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Google Analytics: how to use it with arbitrage and native campaigns (9)

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Hey guys, hows it going?

I'm trying to understand what is a correct setup for Goole Analytics if one wants to use it to track and optimize native campaigns or arbitrage.


First of all is it possible to use only Google Analytics with natives (without any other tracker)?

What is a standard setup? What tokens from google analytics you use (utm_source, utm_campaign, utm_medium, etc)?

And how do you actually optimize from there, what params you look at?

Do you also use conversions/goals or simply optimize by other params?


I think the arbitrage scenario is a bit simpler actually, because you have the revenue each placement generated from adsense (or whatever ad network you are working with), but wondering if there is a correct setup that can work with normal native campaigns as well.


Any tips or real usage examples are much appreciated

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For arbitrage, I mean the real traffic arbitrage, there is one parameter that is very important and that's how well the traffic engages with your content. As in order to succeed with arbitrage, you need to produce as much clicks per visit as possible. Look at time on site, pages per visit ... you simply need to find out what traffic produces the most clicks and buy more of that

The problem I always had with google analytics ... it always counts less traffic than a dedicated tracker, the click loss can be quite large. When I was actively running arbitrage sites, mostly adult, I used custom scripts to count as much clicks as possible, to get the most accurate data. Analytics also takes quite a while to load, so it can miss a lot of bounced clicks that occur too fast ...

Let's see what other have to say here ...

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There are quite a few moving pieces with Native Arb. It basically comes down to RPS(Revenue Per Session) vs. CPS( Cost Per Session). You must optimize campaigns , page layout , ad placements to maximize this these stats.

As far as Google Analytics(GA), I find that it's a great tool for monitoring site activity. #1 it's free. #2 its pretty flexible/robust. I track utm_campaign=[campaign], utm_term=[site], utm_source=[trafficsource]. Based on these basic tracking param, I optimize campaigns by geo/device/site. Good luck!

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thanks kidbrando, useful info.

I'm just wondering how do you measure CPS (cost per session) for a given [site] for example? Because what you get from the traffic source is a cost per click, or I'm missing something else here?

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I haven't used it myself, but there's a Cost Data Import section under Acquisition > Campaigns > Cost Analysis. Once that is imported, I'm not sure if they'll give you CPS or not, but if not, you can create a Calculated Metric under Admin > View > Calculated Metrics. The Formula field autofills the applicable fields you can use as you type, and CPS would be {{Cost}} / {{Sessions}}. Then you'd need to create a custom report with that new metric.

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I'd say it's about the word/metric you wanna use - google shows different metrics - sessions/users/pageviews ... so if you plan to use google analytics, pick one and base your actions on it. Could be users or sessions, some will prefer one over another. You need to do some calc, so if a trafficsource sent you 100 visits for $100 spent and you see 50 sessions in GA, you would calculate that the cost per session was $2.

Whatever metric you choose, it's still about the same : you need to maximize all factors that are directly related to the final results : you need users to stay longer and to load more pages per visit, as it means more ads served and higher possibility for them to click on something. You also need to play with the ad spot locations, in order to raise the CTR.

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Be careful using GA at scale. When your campaign gets serious volume GA will start to show you only a sample of the data. This causes problems if you're trying to track stats for individual placements.

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To measure cost per session correctly, you need to export raw stats from the traffic platform, by the dimensions that you are tracking.

For example, if I want to know daily cost by campaign by site, then I would need to export cost by day by site. This is the true way to calculate cost/session in my experience. Once that's calculated, the next step is to join your cost data against your revenue data. If it's adsense, then export adsense revenue by day by campaign by site via GA.

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Yes, there's sampling for non-standard reports (adding segments or secondary dimensions) once you hit 500,000 sessions per month at the property level. You can have up to 50 properties on GA free so use them if you can. Also note there's a maximum of 10 million hits per month per account. If these numbers are too low, then consider Google Analytics 360, but that's more for large scale and also naturally it costs a lot.

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