Root Cause Analysis: Google Ads + Meta Ads
Why did this number change? askotter reads Google Ads and Meta Ads together and answers it for your business, by text.
How does root cause analysis with Google Ads and Meta Ads work for a small business?
askotter reads Google Ads and Meta Ads side by side so it can test each explanation against your connected accounts and find the cause. A ranked list of likely causes, each with the evidence behind it.
Read the full answerShow less
The owner asks follow-up questions by text.
- From Google Ads
- Campaign performance, Keyword data and quality scores, Ad group and creative performance.
- From Meta Ads
- Campaign and ad set performance, Creative performance, Audience targeting data.
- Status
- Both connect today.
- Not for
- Replacing Google Ads or Meta Ads. Both keep working exactly as they do now.
Why did this number change?
Bookings dropped 23%. The ad, the website and the weather all get blamed. Without your accounts side by side, it stays a guess.
How askotter handles it
askotter reads Google Ads and Meta Ads side by side, so it can test each explanation against your connected accounts and find the cause.
A person checks the result before it reaches you. This is part of our Google Ads management work.
How Google Ads and Meta Ads records line up
Google Ads and Meta Ads both report by page. URLs are normalised first (protocol, trailing slash and tracking parameters removed) and then joined page by page.
Google Ads and Meta Ads both keep the UTM source, medium and campaign values from the visit, so activity lines up campaign by campaign even when no single person can be matched.
Shared between the two: the page URL and the UTM campaign tags.
What root cause analysis uses from each
Root cause analysis needs timestamps precise enough to put events in order.
From Google Ads that means the change history for bids, budgets and ads. From Meta Ads it means creative changes and delivery status by ad.
What each tool sees on its ownShow less
Google Ads on its own
Google Ads counts the conversions it can see through its own tag. It cannot tell a refunded sale from a kept one, or a junk lead from a good one.
Timing. Google Ads credits a conversion back to the date of the click, so yesterday's conversion count can still rise for days.
Access. The Google Ads API with read access to the account.
Meta Ads on its own
Meta sees who saw and clicked an ad. It cannot see a sale its pixel missed, and lead-form contacts stop being visible to it once they leave Facebook or Instagram.
Timing. Meta reports conversions under its own attribution setting, seven days after a click and one day after a view by default.
Access. The Meta Marketing API with read access to the ad account.
Related guides
- Why Your Google Ads Aren't Converting (And How to Fix It). Clicks without conversions is the most expensive problem in marketing.
- Performance Max for Local Businesses: Where the Budget Goes. The campaign type that decides for you, and the reporting that follows.
Services that use these connections
Other analyses: Google Ads + Meta Ads
Questions about Google Ads + Meta Ads
Do I need a developer to connect Google Ads and Meta Ads?
How is askotter's Root Cause Analysis different from what Google Ads shows on its own?
Connect Google Ads + Meta Ads. Five minutes.
Plans are on the digital marketing pricing page.
Self-managed is $99/mo and scales with the compute you use. Our team runs it from $600/mo.