Metric Discrepancies & Attribution
Why Google Ads, Meta, and your CRM show different numbers for the same campaign — and how to tell which one to trust.
Articles in this collection
11 articlesMeta Ads vs. Google Ads: Five Metric Names That Don't Mean the Same Thing
The same word means a different calculation on each platform. A field guide to the five most commonly confused metrics between Meta and Google Ads.
Your GA4 Numbers Don't Match Your Ad Platform. Here's the Decision Tree
A step-by-step way to figure out which discrepancy you're looking at — attribution window, sampling, or a broken tag — before you file a bug report.
Conversion Lag: Why Yesterday's ROAS Is a Lie Until Thursday
Same-day and next-day conversion numbers are provisional, not final. Here is how much they typically move, and how to report on them honestly.
Click IDs Are the Real Attribution Key: GCLID, FBCLID, WBRAID and Server-Side Tracking
Every attribution argument rests on a query parameter in the landing URL. What each click ID is, the five places it dies, and the two server-side systems that recover it.
Offline Conversion Imports: Teaching Google and Meta What Money Looks Like
The pixel sees the lead; the CRM sees the money ninety days later. What to send back, how matching works, and the mistakes that make imports harmful.
ATT, SKAN and the Privacy Sandbox: Why Your Dashboards Changed and What Works Now
Apple removed the identifier and Google is following. What ATT, SKAN and the Sandbox did to measurement, why dashboards look worse, and the stack that works on top.
Why Shopify, GA4 and Meta Report Three Different Revenue Numbers for the Same Day
Three systems, one day, three revenue totals — and none of them is broken. Timezones, refunds, tax and shipping explain most of the gap. Here is how to decompose it line by line.
Self-Reported Attribution vs. Your Pixel: What "How Did You Hear About Us?" Is Actually Good For
A post-purchase survey will never reconcile with your pixel, and it was never supposed to. Here is the question it does answer, and how to weight the answer without fooling yourself.
UTM Governance: A Naming Convention That Survives Three Agencies
Most UTM schemes die the first time someone else touches them. A convention, a validator query, and the four rules that keep a taxonomy intact across agency handovers.
Modeled Conversions: What Google and Meta Are Filling In for You
A share of the conversions in your ad dashboard were never observed — they were estimated. What modeling is, why it exists, and how to report a number that is part measurement and part inference.
Why Your ROAS in Google Ads Never Matches Your ROAS in Your CRM / Backend Database
Google Ads, Meta, and your CRM or backend database each attribute revenue differently. Here is exactly why the numbers disagree, and how to reconcile them without picking one to trust blindly.