1. Does the link carry what you think it does?
Open the tagged link, with a unique test campaign value, in a new browser profile and read the address. Check source, medium and campaign are present and lowercase, then find the test value in Traffic acquisition once Google has processed the data. Google Ads auto-tagging takes priority over manual tags in GA4, so test ad clicks differently from email and social links.
- Fragmented campaigns: the UTM naming guide and sheet.
- Unassigned: the channel group rules guide.
2. Does the click ID survive?
For ad clicks, follow the address through every redirect to the landing page and confirm the page accepts parameters and the conversion linker or Google tag runs there.
- Lost click ID, Unverified status: the Google Ads conversion guide.
3. Do consent defaults arrive before tags?
Check the order in Tag Assistant: default first, update after the choice. This is technical wiring from your own policy, not legal advice.
- Late or missing consent signals: the consent mode guide.
4. Does a hand-off split the visit?
If the site sends buyers to another domain, check the address after the hand-off for the linker parameter and compare the ga_session_id on the page views on both domains in DebugView.
- Checkout shown as a referral: the cross-domain guide.
5. Does each conversion tag fire once?
Perform one test conversion and count firings in Tag Assistant and Pixel Helper. Check Meta's value and currency. Deduplication helps only when the Pixel and the Conversions API both send the same event.
- Meta counts: the Pixel guide.
- Google Ads counts: the Ads conversion guide.
6. Then compare and write the note
Only now compare platform figures, using the same days and conversion definition, and write what can and cannot be matched. The project Repair paid-traffic measurement covers these steps from £1,495 as an untested proposal, quoted for the agreed link patterns, with payment after sign-off; the single-step outcomes cost from £245. No promise is made about ad performance. Send descriptions and links with personal data removed; no account IDs or logins.
Sources and limits
- Google Analytics Help: Collect campaign data with custom URLs Checked 2026-10-11.
- Missing UTM parameters appear as (not set) and values are case sensitive.
- Google Analytics Help: Default channel group Checked 2026-10-11.
- Traffic that matches no default channel rule goes to Unassigned.
- Meta for Developers: Conversion tracking with the Meta Pixel Checked 2026-10-11.
- Purchase events require value and currency.
- Google Analytics Help: Traffic acquisition report Checked 2026-10-11.
- The Traffic acquisition report includes the session-scoped dimensions Session campaign, Session source / medium and Session default channel grouping.
- Google Analytics Help: Data freshness Checked 2026-10-11.
- Many reports and explorations can take 24 to 48 hours to process data.
- Google Analytics Help: Automatically collected events Checked 2026-10-11.
- A session ID and session number are generated automatically with each session and associated with each event in the session; ga_session_id is listed as a parameter of session_start.