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Don’t Import 'Purchase' Event from GA4 to Google Ads
Himanshu Sharma
November 27, 2024
☠️ 💀 You should not import the 'purchase' key event from GA4 to Google Ads. 💥
There is a strategic way to leverage both GA4 key events import and Google Ads conversion tracking.
Set up native Google Ads conversion tracking first to capture the core conversion actions directly within Google Ads.
Core conversion actions are those user actions that directly signify campaign success (e.g., purchases, sign-ups etc).
Since these conversions are native to the ad platform, they offer the most accurate and reliable data for optimizing your bid strategy and campaign performance.
Import only those GA4 key events that complement your Google Ads core conversions and use them as a secondary conversion. That's the key.
For example,
You can import GA4 key events that indicate strong buying intent, such as 'add to cart', 'initiate checkout', 'apply coupon code', etc, when your core conversion action set up in Google Ads is 'purchase'.
You should not import the 'purchase' key event from a GA4 property. It should be tracked via native Google Ads conversion tracking.
Such a set-up is required because of the following main reasons:
1) Google Ads conversion data is updated faster than the conversion data imported into GA4 from Google Ads.
GA4 properties suffer from data processing delays, which can last for days or even weeks.
This delay could cripple the real-time campaign optimization in Google Ads.
Since Google Ads relies on recent conversion data for bid adjustments, delayed GA4 data can lead to:
Overbidding - The ad platform might not recognize a drop in conversions due to the delay, leading to unnecessary ad spend.
Underbidding - Conversely, a surge in conversions might not be reflected immediately, causing missed opportunities.
So, using imported GA4 key events as primary conversions can negatively and significantly affect your Google Ads campaign performance.
2) Certain conversions are recorded in GA4 and not in Google Ads and vice versa.
Because of Google Ads' flexible conversion counting feature, certain transactions recorded in GA4 may not be recorded and reported by Google Ads.
For example,
If a user clicks on an ad and places two different orders, then Google Ads may report only one order (if the conversion count is set to one), whereas GA4 reports two orders.
So, you would be better off using the native Google Ads conversion tracking rather than relying on imported conversion data from GA4.