What happens to PPC click-thrus in your log files

Here is a snip from a discussion I am having at ihelpyouservices.com:

I just pulled up one of my log files (my ISP saves by the day, which makes this easier) and found that the "referrers" from my PPC ads are listed as such:

The images and other parts of the page list the referrer as the request from the PPC with the tracking URL:
http://www.espec.com/digest/?source=overture

Of course WebTrends or FastStats is going to ignore those because they aren't pages. But for the page, it is different!

For the page requested under referrer it lists the search page:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=temperature+chamber

But also under cs-uri-query it lists the stripped tracking URL info:
source=overture

So, to track the tracking URLs, you need to use WebTrends to somehow record the activity in this category. That would be the next step in this investigation.

Doing this opens a whole new world of analysis. If you break it down by keyword, you can compare the success of your listings versus your ads. Perhaps getting a lot of PPC on a term you aren't ranked well will make you think that terms is doing okay, when it is actually draining your cash.