As some of you may know, Google AdWords works through statistical computing. The functions within AdWords (such as bid algorithms, auction management, etc.) work on the basis of a statistical probabilistic formula. Hence, PPC marketers need to embrace statistics as equally as they connect with their digital marketing tools.
That’s where R comes in handy. What is R? It’s a programming language designed specifically for statistical computing. It empowers both descriptive and inferential statistics, while enabling lots of graphical techniques. Best of all, it’s an open source software that’s free to use and hence, has become one of the most favorite languages of statisticians.
3 Reasons We Should Consider R for AdWords Analyses
1. R enables sophisticated statistical analyses: Imagine a situation where you have to do multivariate testing within AdWords. While AdWords enables the test environment, R provides you with all analytical methods.
2. Visualization capabilities of R are amazing: The graphical abilities of R are unparalleled. From visualizing data points in a map to normal bar charts, everything is available in R. This helps in visualizing the account and campaign performance from multiple perspectives.
3. A vast community of statistical programmers: Since R is open source, there’s a vastly incalculable community of programmers actively contributing to R. You’ll see numerous advanced statistical packages in R and realize that we just need to plug n’ play to arrive at astonishing insights.
Baby Steps in R & AdWords
For any R-code execution, download R 3.3.2 and R-studio, an IDE (console-editor that supports direct code execution).
Once R console is set up, you’re ready to write your first AdWords statistical program. You should be creating Google AdWords API credentials to setup the authentication route from R to AdWords. If you’re feeling a little lost, contact our team at info@netelixir.com and we’ll help you out!
Once inside the console, try running the following script to see how your first statistical program works. This program captures the campaign’s cost metrics and plots them in a box plot.
The Secret Formula To Rule Them All
#invokes the AdWords package within R
library(RAdwords)
#the below command will prompt for the API credentials
google_auth <- doAuth(save = T)
#query to capture the campaign performance report between two dates
body <- statement(select=c('CampaignName','Impressions','Clicks','Cost','Ctr','SearchBudgetLostImpressionShare','SearchRankLostImpressionShare','Conversions','ConversionValue'),report="CAMPAIGN_PERFORMANCE_REPORT",start="2017-01-01",end="2017-01-25")
#runs the query in the respective account
adWordsData <- getData(clientCustomerId = 'XXX-XXX-XXXX',google_auth = google_auth, statement=body)
#creates a boxplot for the cost
boxplot(adWordsData$Cost)
Now that you know a little more about R, you can leverage its many capabilities in AdWords. See how this language can really make a difference in your next campaign with just a few simple clicks.
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