Here’s a question for anyone that uses MyBlogLog and Google AdSense on the same site: Do your stats match up?It’s a simple question, but one I’ve been struggling with ever since one of my sites received a large spike in traffic. MyBlogLog’s stats and AdSense’s stats showed roughly the same number of impressions (give or take what you’d expect for people who block ads), but the stats for click-outs were totally different - by a factor of 10!A little background information. This page recently appeared on the front page of BoingBoing, and as a result hit a load of new blogs. Traffic went up ten-fold over night. The following day, I was checking my AdSense stats and noticed that the spike produced no increase in ad clicks at all. The impressions were there, but clicks were reported at exactly the same level.So I decided to check the MyBlogLog stats, and was surprised to see they reported an increase in clicks on Google Ads that matched the increase in impressions. There were three possibilities:

  1. AdSense was reporting incorrect stats
  2. MyBlogLog was reporting incorrect stats
  3. They were both reporting incorrect stats

Personally, I was more inclined to believe the MyBlogLog stats because they’re completely independent - and because my other sites linked from the page in question were also seeing an increase in traffic. It’s difficult to believe these 10,000 or so extra visitors clicked everything except a single Google ad.So, thinking some kind of automated fraud-detection system had incorrectly kicked in at Google’s end, I mailed them and asked them to investigate. The curt response I received simply castigated me for using MyBlogLog and did not mention the actual issue at all.

“Unfortunately, we do not endorse or encourage the use of any particularclick tracking tools, and we are unable to verify the statistics reportedby any third-party tools. As per our Terms and Conditions(www.google.com/adsense/terms), a publisher’s earnings and payments willbe determined based on the statistics reported within their AdSenseaccount.”

Note that MyBlogLog usage does not contravene Google’s Ts&Cs at all, and while the response from Google did not directly accuse me of breaking the rules, I was left with the distinct impression that I was somehow in the wrong.After exchanging a few more emails with Google, I was finally able to get the problem escalated. I explained, in depth, what I was seeing and a week later received a final response from Google:

Hello Dom,Thanks for your patience.I’ve compared our reports with the information you gave me, and ran sometests of our own, but still could not resolve the difference between whatMyBlogLog is showing and what we’re seeing. Unfortunately, ourunfamiliarity with how MyBlogLog compiles its data prevents us fromdigging much deeper when looking for possible causes.I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. I assure youthat this case will be noted and we will keep this issue in mind movingforward. As previously mentioned, we realize accurate reporting isextremely important to publishers like you, and your help in thisinvestigation will be extremely useful for future reference.If you have any questions about this or anything else AdSense-related,please feel free to let me know.Sincerely,MollyThe Google AdSense Team

That was 5 days ago and there have been no further responses to my emails.So, basically Google is saying “nothing we can do, sorry” and not really taking an interest. And I’m left with MyBlogLog still reporting significantly higher ad clicks than Google.Now I’m not accusing Google’s stats of lying - it could be that MyBlogLog is wrong, or there’s something I’ve overlooked, but something doesn’t add up. So my question is, has anyone else seen such a large discrepancy in AdSense and MyBlogLog stats - or seen anything similar using other click-tracking solutions? And more importantly, were you able to resolve it?