Why Google Is Removing Converted Clicks from AdWords

In September 2016, Google announced its decision to migrate converted clicks to conversions. According to the search giant, this move is grounded in the belief that converted clicks are outdated and antiquated.

Converted clicks were a column in AdWords that helped us understand the last click performance metrics that most of our digital savvy clients still rely on. Simply put, converted clicks represented a ratio between clicks that led to conversion those that didn't. Conversions metric only looks at the brighter side, creating ambiguity on the failures while also measuring cross-device conversion in line with Google's agenda for mobile first. Conversion metrics also allows advertisers and agencies to map the data points that led to the conversion, mapping a customer journey for assists.

Before the 15th of March 2017, advertisers and agencies should download performance data or risk losing it forever. Our efforts in the past year to improve an understanding of conversion metrics and conversions so thankfully this announcement doesn't faze us.

From a business standpoint, Google is doing this to get advertisers and agencies to move away from free to paid tools under its platforms. Converted Clicks will likely be available for an agency such as ours that have the paid version of DoubleClick. Agencies with the free version of AdWords are likely to feel the pinch. The downside of this move is that advertisers who want to assess the performance of customer acquisition budgets will be shielded from the big picture on the cost per acquisition and lifetime value. While advertisers and agencies take time to adjust from the change, their efforts around conversion rate optimization are likely to be adversely affected.