Google Ads
The Google Ads connector imports campaign spend, impressions, clicks, and conversions from your Google Ads account, and can send Google your sales and buyer lists. The imported data powers Apex's attribution engine and lets you see exactly how your paid search and display campaigns contribute to conversions.
Authentication
Google Ads uses OAuth 2.0 via Google's authorization server. When you connect, Apex asks for two permissions:
| Permission | What Apex does with it |
|---|---|
adwords | Reads campaigns and spend, lists your ad accounts, and makes the conversions Apex sends to. Apex never creates, changes, or pauses campaigns, budgets, or bids. |
datamanager | Sends your conversions and buyer lists through Google's Data Manager API. |
Click Connect on the Integrations page
Find the Google Ads card and click Connect. You'll be redirected to Google's consent screen.
Sign in and authorize
Sign in with the Google account that has access to your Google Ads account. Grant Apex permission to view your ad data.
Select your account
After authorizing, Apex lists all accessible Google Ads accounts (Customer IDs). Select the account you want to sync.
Info
Apex uses access_type: offline and prompt: consent to ensure it receives a refresh token. This allows syncs to run automatically without re-authorization.
Data Synced
Each sync pulls campaign-level data for the configured date range:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Spend | Total cost in your account's currency (converted from cost_micros) |
| Impressions | Number of times your ads were shown |
| Clicks | Number of ad clicks |
| Conversions | Conversion actions tracked in Google Ads |
Data is broken down by campaign and date, so you can see performance trends over time. Apex pulls every hour, re-reading the last three days, and re-reads the full 30 days once a day.
Sending conversions to Google
The Google Ads page walks through it as a checklist:
- Pick the ad account. If your sign-in only reaches a manager account, Apex tells you to make an ad account under it.
- Set up the conversions. Apex lists one conversion per kind your workspace sends (sales, new subscriptions, leads, leads that became customers, and the rest) and makes them in your ad account when you press Set up on that list. You can pick existing conversions instead. If your Google tag already counts purchases, Apex makes its sales conversion secondary so Google doesn't count a sale twice.
- Allow Apex to send your sales. Tick the agreement. Nothing goes to Google before this.
- Test. Send a test of any one conversion. Google checks it without recording it.
Below the checklist, Apex lists the kinds Google could use that your workspace doesn't send yet, each with a Set up button.
Google sometimes refuses conversions for a few minutes while it finishes setting up a new conversion action. Apex shows Google's reason and sends those conversions again on its own.
Info
Sales that came from a Google ad click count right away. To count sales Google has to match by email, turn on enhanced conversions for leads in Google Ads (Goals → Settings).
Buyer lists
Once conversions are allowed, you can send any Segment to Google as a buyer list. Tick the lists agreement, then turn Google on for a list under Attribution → Ad platforms. Apex keeps the list in sync. Google can take a day or two to match a new list.
Configuration
After connecting, you can configure:
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
accountIdrequired | string | The Google Ads Customer ID to sync. Selected during setup. |
dateRange | object | Custom date range for syncs. Default: last 30 days. |
How Apex Uses This Data
- Channel attribution — Google Ads clicks are matched to visitors via
gclid(Google Click ID), which the tracking snippet captures automatically - Cost per lead — Spend is divided by conversions to calculate your true cost per lead from paid search
- ROI analysis — When combined with Stripe or HubSpot revenue data, you can see actual return on ad spend
- Budget allocation — The budget dashboard uses spend data to recommend channel-level budget adjustments
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No accounts listed | Google account lacks Ads access | Sign in with an account that has Google Ads access |
| "Your sign-in only reaches a manager account" | The account you signed in with manages others but has no ad account of its own | In Google Ads, open Accounts, press the blue + button, then Create new account |
| "None of your Google Ads accounts can run ads right now" | The accounts are cancelled or suspended | Reactivate one in Google Ads, then press Check again |
| Empty sync results | No campaign data in the date range | Expand the date range or verify campaigns are running |
| "Google didn't give Apex permission to send" | A permission was unticked on Google's screen | Sign in to Google again and allow everything Google asks for |
Next Steps
- Connect Google Analytics for website traffic data alongside ad performance
- Set up budget allocation to optimize your ad spend