Getting Search Query/Term for Clicks

[Charlie Saunders]

Hello all,

We are looking into how to get the query data associated with clicks since the security changes announced here have prevented us from getting this data from some third party tools.  For example, we sometimes use a call tracking solution which used to use the referrer to get the query for us but can no longer do that.

I was hoping that we could capture the gclid, then use the Click Performance Report to get the query data, but it looks like this report does not expose the query.  It also doesn't seem to expose several other fields I might expect it to, such as keyword/criteria, match type, and campaign/ad group name.

Does anyone have an alternative way to get this data, either through the API or via a different mechanism?  Would it be possible to get some of these fields added to the Click Performance Report?

Thanks!

Charlie Saunders

Senior Web Analytics Engineer

ROI Revolution Inc.

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Charlie,

Depending the data that you need, you may be able to use the Search Query Performance Report, which has the aggregated data of query terms to Ad Group or Campaign.

Thanks,

Ray

[Charlie Saunders]

Ray,

Thanks for your reply.  What we really need is the query data in our call tracking or backend system.  The search query performance report would not give us the level of detail we need, nor would it allow us to get query tied to a specific call or backend transaction.

Since we can no longer get this via document.referrer, is there another solution?

Thanks!

Charlie Saunders

Senior Web Analytics Engineer

ROI Revolution Inc.

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Charlie,

Not at the moment.  It would be great if you could share the exact use cases / flow so I can potentially put together a clearer picture of the feature need.

Thanks,

Ray

[Charlie Saunders]

Ray,

We want to get the query for offline conversions (e.g. calls).

If this was possible with capturing the gclid + using Click Performance Report, it would look like this:

Call tracking solution captures gclid for visitor that called (from query string or cookie)
We download call tracking data, including captured gclid value
We request data about each gclid from AdWords, including query, and incorporate it into our reporting and analysis

Currently it looks more like this:

Call tracking solution captures data from query parameters (data from tagging we do, some of which uses ValueTrack) or cookies that stored this data on initial visit, query is determined by looking at referrer

We download call tracking data, including this captured data

Does that make it more clear?

Thanks,

Charlie

[Ray Tsang (AdWords API Team)]

Charlie,

I understand.  I feel that query parameter data was removed as security enhancement for the search users.  We may not be able to re-expose that data in the report.

Thanks,

Ray