How to link Google Analytics and Google Advertising

Business owners of all industries and sizes rely on Google's many marketing platforms.

Of those platforms, two are the most widely used and beneficial for those who expect to drive traffic and conversions to their website.

Google Analytics, which tracks and provides users with reports of traffic to their websites and Google ads, allows users to bid to display text ads, product lists and video ads on and off Google. .

Both platforms provide users with an important service and valuable data, but they are more powerful when connected together.

In this article, we will give you all the basic information about Google Analytics and Google Advertising, link import site metrics, and enable auto-tagging.

We will also tell you why it all matters to get the best results and how to make the most of your linked accounts.

Make sure you have proper access

To connect these two accounts, you need administrative access to the Google Analytics account and editor access (edit permissions) to the Google Analytics account.

Editor access to the Analytics account is not required; However, if you plan to unlink or edit a link that you currently have between two accounts.

Also, make sure that both accounts are being used under the same email.

How to link through Google Ads

The link itself is done through this account, so start by signing Google ads.

Now click on the tool icon in the top right corner of the screen and go to "Setup".

Click "Linked accounts", then "Google Analytics" and then "Details".

Here you will see the Analytics properties that you have access to and whether they are currently linked.

If the account you want to link to is not available, it means that you do not have editor access to that account.

Under the "Action" column, select "Link" next to the Analytics accounts you want to link.

You can choose one or more accounts, as long as you have editor access to all of them.

If your Analytics account property has a reporting view, you will see the name of that view and you will have the option to import the site matrix.

This is true if you have more than one view in your account, except which views you need to import from the site metric.

In this case, views are a subset of the account with its own configuration settings.

Import Site Metrics

As stated above, we recommend importing site metrics immediately after linking your accounts.

Although some people miss this step by mistake, it is necessary so that you can actually benefit from linking accounts together.

By importing this data, you can get information about Google Analytics columns in Google Analytics.

After linking your accounts you will see an option to import site metrics.

However, if you have already clicked, return to the "Details" page in the "Google Analytics" section.

Find the row for which Analytics account you want to import from under the "View" column and choose the Pen tool.

From there, turn on "Import Site Matrix" and save your changes.

Ensure auto-tagging is enabled

This feature is necessary to get all the great benefits of linking your Advertising and Analytics accounts.

With auto-tagging enabled, you can track conversions and import that data to your website and into both your Advertising and Analytics accounts.

Auto-tagging is important for sharing critical information between these accounts, including all metrics for Google advertising campaign data and Google Analytics.

The most direct benefit of auto-tagging is that it allows you to determine which specific ads on your website are giving you traffic and conversions.

This feature attaches a custom URL called Google Click Identifier for each of your ads, allowing you to see which ones are actually driving traffic to your website.

By enabling the Google Analytics tag on the same website, you will learn which keywords came to your website and which campaign came from that keyword.

More importantly, you will also know how much your costs are.

Although auto-tagging is disabled by default, it is relatively easy to turn on.

Just sign in to your advertising account, go to Settings on the left side of the screen, and click Account Settings from the menu that appears above.

Then choose the Auto-tagging section and click on the box that pops up.

Click "Save" to confirm your changes, and there you have it!

Auto-tagging is enabled and will automatically assign a Google click identifier on each of your Google ads.

Benefits of adding your accounts

Linking your Google Analytics and Google advertising accounts is essential to get the most out of both platforms.

They have valuable data to provide you.

But when your platforms are happening with your website and your ads, this data is more detailed, complex and beneficial to your business.

To prove this, here are six of the major benefits of adding your two Google accounts:

Flow of information

By allowing your two accounts to share information, you can take advantage of the best features of both platforms while using your accounts.

For example, linking your ads to your Analytics account allows you to see how people navigate your website with your ads.

This allows you to see the complete customer cycle rather than just a part of it.

Now you will be able to access some useful metrics of Google Adsense, including bounce rate and average page views, in Google ads.

This will help you determine whether your website or advertisements are resonating with people online.

This new flow of information includes the ability to import cross-device conversions into advertising and to incorporate both advertising and site performance data into Analytics.

Analyze data in Google Analytics for Google advertising activity

Now that you have made your advertising data available in your Analytics account, you can check the status of your ads on the Analytics platform.

This allows you to use Analytics to analyze your campaigns, keywords, performance targeting, and other important data.

You will have the added benefit of viewing views on customer behavior that are only available through the Analytics platform.

Being able to see this data and the metrics offered by Analytics will help you optimize your advertising campaigns to drive traffic and conversions to your website.

You can use this data to determine which ads are performing well and which are costing a lot of money without any results.

We recommend looking at the performance metrics of "average cost per click" and "click through rate" in Google Analytics to ensure that you are making an informed choice about which ads to place, edit and cut.

Goals to track import conversions

Although you can create custom goals with your Analytics account, having access to your advertising account will help you optimize your campaigns to meet your goals (although video ads are not currently supported).

When you link your Analytics and advertising accounts, you are able to import your goals and all e-commerce transactions into Google ads, so long as you have auto-tagging enabled and your ad has some Level traffic.

You can import your goals through your Google advertising account.

Click the "Tools" icon and choose "Conversion" under the "Measurement" column.

To add a new conversion, click on the big blue "+" in the top left. From this screen, select "Import," "Google Analytics" and then "Continue".

Now, select the goals and / or transactions you want to import, select "Import and Continue" and then click "Done".

That's all it takes!

Please note, we recommend waiting 30 minutes after linking your two accounts before attempting to import this data.

Both the target and the view name will remain the same in Google advertising, although it will be formatted slightly differently.

Set up audiences in Google Analytics and use them for remarketing

One of the great features of Google Analytics is its ability to build audiences.

Although the platform also offers a preset audience, you can customize your own unique audience based on interests, age, gender, nationality, and other important factors.

This will help you reduce your target audience for your campaigns.

So, how to add Google advertising to this feature?

In that customized Analytics audience, you can include everyone who has ever visited your site and / or who has ever shopped on your site.

You also have the option to include people who use your app or follow you on YouTube if it is relevant to your business.

You can then import this new audience into Google ads and use it for remarketing campaigns.

Remarketing is a way to connect with people who have visited your site, clicked on your ads, or purchased from you.

By strategically advertising to this audience, you increase your brand awareness, while potentially attracting interested people back to your website.

Creating a remarketing list is relatively easy.

First, sign in to your Google advertising account and click "Campaign" from the menu.

On the "Campaign" screen, select the big blue "+" in the top left corner to start a new campaign. Go to the "Goals" section and choose your ideal results from this campaign.

You are given many options including leads, sales and website traffic.

Once you decide what you want to achieve with your remarketing campaign, choose "Display Network" and fill in the information to optimize your ad.

This includes your campaign name, language settings, and budget. You'll find "Audiences" under the "People" section, click "Browse" at the end of the form, and go to the section labeled "How they interact with your business".

Once you can see the audience created in Google Analytics.

Advertising personalization control

Once linked to your accounts, you can now use advanced settings to personalize ads.

You can use these settings to customize your ads to appeal to your audience.

This includes which countries you want your ads to show, as well as whether you want your ads to appear for repeat customers.

Enabling these features will not allow you to retrospectively change previously collected data.

If you decide to disable ads from certain countries, any conversions from these regions will not be tracked or added to any list in your advertising account.

Track Multi-Channel Funnels

The Multi-Channel Funnels report allows you to determine what impacted each individual conversion and / or transaction on your website.

Analytics only credits the last click (advertisement, search, campaign) that a customer made before reaching your site.

The Multi-Channel Funnel report goes much further, tracking the impact of previous website referrals, advertisements, and searches on the customer, as well as how much time elapsed before making a purchase.

By looking at how the different sources of your traffic work together, you can determine who is serving you best and who is no longer worth the investment.

This additional data is important because Analytics data alone can be somewhat misleading.

Analytics can show that Google search is bringing the most conversions to your website when in reality, people are inspired to find your product after seeing it on Instagram.

The Multi-Channel Funnels reports carefully track the path that leads them to purchase, taking into account any interactions with your business within 30 days.

The report includes data from a vast array of digital channels, including social networks, email newsletters, affiliates, and their own custom campaigns.

Connecting your accounts can be a game changer

Many people find themselves frustrated with Google Analytics and / or Google ads, as they start wondering if platforms are giving them the results or data they need.

Connecting these two accounts can be the game changer you are looking for.

Allowing two accounts to share information will strengthen both aspects, giving your ad and your website the best chance of success.

so what are you waiting for? Link your Google Analytics and Google advertising accounts today and take your advertising to the next level.

The conclusion

Now it's up to you.

Do you have any questions on the linking process?

Is it clear how to create and add audiences for targeting in Google ads?

Do you have any questions?

Please add your comments and questions below.

Label