Google announced a significant update to the AdSense Reporting dashboard to focus on more accurate information. Google removed historical reporting data older than three years in order to improve accuracy, speed and usability of the reports.
There is a way to download the information. But it will only be available for a very short time.
Google also removed YouTube and AdMob data.
Limiting Reporting Data to Three Years
Google said they were limiting historical performance information was provided in order to improve the accuracy of the reports.
From now on, Google is only reporting three years of historical data.
While the announcement said this was done to improve the accuracy of the reports, their support page claims it was done to improve the speed and usability.
This is what the AdSense announcement says:
“In order to make reports more accurate, we’re limiting reporting data to three years for all AdSense products such as Adsense for content, AdSense for search, etc.”
And this is what the support page says:
“To improve the speed and usability of the new AdSense reporting page, we’ve made some changes to reporting data in AdSense.
…We’ve limited reporting data for all AdSense products (Adsense for content, AdSense for search, etc.) to the last 3 years. This means that you can only run reports for data that’s less than 3 years old.”
Dissimilarity of Reasons for Removal of Historical Data
The difference between the two statements makes it unclear which one is true and correct.
- Was removing three years of data made to improve speed and usability?
- Was the change made to improve the accuracy of the reports?
- Did limiting historical data to three years improve the speed, usability and accuracy of the reports?
How to Download Your Historical AdSense Reporting Data
The historical reporting data that is older than three years is not yet lost. You can still download it but for a limited time.
The data can be downloaded using the old AdSense reporting dashboard until the end of September 2020.
After September you have until the end of 2020 to download your full historical reporting data, including the YouTube and AdMob data.
Here is how to download your information:
- Sign in to your AdSense account.
- Click Reports.
- Make sure that you’re opted in to the new version of the Reports page.
- Find the report that you want to download.
- Next to Save as, click More and then Download legacy data.
- Your data is downloaded as a CSV file.
Reporting Data for YouTube and AdMob Removed
Google also announced that they are removing YouTube and AdMob data from the AdSense reports. While the announcement said it was to improve accuracy, the support page said it was for speed and usability.
The YouTube and AdMob information is still available elsewhere. It’s just no longer available from the main AdSense reporting dashboard.
According to Google’s support page for the updated AdSense reporting:
“If you’re a YouTube publisher, use YouTube Analytics to monitor the performance of your channels, videos, and claimed content.
If you’re an AdMob publisher, visit the Reports page in your AdMob account.”
The support page for the YouTube Analytics product has six sections:
- YouTube Analytics basics
- Overview tab
- Reach tab
- Engagement tab
- Audience tab
- Revenue tab
Screenshot of YouTube Analytics Support Page
Removing YouTube reporting data from the AdSense panel is arguably a useful move. The support page has six sections with 21 topics.
Clearly the needs of a YouTube creator are better served outside of the AdSense reporting environment and in the dedicated YouTube analytics.
Contextual Help
The focus of the update is to make the AdSense reporting dashboard easier to use. In order to do this they are adding contextual help tips in key areas, such as in the metrics. Now a publisher can hover over an information icon and receive in-context information.
That improvement will help provide a more frictionless workflow.
Less than intuitive user interfaces is a longtime problem at Google. So it’s good to see them focusing on making their products easier to use.
The changes are intended to make it easier to access monetization information and gain insights on performance.
Mobile Optimized
Google also announced that all of the desktop improvements will be available on the mobile version of the website. All the metrics and functionality will be available on mobile.
Overview of New AdSense Reporting
Removing the historical data and leaving only three years of data might be problematic for some publishers.
The trade-off is faster performance and possibly more accurate data.
It seems like such a small thing to make this information available elsewhere in the reporting dashboard. Some may find that limiting the data to three years is kind of harsh.
Fortunately, the data is still available for download. You may want to download it now before it’s gone forever.
Citations
Official Google Announcement: The New AdSense Reporting is Live
