Earlier this year, Google announced a new group of reports called AdWords Search Funnels that allows you to view attribution data. Because AdWords conversions are attributed to the last ad someone clicks, the ads they viewed or clicked prior are not included in that data.  Knowing which ads your visitors interacted with before a conversion is important in understanding what influences a person to visit a website. These types of interactions are considered “assists”, meaning that even though they were not directly responsible for the conversion, they helped in some way.  An assisted click might be the ad that a user clicked several days before a making a purchase that helped them to make a decision and an assisted impression might be a time when a user saw your ad on a search results page but didn’t click it.  Although they didn’t directly click on your ad, by seeing your ad they became familiar with your brand and what products or services you offer.  With the Search Funnels reports, you are able to view this activity prior to the conversion process through click and impression data.

To view these reports, click on the Reporting and Tools tab and then on Search Funnels below the left menu.

• The Overview allows you to view the average number of days, clicks, and impressions it takes a user to convert. 
• The Assist Clicks and Impressions Report allows you to view assist clicks and impressions by campaign, ad group, and keyword.
• The Assisted Conversions Reports allow you to view assisted conversions also by campaign, ad group, and keyword.
• The First and Last Click Analysis Reports allow you to view and compare which ad groups and keywords were clicked during the conversion process. 
• The Time Lag and Path Length Reports give you a better idea of how long (in days and hours) and how may clicks and impressions it takes before a visitor converts.

These reports can help you understand your customer’s habits and know which keywords are successful and not just measured by the number of conversions.  Many users start their search using broad, non-branded search terms and end with specific, branded keywords.  For example, a user conducts several searches on general terms such as “flower delivery” and “online flower orders” and each time sees and/or clicks on your ad but doesn’t make a purchase.  Then, they later decide they are ready to buy and search specifically for your name brand, “ABC Florist” because they learned the name of your business through seeing your ad previously.  AdWords attributes that conversion to the keyword “ABC Florist”, which would lead you to believe they already knew your name and that your branded keywords perform well.  However, those general keywords that they started with were critical in assisting in the conversion and should be treated as valuable keywords.