Investigate unexpected content figures

Start with the exact report and column. A Content Conversion row, a Dashboard card and a reader's Activity value can differ because they answer different questions.

Confirm the report context

1. Check the selected publication and report name.
2. Identify the content using its title and URL. The content record guide explains the content key, internal ID and details to confirm with the integration owner.
3. Note the selected filters, ordering and table page.
4. For Dashboard, also note the period, comparison and grouping. For a reader record, confirm the reader and publication.

In Content Conversion, Published selects content creation-date age. It does not limit the counted activity to that age window. The displayed row date can be a publication timestamp, and current categories and authors can affect selection. Compare current classifications before assuming a missing row means no activity.

The TOTAL summary covers the selected content; the individual rows are paged. A row outside the current page is not necessarily absent from the summary.

Check which events and identities are counted

Views adds recorded allowed and denied access outcomes. Repeated requests can add records. Unique adds distinct identity counts across separate outcome groups and articles; it is not a union of people.

The access-recording path requires a valid session and excludes requests it identifies as crawlers. Ask the integration owner to confirm that your deployed integration reaches that path and which activity it records.

An allowed result does not prove someone read the article. A denied result does not prove a visible wall appeared. Signup and conversion associations do not establish that the content caused the later action. Keep these metric meanings beside the comparison.

Allow for stored-data freshness

Content Conversion uses saved aggregates updated through background processing. Refresh eligibility varies with the content's recorded age and the aggregate's last update. Normal background refresh does not automatically include content older than 180 days.

A recent request may not yet be reflected, and an older figure may need the owner's investigation. Ask the owner to confirm the aggregate's latest processing and the activity available for it.

Dashboard uses separate stored daily data, while a reader's Activity summary uses its own recent-history query. Matching a label or date does not make their populations or deduplication rules identical. Server date boundaries can differ from the publication's local timezone.

Give the owner a precise question

For City Journal, a useful request could be: “For this article, Content Conversion shows a different Views total after applying Published: 30 days. Please confirm the content selection and latest aggregate processing.” Include the article ID and URL, exact metric, filters, observation time, expected value and observed value.

For a Dashboard question, include the period, comparison and grouping. For an Audience question, supply the required reader reference through your authorized process. Avoid copying private reader records, tokens or exports into a general brief.

Ask the owner to inspect the relevant integration and processing records. Use Read payment reports when the question concerns financial totals.