If you're already bidding on Universal Analytics conversions in Google Ads, you can replicate those conversions in your Google Analytics 4 property, compare conversion volumes, and then import your Google Analytics 4 conversions into Google Ads. To avoid duplicate conversion counts, make sure to stop bidding on Universal Analytics conversions before you start bidding on Google Analytics 4 conversions.
Before you begin
Before you get started, you must:
Compare conversion volumes
Before importing your Google Analytics 4 conversions into Google Ads, compare them to their Universal Analytics counterparts. Note, however, that while you should try to have the volume of Google Analytics 4 conversions be as close as possible to your Universal Analytics conversion volumes, there are many factors that prevent the numbers from matching.
To ensure you have enough data for an accurate comparison, you may want to wait for up to two weeks after implementing your Google Analytics 4 conversions to compare them to your Universal Analytics conversions.
If the Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 conversion counts differ significantly, you can validate your migrated goals.
Note: conversion reports differ between Google Ads and Google Analytics. For more details, see the Data Discrepancies section in this Google Ads Help Center article.
Before importing your Universal Analytics conversions into Google Ads, you should avoid duplicating those conversions by following the directions below to either remove your existing Universal Analytics conversions or change them from "primary" to "secondary" conversions in your Google Ads account.
To avoid unnecessary gaps in your conversion measurement, make sure to both remove (or update) your Universal Analytics conversions and import your Google Analytics 4 conversions to Google Ads in a single working session.
Step 1: Remove or change Universal Analytics goals from "primary" to "secondary" conversions in Google Ads
You can remove duplicate Universal Analytics conversions by either removing the conversion action or by changing the conversion action from "primary" to "secondary" in Google Ads.
Option 1: Remove the conversion action
This will stop collecting data for this conversion action.
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- In the top right, click Tools and Settings
.
- Go to Measurement > Conversions.
- Check the checkboxes for the conversion actions you want to remove.
Tip: You can find all your Universal Analytics conversions using a filter:
- In the top left, click Filter
.
- Filter by Source = Google Analytics (UA).
- Check the topmost checkbox to select all of the conversions.
- In the top left, click Filter
- Click Remove to change the status.
See related article: Remove inactive conversions
Option 2: Change your Universal Analytics conversion action from "primary" to "secondary" in Google Ads
When you mark conversion actions as "secondary", they are used for reporting in the “All conversions” column in your reports, but not for bidding.
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- In the top right, click Tools and Settings
- Go to Measurement > Conversions.
- Find the goal that includes the conversion action you'd like to edit.
- Click Edit goal.
- Next to the conversion action that you’d like to update, click the drop-down and select Secondary action (observe only).
- Click Save changes.
Step 2: Import your Google Analytics 4 conversion events, then mark them as "primary" conversions
To import your Google Analytics 4 conversion events into your Google Ads account:
- In your Google Ads account, click create
.
- Select Conversion action from the list.
- Click Import, select Google Analytics 4 properties, then click Continue.
- Select each Google Analytics key event you want to import, then click Import and continue.
- Click Done.
Make sure your Google Analytics 4 conversions are marked as "primary"
Starting on October 3, 2022, if you newly import one or more conversion actions from a Google Analytics 4 property, and Google Ads detects that you already have a Universal Analytics conversion action in your account, Google Analytics 4 conversion actions will be set to "secondary" conversion actions by default.
This means that to start bidding on your Google Analytics 4 conversions, you'll need to change them to "primary":
- In your Google Ads account, go to Tools and Settings > Measurement > Conversions.
- Find the goal that includes the conversion action you'd like to edit.
- Click Edit goal.
- Next to the conversion action that you'd like to update, click the drop-down and select Primary action.
- Click Save changes.
Google Ads conversion tracking starts importing the data from your Analytics property starting from the day you clicked Import. Historical data from before this date is not added to conversion tracking.
Google Ads uses your chosen conversion window(s) (7-90 days, default: 30 days) to determine which conversion events to import from Analytics. For example, if you use the 30-day default window for a conversion event named Registrations, Google Ads only imports conversions that occurred within 30 days of the click.