If you’re running Google Ads without using Google Analytics, you may be leaving money on the table. And let’s face it: if you’re running a small or medium-sized business, every dollar counts.

This guide is for you if:

• You’re running a small or medium-sized business (eCommerce, B2B, service-based or whatever your jam)
• You’ve dabbled in Google Ads, but the numbers look confusing
• You’ve heard of Google Analytics but aren’t sure how it fits into the picture
• You want clear info, not tech babble.

Key points:

• Google Ads provides a limited view of performance, whilst Google Analytics, together with Google Ads, gives you a more complete picture of what’s happening with your website visitors online.
• Linking up your Google Ads to your Google Analytics is free and easy to do. Check out our video tutorial to see each step in action.
• Your essential Google Analytics reports are in the “Advertising” tab to track how well your Google Ads are performing.
• Reporting for Google Ads and Google Analytics will differ slightly because of how the two tools track a person. Google Ads focuses on the click, whereas Google Analytics looks at the time a user waits for your website or page to load.
• Cookie blockers and privacy settings may restrict Google Analytics on some devices. For example, in Europe, due to GDPR restrictions.

Google Ads vs Google Ads + Google Analytics: What’s the Difference?

Before we dive into the “how,” let’s take a step back. What actually happens when you run Google Ads by itself, versus combining it with Google Analytics?

We’ve made it easy with a comparison below.

Verdict?

While Google Ads gives you basic performance info (like click-through rate and conversion numbers if you’ve set them up), Google Analytics helps you understand what happens after someone clicks, which is the secret recipe for growing smarter, more profitable campaigns.

What’s So Good About Google Analytics?

If you’re like most business owners, time is your most precious resource.

Australia is the top 8th country in the world to use Google Analytics 4.

Here’s why spending a little time with Google Analytics can unlock significant returns.

Benefits of Using Google Analytics 4 with Google Ads:

• See the whole customer journey. Know if people bounce quickly, sign up to your list, or browse 5 pages and then buy.
• Discover which ads are attracting your most valuable customers. Are they just clicking and leaving, or are they sticking around?
• Discover what parts of your website are doing well (or not). Some pages are digital gold mines, dig them up!
• Use real data to refine your ad targeting. Stop throwing money at ads that don’t convert.

Step-by-Step: How to Connect Google Ads and Google Analytics 4

You don’t need a tech degree for this. Follow the steps, and you’ll be set up in a few minutes.

Watch: How to link Google Ads and Google Analytics

Step 1: Sign in to Google Analytics

Head to analytics.google.com. Make sure you’re using the same Google account that manages your Ads.

Step 2: Go to Admin

In your Google Analytics 4 (GA4) dashboard, go to the lower left corner and click on the gear icon (Admin).

Step 3: Look for “Google Ads links” under Product Links.

Click the right-hand-side “Link” button.

Step 4: Choose your Google Ads account by ticking the checkbox and press “Confirm”.

Step 5: Select the “Next” button.

Step 6: Configure the settings:

Personalised advertising: Shares any Google Analytics 4 audiences and events to Google Ads. Suggest leaving as on.

Enable auto-tagging: Unless you’re an advanced user, leave this as “Enable auto-tagging” so your URLs are automatically tagged with the Google URL builder.

Allow access to Analytics features from Google Ads: Toggle this off if you don’t want your Google Ads users to have access to your Google Analytics.

Then press “Next”.

Step 7: Click the “Submit” button.

Go back to the “Advertising” section in Analytics after a day or two, then under “Planning” select “Google Ads” if you’re running ads to confirm it’s working.

When linking items you do not get historical data. So it makes sense to link this up sooner rather than later.

Exploring Google Analytics: What to Look At First

Here’s where many people freeze up. Let’s keep it simple and show you what actually matters as a small business owner.

Key Google Analytics Reports to Check for Ads Performance:

1. Advertising > Conversion Performance

• What it shows: Your key events, known as conversions and how they are performing across cross-network and paid search versus other channels such as email or organic search. 
• Why it matters: Helps you quickly see which campaigns are delivering results, not just clicks.

2. Advertising > Planning > Google Ads

• What it shows: Data from Google Ads in a simple interface, including key events, cost, clicks, revenue and return on ad spend. Use the dropdown for more options to break down the data like campaign, ad group name and query.
• Why it matters: Helps you quickly see which campaigns are delivering profit, not just clicks.

3. Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition

If you’ve got the Lifecycle menu, this can be found under “Generate leads”.

• What it shows: Where your traffic is coming from, paid ads, organic search, direct visitors, social media, etc.
• Why it matters: Helps you see how Google Ads stack up against your other marketing efforts based on their last click.

You can use the “User Acquisition” report to see where your users come from first during the time period you’re looking at.

4. Engagement > Landing page

• What it shows: Which pages visitors land on and spend time with.
• Why it matters: If a lot of ad traffic lands on a page that has a low average engagement time or is not triggering key events, that’s a red flag that your targeting might not be correct. Or your page needs some changes.

How to view Google Ads traffic in Google Analytics reports

You can use the filter option towards the top of the report.

Step 1: Select the “Add filter” option.

Step 2: Type in the word “Session medium”. You can also compare this with “Session default channel group” to break down cross-network, shopping and search campaigns separately. 

Step 3: Choose the “Exactly matches” option.

Step 4: Choose “cpc” for session medium.

For the channel group method, select the channel you want to review e.g. Cross-network.

Step 5: Click on the “Apply” button to make the change.

If you view another report after this, your filter will go away.

To avoid this, you can use the comparison feature instead and save the comparison, allowing you to toggle it on and off between different reports more easily.

Making Sense of the “Advertising” Tab in Google Analytics

Think of the “Advertising” section in Google Analytics as your performance toolkit. It shows what’s working, and what’s not, so you can stop wasting budget.

Inside the Advertising Section, You’ll Find:

• Advertising snapshot: Summary of how all your campaigns are doing, including conversions, costs, and engagement.
• Planning > All Channels Report: See a side-by-side look at every marketing channel, not just Google Ads, perfect for shifting budget where it makes sense.
• Attribution > Attribution models: If you want to know which ad touchpoint made the difference (first click, last click, etc), this tool gives you options to compare. Attribution is about giving credit to the channel that contributed to the conversion.

Why do Google Analytics and Google Ads report data differ?

At first glance, it can be confusing when Google Ads displays one set of numbers (such as clicks or conversions), while Google Analytics shows a different set.

But don’t worry, the data is not likely broken; they’re just measuring things a bit differently.

Common reasons include:

✅ Google Ads tracks what happens when someone clicks your ad.

This includes every single click, even if the person accidentally double-clicks or only lands on your site for half a second.

✅ Google Analytics tracks what happens when someone actually lands and loads your website.

If the page doesn’t load entirely or the visitor bounces away too quickly, it may not be registered as a proper “session” in Google Analytics.

🧠 Quick Example:

Imagine someone taps your ad, but their internet drops before your site loads. Or they tap the back button too quick.

• 📊 Google Ads will still count it as a click.
• 📈 Google Analytics won’t count it as a visit, because your site never loaded.

Other reasons for the mismatch:

• Time zones: Google Ads and Google Analytics can be set to different time zones, which can cause your data to be split across days differently.
• Filters: You may have filters in Analytics (like excluding your own visits) that Ads doesn’t use.
• No historical data: Google Analytics only shows Google Ads data from when you linked it up.
• Problems with URL tracking: If you turned off auto-tagging and are using something different, then this may cause tracking issues.
• Ad blockers or privacy settings: Some users’ browsers might block tracking from Analytics, but not from Ads. This can cause data to be sampled or to not show up in Google Analytics.

Bottom line?

Both tools are usually telling the truth, just from slightly different angles.

Use Google Ads to see how your ads are performing up front.

Use Google Analytics to understand what happens after they arrive on your site.

When you combine the two, you get a full picture, and that’s where smarter decisions come from.

Common Questions about GA4 for Google Ads

Q: I already look at Google Ads reports. Do I really need Google Analytics too?

A: Yep, Google Ads only tells part of the story. Think of it like hearing a customer knock on your door… but you don’t know if they came in, looked around, or ran off. Analytics fills in those blanks.

Q: What’s the difference between a “click” and a “conversion”?

A: A click means someone clicked your ad. A conversion is whatever you define as your end objective, such as a sale, a form submission, a call, or a newsletter signup.

For the reports outside of “Advertising”, you’ll find these conversions are called key events.

Q: Do I have to pay extra for Google Analytics?

A: No! It’s completely free to use and works beautifully with Google Ads.

Q: What is a session?

A: A session is a visit. It’s when a user goes to your website and the Google Analytics tracking tag fires off.

Q: How do I create an audience for Google Ads in Google Analytics?

A: Go to Admin > Data Display > Audiences. You can create a custom audience or select premade options. Typically a Google Ads campaign will need at least 1,000 users in the past 30 days for a search campaign. For display, you need 100. 

Note, customer match lists now only need 100 as of May 2025.

Use smart data by combining both

Running ads without seeing what happens next is like throwing flyers into the wind.

But pairing Google Ads with Google Analytics? Well, that’s where the magic happens.

You get real insights about who your visitors are, what they care about, and which ads are truly working, so you can do more of what’s working and less of what’s not.

If you’re a small or medium-sized business owner and already spinning a million plates, let data do some of the heavy lifting.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Regularly reviewing your Analytics can change the way you plan your marketing and help grow your business, smartly and confidently.

Need help with your Google Ads?

We can manage your Google Ads for you. As a trusted partner, we know how to drive real results using the power of search and analytics.

Get more traffic

About the author:

Ray Pastoors

Ray Pastoors has a curious mindset and a passion for breaking things down without the fluff. With over 20 years of digital marketing experience, Ray is known for his expertise in Google Analytics and Organic search. He has helped over 150 businesses set up, track, and maximise the value of their data. Finding the hidden gems that matter. Ray is our go-to partner for analytics expertise and setup here at Wise Up Marketing, helping our clients and team grow further through data-driven decisions. Ray is also an endorsed expert for Kate Toon’s Digital Marketing Collective. And to top it off, he is a proud 1% for the Planet member, helping remote Pacific island schools switch to clean solar energy.