Analytics
How to tell whether your Google Ads campaigns are working
A practical guide to setting up conversions in Google Ads and GA4, telling vanity metrics apart from business metrics, and deciding which campaign deserves more budget.
Short answer
A Google Ads campaign works when it produces actions you can bill for (a quote request, a call, a purchase), not when it produces clicks. To know that, you need the conversion configured in Google Ads, marked as a key event in GA4, both platforms linked, and the CRM connected.
A Google Ads campaign can have a good CTR, a good Quality Score, and still bring in no customers at all. That happens when what is being measured is not what the business cares about.
What "working" means for a search campaign
A campaign works when it produces actions your business can bill for: a quote request, a phone call, a purchase. Not when it produces clicks.
The difference matters because Google optimises toward whatever you point it at. Tell it the goal is a click and it will find you cheap clicks. Tell it the goal is a submitted form and it will look for people who submit forms.
The three levels of measurement
Level 1: the platform. Impressions, clicks, CTR, CPC. Useful for diagnosing the ad, useless for knowing whether the business made money.
Level 2: the on-site conversion. Forms submitted, calls started, purchases. This is the minimum for making budget decisions.
Level 3: lead quality. How many of those forms became a real opportunity and a closed sale. It needs the CRM connected, and it is where most teams stop.
Without level 2 you cannot optimise. Without level 3 you may be optimising toward leads that are cheap and bad.
Setting it up, step by step
- Define the action that is worth money. One action, the main one. Usually the contact form submit or the purchase.
- Create the conversion in Google Ads. Under Tools → Conversions. Google documents the full process in its conversion tracking help.
- Mark the event as a key event in GA4. GA4 calls "key events" what used to be conversions; Google's documentation covers the setup.
- Link Google Ads and GA4. Without the link, each platform counts on its own and the numbers never reconcile.
- Verify with a real test. Fill in your own form and confirm the conversion appears. It is the most skipped step and the one that catches the most errors.
- Connect the CRM. Manually at first if you have to: tag every lead with the campaign that brought it.
Why Google Ads and GA4 numbers never match
This is normal and does not mean something is broken. The two platforms count differently:
| Google Ads | GA4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Time attribution | To the click date | To the conversion date |
| Default model | Data-driven, all of Google | Depends on the property settings |
| Scope | Ads traffic only | All traffic |
Use Google Ads to decide on bids and budget inside Ads. Use GA4 to compare channels against each other.
Frequently asked questions
How long should I wait before judging a campaign? Long enough to accumulate enough conversions that the difference is not noise. In businesses with few leads per month, that can be a quarter rather than a week.
Is the pixel alone enough, without GA4? It is enough to optimise the campaign, but not to compare Google Ads against other channels or to see the visitor's full path.
What if I cannot connect the CRM yet? Record the source of every lead by hand for a month. It is tedious, and it is enough to find out which campaign brings real customers.
In short
Measure the action that produces revenue, not the click. Set the conversion up in Google Ads, mark it as a key event in GA4, link the two platforms, and verify it with a real test. Then connect the CRM so you know not just how many leads arrive, but which ones are worth having.
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