Here's Why Your Data in Google Ads & Google Analytics Don't Match

Sim Wan Yong • July 8, 2019

Have you ever compared your Google Ads performance report with your Google Analytics and noticed a discrepancy in the number of clicks?

This could be caused by several reasons - it could be due to the wrong date settings, looking at the wrong views or it could be some technical errors.

If you have noticed a discrepancy between the number of clicks on Google Ads & Google Analytics, check each item in the checklist below to find out if you're looking at the right settings first.

Troubleshooting Click Data Discrepancies Between Google Ads and Analytics

Here's a checklist to rule out potential human / technical errors that led to this data discrepancy.

1) Check linked account

  1. Go to analytics.google.com and click on the gear icon (admin).
  2. Check if you're looking at the right account and property first.
  3. Under the second column marked 'Property', check under 'Google Ads Linking' to see if you have linked your Google Analytics account to the right Google Ads account ID.

2) Check if you're looking at a filtered view

  1. Go to analytics.google.com and click on the gear icon (admin).
  2. Under the third column marked 'View', check if you have any activated filters. These filters can cause some impressions, clicks and more to be filtered out from Google Analytics, causing the number to be fewer than those shown in Google Ads.

3) Check date range

  1. Go to analytics.google.com and click on Acquisition, then go to 'Google Ads' and click on 'Campaigns'. You can look at other sub-columns, but looking at campaigns will be a good start.
  2. Check the data range on the upper right corner of Google Analytics and Google Ads and make sure that they are the same ad range.

4) Check again in 24 hours

If you're comparing the stats for the current date, there may be a time delay for the data to show up either on Google Ads or Google Analytics. Give it a day or two and see if the issue persists. Alternatively, look up the data up to the previous day.

5) Check if you're looking at Total Clicks in Google Ads

The total clicks in Google Ads can have a discrepancy if you are not looking at 'Total Clicks', especially if you have paused or removed any text ads, keywords, ad groups or even campaigns itself. Look at the lowest row labeled with 'Total Clicks' to determine if you're looking at the right numbers.

Have you gone through the list? Does the problem still persist? Here's a few possible explanations as to why the number of clicks are different in these two platforms.

Possible Reasons for Click Data Discrepancies between Google Ads and Analytics

Wrong Implementation of Google Site Tag

Google Ads will record a click the moment a click has been registered. Meanwhile, Google Analytics only registers a click when the script on the page has been fired.

You will need to insert a line of code into your website for Google Analytics to register site visitors, ad clicks and so on. This line of code will send your site visitor activities to Google Analytics once it loads correctly on your website.

If you have implemented the code on the wrong place - let's say outside the html or outside of body tag, the script will not fire.

Without the script firing, the activity would not be recorded, or the activity recorded might be inaccurate.

When this happens, you can expect there to be fewer clicks on Analytics than on Google Ads.

Script Is Not Firing to Record Clicks

Let's say your website is down - your search and display ads would still appear for some time before Google registers the error.

Clicks can still happen, and the number of clicks will be recorded in your Google Ads interface. Meanwhile, your website does not load at all - the script can't fire if the website is not loaded in the first place.

So, while your Google Ads record, let's say, 10 clicks from your ads, the ads lead to nowhere in particular, and your Google Analytics do not record those clicks.

That's 10 more clicks in your Google Ads as compared to those in your Google Analytics!