Image Ads View Through Conversion Tracking on Google Content Network (Banner Advertising Made Effective)

You may or may not know that Google allows advertisers to display image or video ads as well as text ads on the CONTENT network... not the search network.

Under certain circumstances using image ads can play a very important role. However the content network is place to lose lots of money unless you take great care in setting up campaigns on the network. The basic reason is that the content network is some 20 times bigger than the normal, familiar, Adwords search network and requires a completely different mentality to make it work well.

Just last week Google announced a new conversion reporting mechanism for use with image ads. By implementing the new tracking mechanism Google will show you the number of conversions that occurred within 30 days of your display ad appearing for which there was no ad click generated. In other words if someone saw your ad if a conversion takes place later Google will record the conversion inside its "View-Through" conversion tab.

What this means is that for the first time the overall impact of a display ad can now be measured without the ad itself creating the click through.

This is like banner advertising with an ability to link a display ad to a conversion anytime within the following 30 days even though the banner was not clicked. This is how Google describes it...

View-through Conversions

View-through conversions count a conversion when there is no content ad click but a conversion did occur within 30 days of the last display ad impression. If there is an ad click preceding the conversion, the conversion is treated as a click-conversion.

This is powerful "stuff" Google is amazing! A marketer's dream come true.