When you use Google Ads to run advertising campaigns, integration with Google Analytics opens up a wealth of analysis opportunities. You get detailed information about how users interact with your site after clicking on your ad. You can track whether they added an item to their cart and completed a purchase, subscribed to your newsletter, filled out a feedback form, or performed other actions that are important to your business. In addition, you can also see metrics such as session duration, page views, and exit points, which will help you understand how effectively your content meets user expectations. Thanks to this data, you can quickly identify ads that are delivering real results and optimize those that are not.
How to link Google Ads to Google Analytics
Let's take a step-by-step look at what you need to link Google Ads and Google Analytics. Even if your accounts are already linked, you can check the settings to make sure your data is set up correctly.
Access levels you need
To link your accounts, you need to have:
- Administrator access level in Google Ads.
- Edit access in Google Analytics.
To check your access level in your advertising account:
- Sign in to your advertising account.
- In the left-hand side panel, click “Administrator”.
- In the list of users, check your email account. If your status is marked as Administrator, you have the required access level. If not, you need to ask your account manager to grant you access.
How to check your access level in GA 4
- Log in to your account.
- Click on “Administrator”, in the “Linking other products” section, select “Linking Google Ads”.
- If the “Link” button is inactive, then you do not have editing permission, so ask the account administrator to link.
- If the button is active, you have the appropriate access.
How to link Google Ads to Google Analytics
- Log in to your GA4 account and click on the Administrator icon.
- In the “Link with other products” section, select Link with Google Ads.
- Click Link.
- Select the Google Ads accounts you want to link and click Confirm.
- Click “Next” and select the settings you want to make available to Google Ads. It is recommended that you leave the options for personalized ads, auto-tagging, and Analytics features enabled.
- Click “Next” to review your settings and “Submit” to link your accounts.
After completing these steps, your accounts will be linked within 24 hours. Once linked, data from your advertising account will begin to appear in your analytics reports. You can find it in the Advertising section.
Why linking Google Ads to Google Analytics is important
Connecting Google Analytics 4 to Google Ads allows you to:
Determine ad performance: You can understand which ads are driving the most clicks, driving conversions (such as purchases, sign-ups, or other important actions), and which ads are underperforming.
Get insights into user behavior on your site: You'll learn exactly what users do after they land on your site from an ad. For example:
- What pages do they view?
- How long do they stay on the site?
- Do they add items to their cart but not complete the purchase?
- Do they return to the site again?
This data allows you to identify problem areas on the site that may prevent users from taking the desired actions, and improve them.
Learn about your audience: Integrating these tools provides access to various information about your audience:
- Interests: Learn what your audience is interested in to create more relevant content and target ads based on their preferences.
- Location: Understand where your ads are performing best to help you allocate your budget more effectively.
- Age and gender: These demographics will help you target the most relevant groups of people.
- Devices: Learn whether your audience interacts primarily on mobile, tablet, or desktop to help you optimize your ad campaigns and website design for their needs.
This information will help you improve your ad campaigns, focus your budget on ads that are performing, and avoid spending on low-performing or unprofitable options. It will also help you fine-tune your targeting, adjust your bidding strategies, optimize your ad copy, and choose keywords that work best for your audience. As a result, you can focus resources on what brings maximum effect and minimize spending on advertising that does not give the expected result.
