How To Track Your AdSense Ads in Blogger

I recently decided to do some serious research on tracking software for my Google AdSense program and was a little bit surprised with the results.

There are several nice looking products out there, some of which are available for free as open source programs and they are numerous. A simple Google search for "free adsense tracking software" will keep you busy for hours. Some are for sale with a free trial or a money back guaranty, but the most popular software I found was AdSense Gold (Aff. Link). It has been reviewed and endorsed by some very reputable internet personalities such as Chris Garrett at Performancing.com and Darren Rowse at ProBlogger.com. This article is not a review of AdSense Gold so I am not going to go into all of the details, but it does seem to be a robust program that gives you the ability to dissect your traffic and click-through data from every angle thereby maximizing the advertising potential of your site. In fact the only real problems with it at all seem to be that it costs $97 and that the website looks like one of those "snake oil" scams complete with the whole, "I'm going to give you all of my secrets so you can make a fortune if you just buy this program from me!" thing. (A real turn off.)

There is however a problem with all of these options if you are one of the many bloggers hosting your Google AdSense ads on blogger.com or any of the other free blog hosts. You will find that all third party software programs require files to be loaded on the server. This issue alone excludes them from use on your free blog.

For those bloggers using a free platform, the question becomes, "How do I track my AdSense ads?". Rest easy dear friends. There is a solution. Granted, it's not as slick or simple as one of those cool self contained programs, and this method will not produce quite as much data, but it is free and it will work and it's not overly complicated.

The first thing you have to do is take advantage of the channels option when you set up your ad designs. It is a very simple process to complete. After you have chosen the size and colors of the add block, you will be asked to "Choose Ad Channels". Click "add new channel" and enter a name for this new channel. I prefer to use a name that describes the ad or referral link, such as "Top Banner", "Right Wide Tower", "FF Referral", etc. This way I can easily recognize each ad block or referral in my reports and gauge it's performance. If you have multiple sites, be sure to include a site prefix in each name. ("Dogs Right Link Box", Cats Left Referral Button") For proper tracking, it is necessary to go through this process for each ad unit, link box, referral button, or text link.

Next go to Google Analytics. Get your account set up, then install the javascript code into your template and wait for the system to start gathering information. This process takes overnight because the Google Analytics system collects and compiles it's data every 24 hours. When this data starts to flow you will have plenty to look at for a while until you decide exactly what is important to you. You can dissect this information any number of ways including the all important "Keywords" category and you can set up the system to report multiple websites.

I also like to set up an account for each site over at Sitemeter.com. One benefit to having the sitemeter account is that it reports in real time instead of having to wait until the next day for your hit count.

Now you have the ability to see exactly which ad units and referral links are performing and which are not by checking your AdSense report with channels. You can monitor the flow of traffic through your site(s) including the referring URL, keywords used, and tons more through Google Analytics. You have a source for real time hit data with sitemeter. All of which was free.

With these three tools in place you should be able to generate all of the data you need to manage a successful Google Adsense experience. If you do not yet have an AdSense account you may create one by clicking on the "Sign Up For AdSense" link located directly under my profile.