will always emerge – avoid
tunnel vision.
- Semantic search
- Social/Graph Search channels
• Realize the ease of attributing conversion
credit is dissolving.
- Search retargeting. It’s search, but it’s
display.
- Facebook Graph Search:
what is that? Social? Search? Both?

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Paid search is traditionally seen as a “conversion channel.”
Conversion tracking
is a blessing and a
curse. A “blurse,” if
you will.
(Bill dared me to use this photo of him.
Don’t call my bluff, man.)
Is that limited to sales and leads? Do we know that
it’s not a catalyst for the start of a consumer journey
vs. its end?
Things that have traditionally been an “anything”
channel aren’t living in that silo anymore.
Conversion tracking is important, but it can also
inhibit exploration of a channel’s additional benefits
in the conversion ecosystem.

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• Different specialty shops being cloak-and-dagger about results.
• Closed access to Analytics universe.
• “We need 400 clicks per month at a $2.00 CPC.” (Yes, these people still exist.)
• Lack of attention to tools available. (Dynamic phone numbers, ecommerce values,
etc.)
(a.k.a. Things that turn me into Gordon Ramsay)

10. Use best practices from
channels other than just the
one(s) you control.
Is the way you did PPC last
year the same way you’re
doing it now? Change
proactively – a year from now you
should be doing it differently from
today. (*cough* Enhanced
Campaigns*cough*)
Integrate what you can,
when you can. Use ad
extensions in AdWords. Use click-
to-call when it makes sense.
Leverage, test, and repeat. Do not
get comfortable with a set formula.

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Gracias!
Connect to me: @SusanEDub
(We are in Miami, after all.)