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Paid search providers allow subscribers to buy keywords that cause the placement of advertisements on the search results page. Examples of paid search providers are Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

A paid search referrer occurs within weblog or page tag data when a visitor clicks a sponsored link, or advertisement. The person who sets up the advertisement has control over the destination Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), so the query string of the destination URI can be used to indicate that the referrer was a paid search provider. In addition, Google has the ability to place the GCLID query string parameter in the destination URI.

SAS^® Web Analytics flags a visit to a web site as one that started from a paid search provider if the Clickstream detail output data set contains the string PAID_SEARCH_FLG = '1'. The PAID_SEARCH_FLG variable sets the PPC_FLG column within the SESSION_FACT table.

The Search Engine Ad Destination URI should contain a query string parameter that identifies the visitor as having entered the site via a paid search link. This parameter can be set automatically by search engine provider. For example, Google automatically places the GCLID parameter on the destination URI if the correct setting is checked. The parameter can also be set manually by the user.

Follow these instructions to set the PAID_SEARCH_FLG variable within the Clickstream job:

1. Open the Clickstream job and double-click on the Clickstream Parse transformation.
2. Select the User Columns tab and add the following columns:
   • paid_search_flg $1
   • paid_search_value
     This column is used to store the value associated with the paid search parameter.
     For example, if the query string contains gclid=CI7CnPDU154CFYJx5QodFy7jqQ, then this column will contain the value CI7CnPDU154CFYJx5QodFy7jqQ.
3. Select the Clickstream Parameters tab.
   • Click on Add a New Parameter.
   • Enter in the name of the query string parameter that identifies a paid search.
   • If more than one query string parameter identifies a paid search (for example, gclid), repeat the two steps above. Set the Source Type to Query and the user column to paid_search_value.
4. Select the Rules tab.
   • Use a rule to assign paid_search_flg based on the value of that parameter in the User Column.
     You might need to create more than one rule, depending upon the number of query string parameters.

     Set up each rule as follows:
     When to apply – After Parse
     Condition – Off (always perform action)
     Action – Assign column
     Column: paid_search_flag
     Value: IFC(paid_search_value ne ‘’,’1’,’0’,’0’)
     

   • Use another rule(s) to execute a SAS expression that removes the paid search query string parameters from the Query String field. This step cleans up the page URI by removing a parameter that is not necessary for page identification.
     Note: This step should be considered to be mandatory for GCLID. See Google AdWords documentation for more information.
   • Select paid_search_flg on the Target Table tab so it is output from the transformation.
   • As an optional step, select paid_search_value on the Target Table tab.
   
   
   

   Operating System and Release Information

   Product Family	Product	System	Product Release		SAS Release
   			Reported	Fixed*	Reported	Fixed*
   SAS System	SAS Web Analytics	Microsoft® Windows® for x64	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Microsoft Windows Server 2008	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Microsoft Windows XP Professional	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows 7 Enterprise x64	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows 7 Home Premium x64	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows 7 Professional 32 bit	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows 7 Professional x64	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows 7 Ultimate x64	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Windows Vista	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		64-bit Enabled AIX	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		64-bit Enabled Solaris	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		HP-UX IPF	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Linux for x64	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2
   		Solaris for x64	5.31	5.31	9.2 TS2M2	9.2 TS2M2

   * For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.