Google - Organic vs PPC

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Based on a few tests I did, I have found that

- when "Original Referrer' contains 'http://www.google.com/url?', it's a lead that came through Google Organic search.
- when "Original Referrer" contains 'http://www.google.com/aclk?', it's a lead that came through Google PPC

However, I am finding that a lot of my leads have a referrer that start with 'http://www.google.com/search?'. I am tempted to think that these are leads that came in through organic search, however, anyone know a sure answer for this?

Thanks for your response!

Kashmira Bakshi

[Anonymous]

In Google AdWords accounts, if auto-tagging is enabled (on by default), Google will append a unique "gclid=" parameter on your destination URLs at run-time that you will see in the referrer URL.  The gclid parameter enables data sharing between Google Analytics and Google AdWords.  You can use the presence of this parameter to distinctly identify your PPC traffic from Google's adnet.  Everything else is organic search.  Also, the referrer URL for display ads should start with "http://googleads".

[Michelle_Tizian]

I did notice that most of our new leads in our PPC program the "Original Referrer" contains 'http://www.google.com/aclk?.

[Anonymous]

@Michelle - We're seeing the same thing on our end. Were you able to find a solution that allowed you to capture your tracking string rather than the Google redirect url (http://www.google.com/aclk)?

[Michelle_Tizian]

Hi Harvey,

No, we actually discontinued our PPC program because we're not getting good quality leads. We instead are putting more of our money on LinkedIn advertising, and enhanced parts of our website for trial subscriptions, and also lead caputure using our newsfeed freemium model.  The last 2 items are the items that are working for us. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response Michelle. I'm still holding out hope that there's a solution to this, or at least some sort of workaround until Marketo rolls out their AdWords integration (which doesn't look like it's happening any time soon).