Click Report vs Criteria Report - Difference in Number of Clicks

[Normunds Vilcins]

Basically the number of individual clicks in Click Performance Report is higher than the number of reported clicks in Criteria Performance Report.

We compare the number of entries in Click Performance  Report, that refer to a specific (CampaignId, AdGroupId, KeywordId) and falls inside specified date range, to the sum of Clicks values from Criteria Performance Report, for the same filter parameters.

(also tried adgroup and campaign levels, getting the exact same results as the criteria level described above)

We see a difference for a all of our clients, checking different time ranges, and the proportion of "lost clicks" is generally about 3-5% (~9% for one smaller client).

Is this normal, and how should we interpret this?

Thanks!

[Shwetha Vastrad (AdWords API Team)]

Hi, 

Click performance Report includes both valid and invalid clicks. If you see a difference in the total number of clicks in Click Performance Report and the value from the Clicks field in Campaign Performance Report, it's most likely because some clicks were considered invalid. I would suggest that you request for Clicks and InvalidClicks from either Campaign Performance Report or Account Performance Report and use this sum when comparing the total number of clicks in the Click Performance Report. 

If you still see a difference in the total number of clicks, please provide the complete report definition used to download your reports along with your clientCustomerId and a sample of campaigns for which you see this difference. Please use Reply privately to author when responding. 

Regards,
Shwetha, AdWords API Team.