Google Ads reporting
Why doesn't my Google Ads report match the Google Ads dashboard?
Updated 1 November 2026
Almost always one of six things: rates averaged across rows instead of worked out from totals, a different date range or time zone, a different conversion column, conversions counted by click date in one place and by conversion date in the other, figures for the last few days that were still coming in, or rows the report filtered out.
Check them in that order. The first three explain most mismatches, and each takes a minute to rule out.
Check these in order
| Cause | What you see | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rates averaged across rows | Spend and conversions match, but cost per conversion, CTR, CPC or ROAS don't | Work every rate out from the totals |
| 2. Date range or time zone | Totals are close but not equal, and daily figures look shifted by a day | Use the account's time zone and the exact same dates |
| 3. Conversion column | Conversions are higher in one place, often much higher | Use "Conversions" and say so; keep "All conversions" for diagnosis |
| 4. Click date or conversion date | Monthly conversions differ from your CRM or GA4, most at the month's edges | Pick one way of dating conversions and label it |
| 5. Late data | Last month's figures rise after you sent the report | Send a few days into the month, or flag the last days as provisional |
| 6. Missing rows | Your totals are lower than the account's | Include paused and removed campaigns; compare at campaign level |
1. Rates averaged across rows
Every rate in Google Ads is worked out from totals: total cost divided by total conversions, total clicks divided by total impressions. A report that averages the rate column instead gives a different number, and usually a very different one.
The same goes for cost per conversion, CPC, conversion rate and ROAS. Spreadsheets make this mistake easy: an AVERAGE() under a column of rates looks right and isn't. Our guide to the monthly report has a worked example for cost per conversion.
2. Date range and time zone
A Google Ads account reports in the time zone it was created with, and that can't be changed afterwards. A tool or export that works in UTC, or in your own time zone, moves a few hours of data from one day to the next. Over a month that is small, but at the edges it moves real clicks and conversions between months.
Check the date range too. "Last 30 days" and "last month" are different periods, and a report run on the 1st for "this month" contains almost nothing.
3. "Conversions" against "All conversions"
The "Conversions" column counts only the conversion actions included in your goals. "All conversions" counts every conversion action the account tracks, including secondary ones such as page views or newsletter sign-ups set up for observation. Conversion value has the same split.
If your report reads one column and the client looks at the other, the numbers will never agree. Use "Conversions" in client reports, because it is what bidding optimises towards, and write which column you use in the report itself.
4. Click date or conversion date
By default Google Ads records a conversion against the day of the click that led to it. A click on 29 October that turns into a sale on 3 November counts as an October conversion. GA4, a CRM or a shop's back office usually count the sale on 3 November.
Google Ads also offers "by conversion time" columns, which date conversions the way a CRM does. Neither is wrong; they answer different questions. Pick one for the report, label it, and expect month totals to differ from the client's own systems by the conversions that straddle the month boundary.
5. Figures that were still coming in
Conversions can be recorded days or weeks after the click, up to the length of each conversion action's window, so the last days of a month keep rising after the month ends. Cost can move slightly too, when Google credits invalid clicks.
Send the report a few days into the new month, or say plainly that the final days may still change. Then fix the figures at the moment you send, so the client isn't comparing your report with an account that has moved on since.
6. Rows the report left out
- Paused and removed campaigns. A campaign that ran for half the month and was then removed still spent money. A report filtered to enabled campaigns leaves that spend out.
- Lower-level reports. Keyword and search term reports cover only the campaign types that have keywords, so their totals won't add up to the account's. Compare totals at campaign level.
- Filters you forgot. A filter on campaign name silently drops campaigns that were renamed. This is the most common way Looker Studio reports break, too.
- Currency. A manager account can show figures converted into its own currency. Report in the client account's currency.
Google Ads against GA4
Google Ads and GA4 will not match, and aren't meant to. They count different things (a GA4 key event against an Ads conversion action), date them differently, and credit them with different attribution. Choose one source for each figure in the report: Google Ads for spend, clicks and the conversions it bid towards; GA4 for what happened on the site afterwards. Mixing the two in one table is where the questions start.
Questions
- Why is cost per conversion different in my report and in Google Ads?
- Usually because the report averages cost per conversion across campaigns or days. Google Ads divides total cost by total conversions. Work the rate out from the totals and the figures will agree.
- Why are my Google Ads conversions higher than in GA4?
- The two count differently. Google Ads dates a conversion by the click and credits it to the ad; GA4 dates it when it happens and may credit another channel. Use Google Ads for what the ads did and GA4 for the site, and don't expect the two to match.
- Why did last month's figures change after I sent the report?
- Conversions keep arriving after the click, up to each conversion action's window, and invalid-click credits can lower cost. Send the report a few days into the month and fix the figures at the moment you send.