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One of the most important parts of using Google Adwords is being able to track conversions accurately. After you’ve made your selection of keywords, created a compelling ad, and then implemented your Google Adwords campaign, the next step is to start tracking conversions and reviewing the results.

You have the option of simply using your landing page hits and number of sales from a link to analyze your conversions. But it’s also worth looking at the tools Google provide its Adwords users for acquiring conversion data. Here are some tips and guidelines for using Google’s conversion tracking tools.

If you’re checkout process involves using a shopping cart or requires confirmation on the end of a buyer, you need to embed your conversion link using Javascript. JavaScript is required to send information back to the Google Adwords tracker.

This tool does not show the number of visitors to your site; but it tracks click-throughs on your ads that resulted in a conversion. Once you place the simple code into your website, you can then access the data in the Reports Center of Google Adwords under ‘Campaign Summary’.

There are only two conditions for the above method to work and track your conversions accurately. The first is that you should be running approved Adwords ads on your site and the second condition is you should place the code only in your conversion page.

You can verify if the code is working by completing a complete conversion yourself. If you can find out exactly when a user has clicked on your ad and completed the conversion process, you can review your conversion reports within 24 hours and see the click-through on the report summary. Avoid clicking your own ads, as this is a breach of the Google Adwords terms of service contract.

You can still track your conversions if you are using a payment checkout system, like PayPal. PayPal and most other systems offer a conversion confirmation webpage wherein you can insert your Adwords tracking code. You will have a record of all conversions or sales once a customer successfully completes the checkout process.

The book “Google: The Missing Manual”, written by J.D. Biersdorfer, Mathew McDonald, and Sarah Milstein, justifies the importance of knowing your total cost per conversion.

This information will let you understand how much it actually costs to generate your sale; you can calculate this by using the free conversion-tracking tools and matching the number of conversions up with the total cost of your campaign for any given period of time. To calculate this, you will need to produce a summary report of keyword purchases at the end of each month and divide the number of conversions by your total costs to run the ad.

Marketing with Google Adwords is an effective technique that most websites can use to find more sales. Creating quality Google Ads is one of the most important skills to have when using Adwords – and there are several good training guides available online.