Your click statistics in AdButler can be different from your Google Analytics statistics. Google’s own ad-serving can report up to a 20% difference from Google Analytics numbers. Why are these numbers so different?

There are a few reasons why this happens. One important distinction to make is the difference between when AdButler logs a click and when Google logs a visit to the site where the user is redirected after they click your ad. AdButler will track a click exactly when a user clicks on an ad. But Google Analytics tracks a visit only when a page with their tracking script on it is fully loaded. The discrepancies arise when something changes or gets in the way between these two events.

Here are some examples of things that might get in the way:

• If a user does not have cookies, JavaScript, and images enabled in their browser, Google Analytics will not track a visit.
• If a user clicks an ad, is redirected to a site, but then leaves before the Google Analytics script is executed, the click has been recorded but the visit has not. This may occur when a user accidentally clicks an ad and exits right away or navigates away from the landing page to another page on the site before the script has time to execute.
• Within a 30 minute window, Google Analytics will only count one page visit per user. If a user clicks your ads more than once within that window, we will record each click, but only one visit will be recorded in Google Analytics.
• Users may also find ways to prevent their data from being collected by Google Analytics. There are browser plug-ins to opt out of Google Analytics, and it is even possible for users to spoof or block their referring URL which may result in inaccurate data in Analytics. In all these cases, the clicks are still counted by AdButler.
• Time zone differences may also result in data discrepancies, placing visits on a different day or hour than the corresponding click.

To summarize, there are many reasons why your AdButler click data will be different than the data seen on Google Analytics. Clicks and visits are two very different events that are tracked using different methods at different times.