Google Ads

Empower your marketing team to run highly granular retargeting and lookalike campaigns on Google

Supported syncing

Sync Type	Description	Supported Sync Modes	API Reference
Customer Match User List	Creates a customer list for the Customer Match feature of Google Ads. Segments are automatically created in Google Ads based on the name of the model	Add, Update, Remove	Customer Match User List
Click Conversions	Sends click conversion tracking information to Google Ads for each record in the query results	Insert	Click Conversions
Click Conversion Adjustments	Sends click conversion adjustments to Google Ads for each record in the query results	Insert	Click Conversion Adjustments
Call Conversions	Sends call conversion tracking information to Google Ads for each record in the query results	Insert	Call Conversions
Offline Store Conversions	Sends offline store sales conversion tracking information to Google Ads for each record in the query results	Insert	Offline Store Conversions

For more information about sync modes, refer to the sync modes docs.

API version in use: v16

Connect to Google Ads

Go to the Destinations overview page and click the Add destination button. Select Google Ads and click Continue. You can then authenticate Hightouch to Google Ads via OAuth.

Click Log in to Google Ads, log in with your Google Account, and click Allow. You should then see a success notification in the Hightouch UI.

Once you've set up your Google Ads destination and have a model to pull data from, you can set up your sync configuration to begin syncing data. Go to the Syncs overview page and click the Add sync button to begin. Then, select the relevant model and the Google Ads destination you want to sync to.

Select account

To begin, select the account you want to sync data to. If an account appears at the top level, it means you have direct access to that ad account or manager account. Hightouch accesses nested accounts via the root account that you have direct access to.

In the preceding example screenshot, the authenticated account has direct access to the Hightouch (5138398925) ad account and the Hightouch Manager Account (5277198417). The authenticated account also has access to the manager account's three nested accounts, including the Hightouch (5138398925) ad account.

Selecting either account at the top level syncs directly to those accounts without logging in via another manager account. Selecting a nested account requires Hightouch to login via the root manager account.

Syncing customer match user lists

Google's Customer Match tool lets you use the online and offline data your customers have shared with you to deliver targeted ads.

Hightouch lets you create and maintain customer match lists via the Google Ads API. It can take 6 to 48 hours for a list to be populated with members once Hightouch has sent the data to Google. You can find more information about this on the API reference page linked in the supported syncing section.

User list type

To begin, select the upload key type for the customer match list. It can be one of these values:

CONTACT_INFO
MOBILE_ADVERTISING_ID
CRM_ID

Choose the type that aligns with the data fields you are sending. For example, if you are sending email or address data, select CONTACT_INFO.

Select an existing list or create a new one

You can create a new Customer match user list or use an existing one. When creating a new list, you can optionally enter a name. Otherwise, Hightouch defaults to the name of the associated model.

To use an existing list, select the desired list from the dropdown.

If you choose to create a new list, you can't update the account to which you're syncing data after the initial sync run. If you need to change the account, configure a new sync.

Optionally, you can also set the membership lifespan for the list. The value must be between 0 and 540. If you do not set this value, the default value is 30. Check the Do not expire box if you want your users' cookies to stay on your list indefinitely.

User identifiers

To identify which users to add or update in an audience, select model columns and the corresponding Google Ads fields. You must map at least one identifier.

Increase match rates in Google Ads customer match lists by enabling Match Booster.

Handling PII and hashing

You can enable PII hashing if you wish for Hightouch to detect whether your data requires normalization and hashing based on the chosen record mapping. For example, if you select Email and the model column with the email data is unhashed, Hightouch hashes the value for you.

By default, Hightouch automatically detects if the following fields require hashing:

Email
Phone
First Name
Last Name

Cleaning your data

Optionally, you can decide if Hightouch should clean your phone numbers and remove null or incorrectly formatted values from your data.

Clean phone numbers and remove null or incorrectly formatted fields

Delete behavior

The delete behavior you select dictates what to do when a row no longer appears in your model's query results. You have the following options:

Behavior	Description
Do nothing	Keep the record in the audience
Remove record	Remove the Google Ads record from the specified audience

If you are uploading data for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), you need to ensure you are passing the required consent signals to Google.

For each sync, you can specify the consent status for these types:

ad_user_data: consent for sending user data to Google for advertising purposes
ad_personalization: consent for ad personalization

Check out Google's support doc to learn more.

Syncing conversion events

Hightouch supports syncing the following conversion events:

Click conversions and Offline click conversions
Click conversion adjustments
Call conversions
Offline store conversions

When syncing conversion events, Hightouch treats any records added to your source as new events and sends them to Google Ads when your sync runs.

To ensure syncs send each event, your event model must use a truly unique primary key. See the events syncs documentation for more information.

Custom conversion variables

You can map custom variables when syncing conversion events to Google Ads. First, you need to set up custom conversion variables in Google. Custom conversion variables are only available for the following:

Conversion tracking using tags on your website, if you're syncing click conversions or call conversions
Offline conversion import, if you're syncing offline click conversions

You can read more about this in Google Ads Help and also in Google Ads' API documentation.

Currency codes

Google requires all conversion events to include a currency code in a separate column in addition to the amount. This applies to click conversions, click conversion adjustments, and offline store conversions. Consult Google's chart of supported currency codes to ensure your data meets their specifications.

Enhanced conversions

You can sync both types of Enhanced conversions to Google Ads using Hightouch:

Enhanced conversions for leads: set up an Offline click conversion in Google Ads; then select Click Conversions as the sync type and set up your field mappings accordingly
Enhanced conversions for web: select Click Conversion Adjustments as the sync type and Enhancement as the adjustment type

If you are uploading data for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), you need to ensure you are passing the required consent signals to Google.

For click conversions, call conversions and offline store conversions, you can specify the Google consent status for advertising purposes, by mapping these fields in the sync configuration:

Ad user data consent (for the ad_user_data property)
Ad personalization consent (for the ad_personalization property)

As per Google's API documentation, these fields only accept the following values: GRANTED, DENIED, UNSPECIFIED, UNKNOWN.

Check out Google's support doc to learn more.

Syncing click conversions

Google Ads allows you to import conversions from ad clicks to see how your online ads are performing. Before setting up your sync, you need to set up a conversion action in Google Ads.

After clicking New conversion action, remember to select Website.

It can take over 24 hours for click conversions to be processed by Google. You can find more information about this and other requirements on the API reference page linked in the supported syncing section.

Offline click conversions

Offline click conversions are not offline store conversions.

You can sync offline click conversion imports which allow you to measure what happens in the offline world after an ad results in a click or call to your business. For these events, you need to set up offline conversion imports.

After clicking New conversion action, remember to select Import.

Then select CRMs, files, or other data sources and Track conversions from clicks and continue the offline conversion import setup. You can safely skip setting up a data source.

Check out our blog post and playbook to learn how to sync offline click conversions to Google Ads.

Select conversion action

Select the conversion action you previously set up in your Google Ads account. The dropdown menu displays the conversion action IDs present in your Google Ads account.

User identifiers

Select which columns to sync from your source to Google Ads' fields. When syncing click conversions, at least one identifier is required:

GCLID
GBRAID
WBRAID
User hashed email(s)
User hashed phone(s)

Furthermore, Conversion time is a mandatory field.

You can send enhancements as click conversions by mapping the User hashed email(s) and User hashed phone(s) fields instead of GCLID. The model columns mapped to these fields can contain either single values or arrays. Read through Google Ads' API documentation for more details.

If you opt to send user emails and/or phone numbers instead of GCLID, keep in mind that each click conversion can only have up to five user identifiers in total. For example, a click conversion can have three emails and two phone numbers, or any combination that adds up to five.

These enhancements are also referred to as Enhanced conversions for leads. They are not Enhanced conversions for web, which are described in the Syncing click conversion adjustments section.

Avoid storing your GCLID, GBRAID, and WBRAID data in the same model column since this can cause issues when syncing your data. Google Ads' limitations determine which values can and cannot be synced together. If this data is in the same model column and you try mapping this column to multiple Google Ads fields (such as GCLID and WBRAID), you might receive a VALUE_MUST_BE_UNSET or GBRAID_WBRAID_BOTH_SET error. Check out the common errors section to learn more about these errors.

If a model row contains a null value in a model column mapped to the GCLID, GBRAID, or WBRAID fields, Hightouch ignores that value when syncing the row Google Ads. This process helps reduce VALUE_MUST_BE_UNSET or GBRAID_WBRAID_BOTH_SET errors.

Learn more about the EU consent policy in this section.

Syncing click conversion adjustments

After sending a click conversion to Google Ads, you can adjust the conversion later by sending a click conversion adjustment. Wait at least 24 hours after a click conversion is reported to Google Ads before adjusting it to avoid a CONVERSION_NOT_FOUND or TOO_RECENT_CONVERSION error. You can find more information about this on the API reference page linked in the supported syncing section.

Select conversion action and adjustment type

Select the conversion action you previously set up in your Google Ads account. The dropdown menu displays the conversion action IDs present in your Google Ads account.

You also need to select the adjustment type. You can choose from:

Select conversion action and adjustment type

Enhancements are also referred to as Enhanced conversions for web. They are not Enhanced conversions for leads, which are described in the Syncing click conversions section.

If you select the Enhancement adjustment type, you need to select if this is a first party or third party data upload.

Field mapping

Select which columns to sync from your source to Google Ads' fields:

GCLID
Conversion time
Adjustment time
Order ID

If you select the Retraction adjustment type, you can only map those fields.

If you select the Restatement adjustment type, you can map those four fields plus:

Restatement value, which is mandatory
Restatement currency

If you select the Enhancement adjustment type, you can map those four fields plus:

Enhancement User Agent
various hashed fields: Email, Phone, First Name, Last Name, Street Address
Country
Postal Code
State
City