How to Make Sense of Google Ads and GA4 Conversion Data

Reviewing Google Ads and GA4 performance data for conversion tracking

If you’re running Google Ads, chances are you’ve looked at your reports and wondered whether the numbers really tell the full story. Conversions appear in different places, figures don’t always match, and it’s not obvious which ones you should trust when making decisions.

In most cases, this isn’t because anything is badly broken. It’s because Google Ads and GA4 record and interpret activity in different ways. This post explains how each platform looks at conversion data, where confusion usually creeps in, and what needs to be in place for the data to be useful rather than distracting.

Why conversion tracking matters more than most people realise

Conversion tracking is supposed to answer a straightforward question: what happened after someone clicked the ad?

When tracking isn’t set up properly, you can still get leads, but it becomes much harder to tell:

  • Which campaigns are genuinely pulling their weight

  • Whether rising costs are a problem or just a symptom of growth

  • What Google is being trained to optimise for

  • Whether changes are helping or quietly making things worse

For B2B especially, where not every enquiry has the same value, weak tracking tends to lead to decisions based on averages and assumptions rather than what’s actually happening.

How Google Ads and GA4 look at performance differently

Google Ads and GA4 serve different purposes, which is where confusion often starts.

Google Ads is built to optimise delivery. It uses conversion signals to decide when to show ads, who to show them to, and how to allocate budget.

GA4 is built to observe behaviour. It shows how users move through the site, where they drop off, and how different channels contribute over time.

Problems usually appear when:

  • The same action is tracked differently in each platform

  • One system records a conversion that the other doesn’t

  • Conversion timing or values don’t line up

  • Attribution reports are compared without context

When Ads and GA4 are aligned, Ads can optimise using signals you trust, and GA4 can explain why performance looks the way it does.

How to make sure your conversion data is reliable

Reviewing website analytics and conversion data to check tracking accuracy

Getting usable conversion data isn’t about ticking boxes once and moving on. In practice, it usually comes down to a small number of checks that need revisiting over time.

  1. Review current settings
    Start with a proper audit of your Google Ads and GA4 configurations. Look for gaps, duplication, or conversions that no longer reflect how the business actually generates leads or sales.
  2. Set consistent goals
    Make sure both platforms are tracking the same outcomes, such as completed enquiry forms, booked calls, or purchases. If each system is counting something different, the reports will never line up.
  3. Connect Google Ads and GA4 properly
    Linking the accounts allows data to be shared, but linking alone isn’t enough. What matters is which events are being imported and how they’re used.
  4. Test conversions deliberately
    Submit test enquiries or transactions and check where and how they appear. This is often where issues show up that aren’t obvious from reports alone.
  5. Review tracking regularly
    Website changes, form updates, and consent settings can all affect tracking. A setup that worked six months ago isn’t guaranteed to be working now.

Most people stop at setup and assume the data will look after itself. In reality, ongoing checks are what prevent wasted budget and misleading conclusions.

Common issues I see in B2B accounts

Some of the most frequent problems include:

  • multiple conversions firing from a single enquiry

  • old or test conversions still marked as primary

  • GA4 events created but never imported into Ads

  • missing or inconsistent conversion values

  • consent settings blocking one platform but not the other

None of these issues are obvious from surface-level reports, but all of them influence bidding, budget allocation, and how performance is judged.

What changes once your data is reliable

Using reliable conversion data to review marketing performance across devices

When conversion tracking is clean and consistent, paid search becomes easier to manage.

You can see which campaigns bring in serious enquiries rather than just volume. Budget decisions feel less risky because they’re based on outcomes you recognise. Testing becomes more controlled, and performance discussions stop revolving around why the numbers don’t quite match.

At that point, Google Ads starts to feel less like guesswork and more like a channel you can actively manage.

Author

Hope Varnes is a Chartered Marketer with over 15 years experience in digital marketing. She specialises in Google Ads, PPC, conversion tracking, data analytics, and marketing strategy. She has a Master’s in Digital Marketing and eCommerce and is Google Certified. She is an expert in leveraging digital platforms to drive brand awareness, lead generation, and revenue growth.