With our webshops we run ads on Google, META etc. To make sure all the right tracking is being done, I connected the Google & Youtube app on the stores. Everything works fine except the Google Ads tracking.
The problem: I if check the conversion ‘purchase’ in Google ads, I see a lower amount then when i look on Shopify –> Marketing. It differents almost 50%. This is bad for our Google ads because we cannot spend money the right way.
I called with Google a few times, this organisation is so horrible to work with for troubleshooting. Everytime I speak to someone they are connecting me with another department (which sometimes doenst happen).
Anyway, have you guys had the same issue and if so, is there any solution for it? Would be really great if someone knows what to do:) Thanks in advance!
Hi @Maurits1 ,
Enable Enhanced Conversions in the Google & YouTube app (this sends hashed email/phone to improve attribution).
Make sure you’re not double-firing tags (check with Google Tag Assistant / Debugger).
Use Google Tag Manager instead of only the Shopify app if you want better control and debugging.
Compare Google Ads conversions with Google Analytics 4 conversions – if both are lower than Shopify, the issue is attribution, not broken tags.
Set the same conversion window in Google Ads as Shopify uses (e.g., 30 days).
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Thanks & Regards
Anmol
If you set a specific conversion parameter in Google, it might be lower as Shopify often inflates conversion rate beyond the typical purchase target. Google also tends to not track conversions based on the thank you page, if the customer closes the window before the page loads. This happens quite a lot actually. Up to 20% of conversions aren’t tracked because of it.
It is pretty common issue that Google and youtube app track less conversions than the real from google ads.
Tracking technology is no more effective with first party domain and browser/client side tracking.
All the shopify app like google and instagram app, google and instagram app all use 3rd party domian/subdomain to track the conversion which gets block for some browsers and extensions and you miss data.
solution:
Google tag manager GTM is the most advance method to configure google ads tracking with first party domain/subdomain server side tracking.
Recently I got the proof from one of my clients who previously using google and youtube app and getting less conversions tracked than it should be.
I configured server side tracking keeping the app integrated conversion goal as secondary and GTM integrated conversion goal as primary. you could see the result here.
Server-side is an advanced tracking method compared to any other apps or plugins. It is the future of tracking, which is introduced by Google and Facebook. Facebook calls it Conversion API(CAPI).
Server-side is crucial to bypass all kinds of cookie blockers and the iOS 14 update.
Here you can see the impact of server-side tracking on the attachment. for the last 7 days, one of my client’s pixel
as such this is a common issue that merchants often face with the google and youtube app.
some of the main reasons for this discrepancy include:
google ads only tracks conversions that can be attributed to ad clicks. however, shopify doesn’t work like that. it will display all completed orders.
more and more users have started to use ad blockers, which hampers conversion tracking from google’s side.
google ads attributes conversions to that day when the ad was clicked, and not the day of purchase. thus, as you may understand, late purchases may not simply get counted.
lastly, there can always be issues with the way the tag has been implemented.
i would say, to deal with this, go with a specialized google ads conversion pixel app rather than the google and youtube app. and, nabu for google ads pixel. it is easy to set up, ensures that conversion tracking is accurate and even supports enhanced conversions.
When platforms disagree this much, the bigger risk isn’t missing conversions , it’s optimizing spend against a version of reality you haven’t chosen yet
Post 2’s test is the wrong way round, and it is why this thread drifted.
It says that if Google Ads and GA4 are both under Shopify, the problem is attribution rather than broken tags. On a Shopify store they share a tag layer, so anything that stops events reaching Google takes both down at once. Both low is what a collection failure looks like, not what rules one out. @Maurits1 ran it, got both low, and drew the conclusion it licensed.
Post 7 then adds that GA4 revenue is half as well. Ads attribution cannot produce that, and in five months nobody took it up.
Server side is a reasonable direction and I would profit if they took it. The smaller thing nags more. Post 7 says they had server side tagging once and cancelled it, and nobody asked the obvious follow up: did the 50 percent predate that, or start after?
The quickest way to separate attribution loss from collection loss is to reconcile a small order-level cohort rather than compare dashboard totals.
Pick 20 paid orders from one UTC day and record the Shopify order ID, payment time, value and currency. In GA4, look for a purchase event with the same transaction_id and value. Then check whether that same transaction appears in Google Ads and note the conversion time.
This gives three different failure patterns:
- Missing in GA4 and Ads: the purchase event was not collected, or transaction_id/value was malformed.
- Present in GA4 but missing in Ads: investigate Ads attribution, conversion import, consent and conversion windows.
- Present in both but on a different date: compare by conversion time versus interaction time before calling it a discrepancy.
Also run one test order through Tag Assistant and verify that purchase fires once, only after payment confirmation. If the 50% gap began when server-side tagging was removed, that is strong evidence, but the order-level reconciliation will show whether server-side coverage is actually the missing half.
