Weekly marketing strategies for small businesses with efficiency and effectiveness in mind.
🚨 Is Faulty Tracking Wreaking Havoc on Your Google Ads?
Published 5 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader,
Ready to save time with ChatGPT for your Google Ad Creation?
This meticulously designed guide aids you in crafting persuasive, impactful, and high-converting ads using the power of AI, specifically OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
A Step-by-Step Case Study on Correcting Imported GA4 Data
The Problem: Misaligned Conversion Tracking
Google Ads conversion tracking is critical for optimizing ad spend and improving campaign performance. But I’ve seen firsthand how easy it is to mess it up—especially when importing conversions from GA4.
GA4 tracks all traffic sources, not just paid Google Ads traffic. If you import those conversions directly into Google Ads without filtering, you’ll end up with inflated numbers that throw off bidding, budget allocation, and overall performance.
That’s precisely what happened in this case. A client was seeing:
There was a huge increase in reported conversions without any significant campaign changes.
A drop in actual revenue despite "great" Google Ads performance.
"No Campaign Data" errors in attribution reports make it impossible to trace conversions back to specific ads.
Once I identified what was happening, I took immediate steps to fix it.
Identifying the Impact
The first red flag was that conversions reported in Google Ads were way higher than expected. That might sound like a good problem until you realize that the actual revenue didn’t reflect that supposed success.
To confirm what was going wrong, I:
Checked Google Ads conversion reports → GA4-imported conversions were showing inflated numbers.
Dug into GA4 attribution data → Many conversions were labeled as "Direct" or "Organic," yet they were imported into Google Ads as if they came from paid campaigns.
Reviewed UTM parameters in GA4 and Tableau → Campaign tracking was inconsistent, proving that non-paid conversions were counted as Google Ads conversions.
Once I saw the data mismatch, I knew GA4-imported conversions had to go.
Here you can see the increase in conversions when GA4 events were imported.
The Fix: Steps Taken to Correct the Issue
1. Removed GA4-Imported Conversions from Google Ads
The first step was eliminating the GA4-imported conversions so they wouldn’t keep inflating my client’s numbers and misleading the bidding algorithm.
You can unsubscribe at the bottom of this email if this is just noise in your inbox. But… if you love it, share it with your friends and invite them to subscribe.
​
Affiliate Disclaimer: To cover the cost of the time I spend writing these emails, I occasionally link to products, some of which are affiliate links. If you choose to buy through my links, THANK YOU - it will make it possible for me to keep doing this. Affiliate = *
​