Late last week, several of my PPC clients received emails from Google concerning the relationship between their AdWords and Analytics accounts. According to the opening lines of the message, my clients’ accounts were not properly linked and I had until March 5th to fix the problem.
It’s come to our attention that your AdWords account has not been properly linked with your Google Analytics account. If you do not link your accounts by March 5, 2008, we cannot ensure that your data from AdWords will continue to populate in your Analytics account.
My gut reaction was that this was spam! However, this email was the real deal from Google. Since I had clients asking me what was wrong with their AdWords and Analytics accounts, and I knew that everything was in place and working properly, I decided to reach out to my trusty Google rep. Here is the email I sent:
Hello,
Below you will find an email that I received in regards to an AdWords account not being properly linked to an Analytics account. In fact, I actually received this email for a few clients! What’s confusing to me is that in each case, the linking relationship has been intact with no issues.
Can you please explain the purpose of this email and if there is anything I should worry about?
The response I received explained the purpose of Google’s original email much, much better:
Thanks for contacting us about the Analytics change. I know that email is causing some confusion since it was sent out last week. The email was sent to all Analytics users who will be impacted in at least one of their profiles by a change that the Analytics team is making on March 5th. Anyone who received the email should just double check that the following is true:
1. The AdWords account is linked to the Analytics account
2. The auto-tagging feature is enabled in AdWords
3. The option to import the cost data has been selected in Analytics
Below I have written out instructions on how to ensure that all of the above are completed. If you ensure that the above are true, then you shouldn’t run into any issues with system upgrade on March 5th. Please note that to make the necessary changes in AdWords, you need to have access through a login to the account (not through your MCC), and to make the necessary changes in the Analytics account, you need to have Administrative access to the Analytics account.
1. How to ensure that the AdWords and Analytics accounts are linked
– Log into AdWords
– Click on the Analytics Tab
– You should see the Analytics account information. If not, select an Analytics account from the drop-down to link it to your AdWords account.
2. How to ensure that the auto-tagging feature is enabled in AdWords
– Login to AdWords
– Click on the My Account Tab
– Click on the Account Preferences Link
– In the Tracking Section, ensure that the Auto-Tagging feature says ‘Yes’
– If you see ‘No,’ then click edit to enable the feature
3. To check that you will continue to import cost data into your Analytics account
– Log into AdWords
– Click the Analytics tab
– Click the ‘Edit’ link under the Settings header for *each* of your profiles
– Look to see if it says Yes or No next to ‘Apply cost data’
– If you see ‘No’ and you would like to continue to receive cost data in you Analytics reports, click the ‘Edit’ link at the top right of that page and check the ‘Apply Cost Data’ box
– Then save your changes
– Be sure to check each of your profiles
My apologies for the confusion and the broken links in the email sent out. Our Analytics team is aware of this issue and hopefully it will be resolved shortly. In the meantime, you (or your clients) can ensure that the three statements above are true, and then you won’t have to worry about the upgrade.
In other words, the proverbial sky won’t be falling on March 5th. Typically, the official correspondence from Google is quite clear and straightforward, but somebody missed the mark on this one! I’m glad I asked for clarification.
