Understanding Data Discrepancies Between AdWords and Google Analytics

You may notice differences between the data in your Google Analytics and AdWords reports. There are several reasons for these differences. First, AdWords tracks clicks, while Analytics tracks visits. Second, some visitors who click on your AdWords ads may have JavaScript, cookies, or images turned off. As a result, Analytics won't report these visits, but AdWords will report the click.

You'll also see differences between Analytics and AdWords if the Google Analytics Tracking Code on your landing page doesn't execute. In this case, AdWords will report the click but Analytics will not record the visit.

Invalid clicks may also cause reporting differences because while Google AdWords automatically filters invalid clicks from your reports, Google Analytics will still report the visits.

Finally, keep in mind that AdWords data is uploaded once a day to Analytics, so the results for each may be temporarily out of sync.

Stay on the lookout for these common issues:

• Make sure that your landing pages contain the Google Analytics Tracking Code. If they don't, campaign information will not be passed to Analytics, but clicks will register in AdWords.

• If you've disabled autotagging, make sure that you manually tag your destination URLs with campaign tracking variables. Otherwise, visits will be marked as "Google Organic" instead of "Google CPC."

• Be aware that campaign data can be lost if your site uses redirects. As a result, Analytics won't show the visits as coming from AdWords, but your AdWords report will still report the clicks.