Monitoring your marketing results is essential to understand how your strategy is working and make informed decisions. However, it can be frustrating when the data from Google Ads and Analytics does not match.
Fortunately, there are several common reasons why this can happen and some solutions to fix it.
Verify that the Google Ads account is correctly linked to the Analytics property. To do this, log in to your Google Analytics account and select the property corresponding to your website. Then, go to the "Admin" tab and select "Linked Accounts" in the menu on the left column. Verify that the Google Ads account corresponding to your website is correctly linked.
Confirm that the ad landing pages have the correct tracking code. Make sure that the Google Analytics tracking code is present on all of your ad landing pages. You can do this by reviewing the source code of each page or using a tool such as Google Tag Assistant to verify that the code is present.
Check that automatic tagging is working on your site. Access your Google Ads account and go to the "Settings" tab and then select "Preferences". Make sure that the "Automatic Tagging" option is enabled. Additionally, you can use the Google Ads "Automatic Tagging Verification" tool to check that the tagging is working correctly on your site.
Ensure that the final URLs of the ads are correctly tagged. You can do this by manually reviewing the final URLs of your ads and making sure they contain the correct UTM parameters, such as "utm_source", "utm_medium", and "utm_campaign". You can also use a tool like Google's Campaign URL Builder to automatically generate correctly tagged URLs.
Check that none of the filters are removing Google Ads data. Access your Google Analytics account and go to the "Admin" tab. Select the property corresponding to your website and then select "Filters" in the menu on the left column. Review your filters to make sure they are not accidentally removing Google Ads data, either by filtering by IP address or by a specific pattern in the campaign name.
Note that discrepancies between Google Ads and Analytics data can be caused by several reasons, so it is important to carefully follow these steps to make sure you are seeing an accurate picture of how your strategy is working. If you continue to have discrepancies after following these steps, you may need to investigate further or seek help from a digital marketing specialist.
At Melena Marketing, we offer analysis and problem-solving services to help you understand and resolve discrepancies in your Google Ads and Analytics data. Don't hesitate to visit our website MelenaMarketing.com or write to us at info@melenamarketing.com for more information.