[GA4] Link Google Ads and Analytics

You can link your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics 4 property (including subproperties and roll-up properties) to see the full customer cycle, from how users interact with your marketing (e.g., clicking ads) to how users finally complete the key events on your site or app (e.g., making purchases, consuming content).

If you're migrating from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 and need to migrate multiple Google Ads links, you can use the import tool instead of manually linking.

In this article:

• Benefits
• Limits
• Before you begin
• Create links
• Next steps
• Edit or verify links
• User access from Google Ads (roles in Analytics)
• Related resources

Benefits

When you link your Google Analytics property to a Google Ads account, you enable data to flow between products so you can do the following:

• Create Google Ads conversions based on your GA4 key events
• View the performance of your Google Ads conversions
• Re-engage users based on their behavior in your app or on your site

Limits

You can link Google Analytics 4 properties to individual Google Ads accounts and to Google Ads manager accounts.

You can create up to 400 links per property. If your current Google Ads setup exceeds this limit, consider creating a Google Ads manager account and linking that to your Analytics property.

Note: A link to a Google Ads manager account counts as 1 link.

Before you begin

To link a Google Analytics property to a Google Ads account, use a Google account that has the following permissions:

• In Google Analytics, you must be an administrator or editor to the property that you want to link.
• In Google Ads, the Google account needs administrative access.
• If you link to a Google Ads manager account, any data that you import from Analytics will be available to all of your client accounts.

Note: If your account doesn’t have these permissions, ask your Analytics or Google Ads administrator for help.

Link to Google Ads

Follow these steps to create Google Analytics 4 property links to Google Ads:

1. In Admin, under Product links, click Google Ads links.
2. Click Link.
3. Click Choose Google Ads accounts, then select the Google Ads accounts you want to link. If you don't see the Google Ads account you want to link, you may not have the required permissions.
4. Click Confirm.
5. Click Next.
6. The option to Enable Personalized Advertising is on by default.
7. Expand the Enable Auto-Tagging option to enable auto-tagging or leave your auto-tagging settings as they are. If you enable auto-tagging when you link to a manager account, then auto-tagging will be enabled on all Google Ads accounts directly linked to the manager account.
8. Click Next, then review your settings.
9. Click Submit to link your accounts with the current settings.

Take a tour

To launch a guided tour of the steps above in your own property, click the button below. It will open in the most recent property you looked at, so be sure you're in the correct property first.

Link your Analytics property to your Google Ads account

Next steps

When you create a link between your Google Ads account and your Google Analytics 4 property, Google Ads data will be in your Google Analytics 4 reports within 48 hours. This link also makes data from your Google Analytics 4 property available to use in Google Ads. However, to take action on this data, you need to sign in to Google Ads and do at least one of the following:

• Create Google Ads conversions based on Google Analytics key events (for bidding)
• Add audiences to a campaign or ad group (for remarketing).

For remarketing, you also need to activate Google Signals.

Edit or verify links

To edit or verify if there are Google Analytics 4 properties linked to Google Ads:

1. In Admin, under Product links, click Google Ads links.
2. In the list of linked accounts, click the arrow at the end of the row for the one you want to edit.
3. Turn Enable Personalized Advertising on or off.
4. Click to delete the link.

Learn more about using your Analytics data in Google Ads.

Unlinking Google Ads accounts from Analytics

Either a Google Ads Admin or an Analytics user with the Editor role can unlink the linked Google Ads account(s).

If you delete a link, then data stops flowing between the linked Google Ads account and the Analytics property.

• Google Ads data (e.g., clicks, impressions, CPC, etc.) from unlinked Google Ads accounts is not fully visible in Analytics reports. If auto-tagging is enabled and appends a Google Click ID (gclid) to the end of your URL, unlinked Google Ads traffic will still appear in reports by default with a source/medium of google/cpc or using available UTM values and related ad clicks will not be used for Google paid channels attribution.
• Historical Google Ads dimensions (e.g., Campaign name, Ad group ID) collected before the link was deleted will continue to be available in Analytics. Any new data for these dimensions resulting from clicks from an unlinked Google Ads account will appear as (not set), along with Google Ads metrics (e.g., Cost, Clicks) for all date ranges.
• Analytics remarketing audiences stop accumulating new users in unlinked Google Ads accounts.
• Unlinked Google Ads accounts stop importing key events from Analytics.

User access from Google Ads (roles in Analytics)

Google Ads users are automatically granted Analytics roles when you link a Google Ads account to an Analytics property. You can manage access to allow Google Ads users to use Analytics features from within Google Ads, such as creating Analytics audiences from Google Ads.

• Users in a Google Ads account, based on their Google Ads account access level, are assigned to one of five Google Ads linked users:
  • Google Ads account <account number> administrator
  • Google Ads account <account number> standard
  • Google Ads account <account number> read-only
  • Google Ads account <account number> billing
  • Google Ads account <account number> email-only
• The Google Ads linked users are in turn assigned to roles in the linked Analytics property by the Analytics Administrator.
  • Google Ads linked users must be an Administrator, Editor, or Marketer on the linked property to create Analytics audiences from within Google Ads.

If you have this Google Ads account access level	You are assigned to this Google Ads linked user	Which has this recommended Analytics role assignment
Administrator	Google Ads account <account number> administrator	Editor
Standard	Google Ads account <account number> standard	Marketer
Read only	Google Ads account <account number> read-only	Viewer
Billing	Google Ads account <account number> billing	Viewer
Email only	Google Ads account <account number> email-only	Viewer

In Analytics access management, each Google Ads linked user represents a group of users in the linked Google Ads account.

As an Analytics Administrator, you can change the Analytics role and data restrictions that are assigned to a property’s Google Ads linked users. If you change the Analytics role and data restrictions assigned to a Google Ads linked user, you affect everyone in the Google Ads account that is assigned to that linked user.

Analytics roles assigned to Google Ads linked users manage access to Analytics features from within Google Ads, such as creating Analytics audiences from within Google Ads. Changing Analytics role assignments does not impact Google Ads conversions based on GA4 key events for reporting or bidding or enabling Google Ads remarketing based on Analytics audiences.

The role assignments and data restrictions persist until the link between the Google Ads account and the Analytics property is deleted.

As an Analytics Administrator, you can view and edit access for Google Ads linked users in Admin > Product links > Google Ads Links. You can also configure their access just as you would for any user.

Follow these steps to assign the recommended Analytics roles for a linked Google Ads account:

1. In Admin, under Product links, click Google Ads links.
2. In the list of linked accounts, click the arrow at the end of the row for the one you want to edit.
3. Click See default roles under User access.
4. Click Apply.

Related resources

• Troubleshooting: Missing Google Ads data in Google Analytics 4 property
• Troubleshooting: Why your audiences may not be populating in Google Ads
• Product linking: Link Google Analytics 4 properties and Google Ads