ICYMI: Google is changing from their last non-direct click import from GA4 to Google Ads to full cross-channel conversion credit import.
This is HUGE if you are using Analytics imported conversions as your primary conversions in Google Ads.
Here’s the announcement:
Here’s a great explanation and discussion on LinkedIn, posted by Frederik Boysen:
“Let’s start by mapping out a typical buying journey:
On Day 1, a customer makes a Google Shopping search, clicks to shop and sees the product, but does not buy. On Day 3, the customer clicks on a Facebook retargeting ad and makes a purchase.
Google Analytics 4 last non-direct click import (before):
As Google Analytics used a last non-direct click attribution model, Facebook was credited with 100% of the conversion value in this journey, since it was the last click before conversion. When importing conversions from Google Analytics into Google Ads, this conversion would not appear inside Google Ads as it wasn’t the “last non-direct click” in Google Analytics.
Google Analytics 4 full cross-channel conversion credit import (soon to be released):
With this upgrade, full cross-channel conversion credit will now be imported into Google Ads (even if the last non-direct click was not Google advertising). This means that now Google ads can get a fraction of the value and conversion attributed in Google ads – let’s say you are using a linear model – Google will get 0.5 conversion and 50% of the conversion value for this journey.
It is hard to gauge the exact impact until we see how it is implemented in action; however, I believe the new funnel cross-channel import is invaluable for reporting, and will give you a more accurate representation of conversion value when it includes the impact of other channels. It will also make it possible to identify huge gaps in the values tracked by Google Ads vs GA4 cross-channel credit product/ads, and adjust bids/changes accordingly.
That being said, GA4 tracking still has its flaws compared to Google Ads tracking;Here are some differences:
GA4: Does not track view-troughs for networks like display or Youtube while Google ads tracking can.
GA4 does not have built in cross device identification, so you need user IDs, while Google ads tracking use logged-in user data to identify users a cross device and also have Enhanced Conversion to track and identified users across device with hashed first-party data.
GA4 is unable to provide full server-side tracking unless a script fires, while Google Ads offers complete server-side tracking with offline conversions click import which bypasses ad blockers and is collected on the server level.
These factors play an integral role in optimizing performance as they determine what data is received by bidding algorithms used by Google ads – This means that Google Ads tracking will still my preferred choice for bidding (Primary). But GA4 import will properly be my preferred choice for reporting.“
Link to original post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/frederik-boysen-607ab444_ppcchat-googleads-activity-7044033395730837504-SBqg
– Nils