When an advertiser or publisher implements its own counting tool for clicks or impressions, you can expect to find minor discrepancies between what Campaign Manager 360 counts and what third parties count. Discrepancies of up to 20 percent are considered normal.
Common causes of discrepancies
Some of the most common causes of discrepancies are:
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Reports that aren't accurate comparisons. For example, is the date range of the Campaign Manager 360 report and the third-party report the same?
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If the originally exported tag is modified or wrapped.
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Improperly implemented cache-busting.
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Duplicate tags running across different sections of a site or app.
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Different filtering methodologies for invalid impressions or clicks.
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Different measurement methodologies.
Useful information for inquiries
For discrepancies larger than 20 percent, if you choose to contact Google Marketing Platform support, make sure you do so while the campaign is still live. Discrepancies with limited data (less than 1,000 impressions) cannot be investigated. Support will be able to help you faster if you have the following information ready:
- A placement report broken down by date that allows comparison between CM360 and 3rd Party platform/Site.
- A live URL or a live app where support can view the ad tags. If that's not possible, provide a test URL or app that's implemented exactly as the live tags.
- The publisher-modified tags. If the originally exported CM tag is modified, provide us with the final version tag in the discrepancy sheet.
You can send this information in the discrepancy spreadsheet.
If errors are detected, we will inform you and the publisher, but it's possible that there will be no resolution, as discrepancies are some of the most difficult cases to resolve. We rely on the agency/advertiser to leverage its relationship with the publisher upfront to set mutually acceptable terms in the event of questionable discrepancies .