Google Analytics and Google Ads (formerly Adwords) are ubiquitous terms in the world of digital marketing, and while most marketing people know at least something about these platforms, there are many intricacies that can become more confusing the deeper you go. You could easily spend weeks learning what everything means in Ads or Analytics, and most people don’t have that much time, so they tend to learn a bit at a time, over a long career.
One thing that took me forever to understand were the differences in conversion tracking in Google Analytics vs. Google Ads. Like, an embarrassingly long time. Things like dates, numbers, traffic, and the meaning of the word “conversion” should be logical and just match in the different systems, right? Nope.
People never quite understand why the traffic or conversion numbers that they see in Analytics don’t match what they see in Ads and vice versa, or why “reports are wrong”. However, most tend to have a deeper understanding of one system than another and always think their platform of understanding and numbers are right, so the other ones must be wrong! Nope, again. If conversion tracking is setup correctly, these are just different data points, that mean similar things, in different systems.
Explaining the differences in data is probably among one of the most common conversations that I have with clients and I want to try to cover the differences in conversion tracking between Google Analytics and Google Ads with some level of brevity today, but let’s start by talking briefly about what the two systems are and what they’re not.
What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a free analytics tool that everyone should have on their website. It does a great job of telling you things like how much traffic your website is getting, who is visiting, how they might be finding you, what they are doing while when they visit. For non-technical users, such as CMOs, marketing managers, or small business owners, Google Analytics is a great tool to have. There is often a lot of information in Analytics for people to try to sort through and understand, and it’s great for quick, executive-type dashboards.
However, Google Analytics is never completely accurate and is not a source of truth. Most people use multiple devices/IP addresses, many have browsers that block Analytics from working properly, analytics reporting is a bit wonky sometimes, it is likely using a different attribution model than you use elsewhere, and it usually uses a good sample of your website traffic to provide you with data. This is where intricacies and experience come in…Anyone doing digital marketing for longer than 10 years would agree, and we all just kind of understand Analytics for what it is. It is great for indicators, overview data, and some reporting. Anyone that just knows the basics of Analytics or hasn’t kept up to speed, would probably disagree.
Full disclosure, I am not currently an expert on the new Analytics (GA4), and I hope that some of the above changes with this new implementation. However, GA4 doesn’t yet fully integrate with some of the other systems that we use, so we haven’t made the switch yet.
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is a digital marketing platform by, you guessed it, Google. Whether running Google search ads, display ads, remarketing campaigns, or YouTube ads, they all run through some flavor of the Google Ads platform. This is where your campaigns, ad groups, keywords, audience targeting, geographic targeting, all necessary exclusions, etc. are setup. This is also where the money is spent for said campaigns. It is a powerful and complex system that allows you to run campaigns on somewhere around 80% of the internet.
Whenever discussing your ads campaigns, Google Ads is the source of truth. The number of clicks/visits, conversions/leads, the amount of money spent, ROI, etc. is all within this system. If tracking is setup correctly, it is much more accurate than a system like Google Analytics. It also has its own conversion tracking system and different attribution models that you can use (more on that later).
The important thing to know for now is that when discussing Ads or Ads performance, this system and this data is the data that counts.
What is a Conversion?
A conversion generally means that the website visitor did something that the business wanted them to do. This could be things like:
- Fill out a form on the website
- Schedule an appointment
- Call your business
- Buy something on your website
- Download something (a white paper or an app)
- Signup for Membership
In Google Analytics, these are called “Goals”, and in Google Ads, these are called “Conversions”. Goals from Analytics can be pulled into Google Ads as conversions, but it is best practice to set them up separately. Thus, you will have a set of “Goals” in Analytics, and a set of “Conversions” in Google Ads that will probably closely mimic each other. Goals/Conversions can, and usually do, mean the same thing. They both generally mean “conversion”, which generally means a lead or a sale, for most businesses.
It is common for most businesses to have multiple goals/conversions setup for their website, and there may be goals or conversions that are set as a lower priority or non-money thing too, such as visiting a certain webpage. In this case, they can be goals in Analytics, but are usually not conversions in Ads. There’s a lot to know here, and we’ll cover more in other posts. For ease of simplicity, we’ll just use this simple explanation and the word conversion in this article moving forward.
What is Attribution?
This part can get pretty lengthy, so I’ll just give a high-level overview and not include all of the options. Attribution is how and when a conversion is counted, and what source/medium the lead or sale is attributed to.
Sources and Mediums
A brief list of Sources and Mediums in Analytics might look like this:
- google / organic (from Google, SEO or organic traffic)
- facebook / cpc (from Facebook, cost-per-click or digital ad generated)
- google / cpc (from Google, cost-per-click or digital ad generated)
- direct (someone visited the website directly by a bookmark, or typing in the address, or Google couldn’t properly track the source/medium )
- referral / abc.com (Someone clicked on a link on abc.com that brought them to your website)
- mailchimp / email (someone came to the website by an email sent in mail chimp)
This information is helpful in determining where website traffic came from and how they converted. This is especially important when trying to track the general ROI of various marketing efforts.
Attribution Models & Types
In Analytics and Ads, and most other marketing platforms, there is some kind of attribution model. It’s important to understand the attribution model of each system, what they are set to, and what they mean. Again, for brevity, here are a couple of quick examples of attribution model types:
- First Click: This is the first thing they interacted with before converting and it gets credit
- Last Click: This is the last thing they interacted with before converting and it gets credit
- Position Based: Usually not a whole number, with more weight being given to the first and last interaction
- Linear: Not always a whole number, and a portion of the conversion is attributed based on contribution. For example, if there were three interactions before the conversion. CPC, SEO, and then Direct – each of the three would be given .33, or one-third of a conversion attributed
- Many others…especially with AI and multi-device attribution coming into the fold.
Now, with a basic understanding of the above, let’s talk about how Google Analytics and Ads handle conversions:
How Google Analytics Handles Conversions
Again, in case you missed it above, Google Analytics is not a source of truth. It is indicators and sampling of data. Really good indicators and a really good sampling, but not the canon.
When is the Conversion Counted?
In Analytics, the conversion is counted on the day of the conversion. This is the day that someone filled out a form, made a phone call, or otherwise completed a goal that you wanted them to complete.
This is not to be confused with the day that they first visited the website, the 6 times they came back from other sources, the day that they clicked on the ad, or a plethora of other things. This is the day they did the thing that you wanted them to do.
Analytics also only counts one goal completion per visit, but counts every transaction/sale in a visit. If someone call multiple times, or fills out the same form multiple times, on their same visit/session, it will only count as one goal completion. If someone buys multiple things through your ecommerce tracking on the same visit, it will count as multiple goal completions.
Attribution Model
Google Analytics uses last touch attribution. Whatever the last thing someone touched gets the credit for the conversion. All of it. No other credit given. There is a section called “assisted conversions”, but it less than dependable.
To make things even more complex, Analytics give conversion attribution to the last, non-direct, source/medium. So if someone comes in through CPC, then organic, then direct…organic gets the credit. It is the last, non-direct source. Even though a digital ad generated the user in the first place.
Why Does Analytics Report Conversions This Way?
Analytics’ purpose is to loosely track results for a timeframe, such as website performance, where website traffic/leads are coming from, who they are, etc. In short, what’s working and what’s not? How’s the website doing? Does anything appear to be broken or not working here with our efforts or reporting? Great, high-level data for most marketing folks to know. Not a source of truth. If you can work to get within 80-90%+ of what other systems are telling you, you’re generally in pretty good shape.
When are Conversions in Analytics Reported?
Generally within a couple of hours of when they happened. Sometimes right away. Analytics conversion data is generally acknowledged to be most accurate at least 24 hours after the traffic/events. Looking at it daily, for the day, can be very misleading.
When Should Google Analytics Data Be Used?
As mentioned above, Google Analytics should be used by almost any business owner or involved marketing professional. It belongs on most websites, even when other analytics tools are also used. It is a great source of information on what’s working with your website and online marketing efforts. A great way to run reports and kind of understand what’s going on. And it’s great for non-technical users that just want to have a basic understanding of what’s going on. But remember…It is not fact or 100% truth.
How Google Ads Handles Conversions
Google Ads is the source of truth for almost all things Google Ads & Network related, unless you’re also integrating with other systems that give you even more, additional, accurate information to build upon what’s here. An example of this might be a call tracking software, like CallRail, that gives more details about who is calling, how long the calls lasted, etc. But for most of non-data nerds in the world, what you need to know is here. But, it’s a different animal.
When is the Conversion Counted?
For Google Ads, a conversion is counted the day of the ad click. Not the day of the conversion. And technically, it is counted on the day of the query (search) that generated the click. I just say the “day of the click”, because most people search and click at the same time.
So if someone searched on Sunday, but didn’t convert until Thursday (or 5 weeks from now), Ads is going to show the conversion happened on Sunday, and Analytics is going to show the conversion on Thursday, or whatever day the visitor converted. They are frequently not the same day.
Google Ads Attribution Models
But how are conversions tracked in Google Ads? Well, that depends on what attribution model is configured in Google Ads for each individual conversion that is setup. Unlike Analytics, which uses last, non-direct attribution, in Google Ads we can set it what we want it to be.
First-click and last-click attribution generally aren’t my first choice, but are often the default setting in Google Ads. It should be changed by whoever is running your campaigns. Most people interact with your website/brand many times and in many different ways before converting, and I believe that Google Ads deserves its credit. Especially, if you’re spending money here. You want to track what you get back.
My personal preference in most cases is Linear, where it gets credit based on its contribution. I know others that love position based. And Google now has some more automated, AI-based type conversion tracking that I’m not buying yet. (As a general side note, I usually give Google a year to work out any bugs before I buy whatever they’re selling, and usually after a ton of research to make sure I understand its potential impact on our clients. It helps Google and I maintain a healthy relationship with each other.)
When Are Conversions in Ads Reported?
Google generally processes Google Ads conversions the following day. There’s a weird schedule about time of day, which if I recall correctly, is somewhere around 3pm Pacific. For me, in the eastern time zone, it’s usually 6:00 p.m., for the previous day’s data.
BUT, keep in mind that someone can click on an ad today and not convert for days, weeks or months. We have run weekly or monthly reports many times, come back and ran the same report later, and the metrics were all different. Nothing is broken, just more stuff happened since then.
Just like Analytics, you shouldn’t drive your self crazy by looking at things every day. Weekly if you must, but at least a couple of days after the week ends. For example, we generally make changes to campaigns, or build new campaigns, and don’t even look at or change much of anything for at least 10-14 days. Besides obviously making sure campaigns are running and that we’re not overspending, etc. We need a more complete data set. If you look at stuff daily, or in most cases even weekly, you will drive yourself or your agency crazy, and will most likely make some bad decisions. Don’t be that guy. We usually report out monthly, waiting until around the 10th of the following month, for the same reason. The truth is a bit closer to the truth.
Why Does Ads Report Conversions This Way?
The short version is, so that you can more accurately track x to y to z. I spent x, to get y, to get z. This generally means something like, “I spent $10k, to get $80k in sales”, or “I spent $10k to get 40 leads, at an average CPA of $250, which resulted in 10 sales, with sales totaling $112k”. It lets you do important math. It provides you with control on how you want to track your attribution model, lets you figure out what day you actually generated a conversion and the cost associated with it, and effectively track ROI of your campaigns.
It also gives you a level of control that Analytics and other systems do not. You can do what’s right for you or your clients, which always wins in my book. Tie this level or reporting together with CallRail and a CRM, and maybe even some marketing automation, and you’re in amazing shape. Then you just need to get your sales people, or whomever, to do their part.
When Should Google Ads Data Be Used?
Anytime you are talking about Ads, Ads costs, Ads conversions/leads, or Ads ROI. That’s it. This is the data you use. If you want to know what’s going on with Ads, this is the spot. This is the place of true reporting, as long as it’s all setup right.
Final Thoughts on Google Ads & Analytics Conversion Tracking
If you don’t fully understand Adwords or Analytics, take solace in knowing that you will know so much more someday, and that right about the time you think you have it all figured out, Google will probably change most of it. I probably got at least one thing wrong in this article, as it changes that quickly. For example, in this article I’m talking about Analytics in the context of Universal Analytics (UA), and they are forcing everyone to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) by next year. Dope.
Many years after I started my career and trying to figure this out on my own, Google has also released a pretty good help article that helps to explain much of the above too. You can learn more, or maybe get a shorter, but more technical version, on their article here: “Comparing Analytics and Google Ads conversion metrics”
