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Create a report to measure the performance of Google Ads using the exploration report templates of your GA4 property.

Following is a sample of such a report:

sample google ads report ga4

You can also navigate to Advertising > Google Ads for the standard Google Ads report.

native google ads report

So, what’s the point of creating this report again via the exploration report template?

Standard reports often suffer from cardinality issues and do not contain the raw event and user-level data, while the exploration report provides many more customisation options.

Follow the steps below to create a Google Ads report using the exploration report template:

Step-1: Make sure that your Google Ads account is linked to your GA4 property. This step is required in order to get the Google Ads data in your GA4 property.

google ads links ga4 1

Step-2: Click on the ‘Explore‘ link in your GA4 property:

ga4

Step-3: Click on the ‘Blank‘ exploration template to create a new exploration report from scratch:

blank exploration report template

Step-4: Name your report ‘Google Ads Report‘:

exploration name ga4

Step-5: Click on the ‘+‘ button next to ‘DIMENSIONS‘ to add new dimensions to the report:

add new dimension ga4

Step-6: Type ‘google ads‘ in the search box to find all the dimensions related to ‘Google Ads’:

search dimensions ga4
google ads dimensions offered by ga4

Step-7: Select the Google Ads dimensions you want to see in your report and then click on the ‘Import‘ button:

select dimensions you want to import ga4

I selected the following two dimensions for import:

  1. Google Ads Campaign
  2. Google Ads ad group name

Note: Hover your mouse over a dimension name to know more about the dimension:

tool tip dimension 1

Step-8: Click on the ‘+‘ button next to ‘METRICS‘ to add new metrics to the report:

add new metrics ga4

Step-9: Type ‘google ads‘ in the search box to find all the metrics related to ‘Google Ads’:

google ads metrics offered by ga4

Step-10: Select the Google Ads metrics you want to see in your report and then click on the ‘Import‘ button:

select metrics you want to import ga4

I selected the following two metrics for import:

  1. Google Ads Impressions
  2. Google Ads Clicks
  3. Google Ads Cost Per Click
  4. Google Ads Cost

Your screen should now look like the one below:

no data available 1

Note: Hover your mouse over a metric name to know more about the metric:

tool tip metric

Step-11: Double click on the dimensions one by one to add them to the canvas on the right:

double click dimensions ga4

Note: When you double-click on a dimension, you won’t see any change to the canvas on the right, but you will see the dimension added under the ‘ROWS‘ column:

rows column ga4

Step-12: Double click on the metrics one by one to add them to the canvas on the right:

double click metrics ga4

Your canvas would now look like the one below:

google ads report google analytics 4
google ads report ga4

Congratulations!

You have successfully created a Google Ads report in GA4.

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