In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how you can link Google Ads to Google Analytics. While some may dismiss the idea or have never thought of connecting both accounts entirely there are several reasons why it’s a must if you use both tools!
Join us as we explore why it’s a good idea and how to do it in this guide.
Why Connect Your Google Ads and Google Analytics Accounts?
There are so many benefits in connecting Google Ads to your Google Analytics account. For one, you will get much better data. If your accounts are connected, you will be able to get all kinds of data on the people that visit your website.
Getting this specific information and making use of it is not possible if you have Google Analytics and Google Ads running in parallel but not linked.
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Here are some of the things linking your accounts unlocks for you:
- Generate enhanced reporting based on the relevance of the keywords your website visitors are using to find your website.
- Import Analytics goals and Ecommerce transactions into your Google Ads account.
- Import cross-device conversions into your Google Ads account when you activate Google signals.
- Import Analytics metrics like Bounce Rate, Pages/Session and Average Session Duration into your Google Ads account.
- Build retargeting audiences from your Google Analytics Goals and audiences.
- Get richer data in the Analytics Multi-Channel Funnels reports.
If you have any kind of segments that you have built in your Google Analytics account, you can go ahead and build an audience from these segments without putting any extra retargeting pixels on your website.
If you’re unsure if you’re using Google Analytics efficiently, we can help you with a comprehensive analytics audit that can give you the competitive edge your business needs.
You will also be able to utilize any kind of goal conversions that you have set up in Google Ads and import them over as conversions within your Google Ads account. Doing so will eventually allow you to set up conversion tracking base of the goals that you have set up in Google Analytics.
Now that you’ve learned some of the many advantages of connecting your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts, we’ll show you how to successfully connect them
together…
Overview
- Sign in to Google Analytics.
- Click Admin and navigate to the property you want to link.
- In the Property column, click Google Ads Linking.
- Click + New link group.
- Select the Google Ads accounts you want to link, then click Continue.
- Enter a link group title.
- Turn linking on for each view in the property that you want data from.
- Click Link accounts.
Login with the Same Email Address on Both Accounts
Make sure you are logged in with the same email address on your Google Ads account that you are logged in with your Google Analytics account.
Find your Google Ads email address at the top right-hand side of the screen.
Click on the Profile icon to find your Google Analytics email address.
Your Google Analytics email address will be found under your Account name.
Check That You Have the Right Account Permissions
Google Ads Permissions
On the Google Ads platform, click on the Tools icon.
Under Setup, click on Account access.
Then, check your access under Access level. You need to have administrative account access level set up with your email address.
Google Analytics Permissions
Go over to the Admin section at the lower left hand side of the platform.
Under the Property settings, click User Management.
Under User Management, you need to have an edit access to the account.
Link Your Accounts Together
After checking your email addresses in both Google Ads and Google Analytics along with their access levels, you may now connect the accounts. Then, click on Google Ads Linking.
Check the compatibility of your Google Ads IDs.
Then, tick on the box opposite your Google Ads account ID and click Continue.
Choose and input an Account Name. This way, if you have multiple accounts that you connect to your Google Ads account, you can determine where this is coming from.
Choose where you want to pull data from. You are allowed to choose multiple views.
Then, click on Advanced settings.
Enable auto-tagging to automatically pull data from your Google Ads account into Google Analytics. You also have the option to leave auto-tagging settings as they are especially if you are utilizing UTM tags and you want to avoid mixing it up with the auto-tagging feature.
Click on link accounts.
Once your accounts are linked, you will gain more advantages such as being able to see more data in both accounts, being able to import goals and eCommerce conversions, and also having the ability to build remarketing audiences of your segmentation feature in Google Analytics.
You may also want to try to link Google Ads and Google Analytics through Google Ads’ linking wizard.
Summary
There are many benefits that you can get from connecting your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts together. Not only will you be able to track your insights and obtain detailed reporting, but you are also given the power to retarget your customers and ads, customize better PPC campaigns, and eventually save your company more on ad spend.
Please feel free to leave any comments below or take our beginner GTM course to learn more about GTM.
