AdSpyTracker - Google AdSense Tracking Script Reviewed

Discover The Hidden Gems In Your AdSense Traffic

Website: AdSpyTracker.com
Rating: 8/10

For the longest time, I’ve been trying to find a web statistics software that will be able to track my AdSense traffic. Most people that use AdSense know that they can use the tools inside of Google to find out more detailed information. However, did you know that there is plenty of valuable information hidden from your traffic that Google isn’t revealing?

What Google Isn’t Revealing To You

Here’s a few things that Google does not readily reveal in their AdSense reports:

• The pages that are generating the most AdSense income
• The actual ads that people are clicking on…the ones that make you money
• What time of day people are clicking on those ads
• The ad formats on your site that are bringing in the most money
• The keywords that lead AdSense clickers to your sites

So why are these so important and how can they be used?

Out of all these things I mentioned, the main thing is having the ability to track conversions. When you are given the tools to track what is making you money, you will have the knowledge that will allow you to increase your income. You can optimize your content and template to boost conversions.

Why can I just use my AdSense reports and channels to find out what’s going on?

With your AdSense tools, you can create your own channels. By separating ads into your own channels, you can then see how much click your are getting and how much money you’re making from them. If you wanted to, you could create a channel for every Google AdSense unit on your site to see what’s going on. If you had 100 pages on your site and had only 1 AdSense unit on each page, you could create 100 different channels for each page on that site to see which channel or page is making the most for you…but do you really want to do that? Even after doing all of that, you still wouldn’t even know which advertisers were being clicked on and at what time of day your ad units were most effective. If you’re using AdWords for arbitrage, you can use this information to target specific time periods that are more lucrative.

AdSpyTracker Dissected…

I ended up getting an email from Matt Callen about his new AdSense tracking script…AdSpyTracker. After getting his HyperVRE software, I kind of lost confidence in his products. When I used HyperVRE, it was so buggy that I could barely use it…even though the big guru’s promoted the heck out of it. So why did I even consider this new product of his? Frankly, I needed an AdSense web stats software and the price was pretty low…$9.99.

So how was it and did it live up to my expectations?

After downloading the software, I ended up installing it later on that evening. It was a pretty easy software to install. The instructions were pretty easy to understand…anybody that knows how to use an FTP program should have ease in the process.

Here’s a few screenshots that show some of the reports functions that it has:

As you can see, this Google AdSense tracking script shows a variety of helpful reports. What makes things easier is that you can use 1 single tracking code on every AdSense site that you have. All you have to do is add the code to the bottom of each AdSense unit code and you’re good to go.

So did this software live up to my expectations? With a price of $9.99 and all the functionality it has, I don’t have any major complaints. In fact, I’m in a much better position that I was before. Now I have more information that I can use to optimize my pages and make more money.

So do I still have to create AdSense channels?

In the past, I used channels to only track my individual domains…nothing more specific than that. If you use AdSpyTracker, you don’t need to use channels if you are only tracking on a domain level. The software will allow you to filter reports on your own based on domain. However, your income per a channel is not being reported. So I still continue to use channels and AdSense reports because of this reason. Also, even though the software shows which ad unit style is generating the most clicks, you don’t know which one is generating the most profit if you’re using multiple ad units of the same size on the same page.

Shouldn’t software developers provide customer service?

The only thing that I haven’t seen working properly so far is the “Search Terms” function. It would allow you to know what people are typing in to the Google Search box on your pages (at least that’s my understanding of it). I think that you would have added power by knowing what your visitors are actually wanting to know more about.

So I ended up sending an email(*update below) to Matt Callen about this situation and I got an autoresponse saying that he pretty much doesn’t support this software and to read the manual that came with it. Now, if a software developer is going to release a software out to the public, I think that there should be some kind of support for it…especially if a function isn’t working the way it should. I know that $9.99 isn’t a lot of money to make from the software, but at least there should be some forum, knowledge base, or other automated approach.

One thing that I should note is that Matt does provide updates. I know that his brother Brad is pretty good with updating his software…so I hope that Matt will do the same. The second day after the software was released, Matt did send an email to all the customers about an updated release…however - it didn’t solve the “Search Terms” issue that I was having.

Besides all of this, I’m pretty pleased with this software. I’ve used many web tracking scripts in the past, but this was the first one I used that worked with tracking AdSense.

*Update-January 14, 2007: Matt does support the software through the HyperVRE.com site. You still have to get a free account and login to get to the support though. I’m still using the software and it’s working out great…even in Firefox.

To learn more, visit the AdSpyTracker website