How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Link Google Analytics 4 to Google Ads, and check it worked
Updated October 11, 2026
10 minutes, then 48 hours to confirm
In GA4, open Admin, Product links, Google Ads links and link the Google Ads account your campaigns actually run in. Keep auto-tagging on. Without the link, ad clicks reach GA4 without their campaign. After 48 hours, Search campaign visits should show as Paid Search, and campaigns should appear by name.
Before you start
- Editor or Administrator role on the GA4 property. Google requires one of them to create the link.
- Administrative access to the Google Ads account. Without it, GA4 can only send the account's admins a request.
- The ID of the Google Ads account that spends, written down before you start, so you link that one and not an old or test account.
Create the link in GA4
The link is created from the GA4 property, for the one Google Ads account your campaigns spend in.
- In Google Analytics, click Admin. Under Product links, click Google Ads links.
- Click Link, then Choose Google Ads accounts, and tick the account whose ID you wrote down. If it is not listed, your sign-in may not have admin access to it: use Send request under Request access to other Google Ads accounts instead.
- Click Confirm, then Next.
- Leave Enable Personalized Advertising on if you want GA4 audiences in your campaigns. Expand Enable Auto-Tagging and turn it on if it is not already.
- Click Next, review the settings, and click Submit.
Make sure the click survives to the landing page
Google Ads data reaches GA4 through the click identifier (gclid) that auto-tagging adds to ad clicks. If the site drops that identifier on a redirect, linked or not, the visit arrives without its campaign.
- In Google Ads, click the Admin icon, then Account settings, and open Auto-tagging. Tag the URL that people click through from my ad should be ticked; if not, tick it and click Save.
- In Google Ads, open Landing pages in the page menu and copy one landing page address. Paste it into the browser bar, add ?gclid=TesTER-123 to the end, and press Enter.
- When the page has loaded, the address should still contain gclid=TesTER-123, with the same letters and capitals. If the page fails or the parameter is gone or altered, ask whoever manages the site to keep URL parameters through redirects.
Check the link points at the right account
Compare the linked account ID on both sides now, because a link to the wrong account shows no error.
- Back in GA4, Admin, Google Ads links, find the new row and compare its account ID with the one you wrote down.
- In Google Ads, click the Tools icon, then Data manager. Under Connected products, find Google Analytics (GA4) and Firebase, click Manage & link, and check that your property is in the table.
A property linked to the wrong Google Ads account looks finished in both places, so compare the account ID now rather than waiting for the reports.
Check it worked
Google says Google Ads data reaches GA4 within 48 hours of linking. After that, Google Ads campaigns should appear by name in the Google Ads campaigns report, in the User acquisition report and in the Advertising section, and visits from Search campaigns should fall in the Paid Search channel.
If ad visits still show as google / cpc with the campaign as (not set), the link is missing or points at another account. If they show as organic or direct, the click identifier is probably being lost before the page loads; run the gclid test above.
What the link does not do on its own
Linking makes GA4 data available in Google Ads; it does not change bidding. To bid on a GA4 key event, Google says you create a Google Ads conversion from it, and for remarketing you add GA4 audiences to a campaign; Google also requires Google Signals or user-provided data collection to be on in the property.
A judgment, not Google's rule: if a Google Ads tag on your site already counts the same lead, import the GA4 version as a secondary action. Two primary actions for one lead count it twice in the column bidding reads.
Key events you did not create appear after linking
Google says that with ads personalization on for a linked Google Ads account, GA4 also marks add_to_cart, add_to_wishlist, begin_checkout, session_start, view_item, view_item_list and view_search_results as key events. On a site that sells nothing online, a session_start key event will make GA4's key event totals look far higher than your leads. Count leads by the event your lead form sends.
Linking a manager account instead
GA4 can link to a Google Ads manager account, and that counts as one link. Google notes that any data imported from GA4 is then available to every client account under the manager, and turning on auto-tagging during that link turns it on in every account linked directly to the manager.