# Google Ads + Google Merchant Center + Google Analytics 4 integration and analysis

Connect Google Ads, Google Merchant Center and Google Analytics 4 to Hendrik. Test whether a Shopping catalog constraint or a paid-journey change needs attention before increasing Google spend.

## The question this stack can answer

Is Shopping losing eligible products or potential buyers?

## What Hendrik reads from each source

- **Google Ads:** Spend, delivery, and Google reported conversions show the Google Ads side of the question.
- **Google Merchant Center:** Offer eligibility, policy issues, and feed diagnostics show whether Shopping can serve the products you want to promote.
- **Google Analytics 4:** Traffic acquisition, landing pages, and on site events show where the website journey changed.

## What you need to connect

- Use one explicit 28-day comparison window, time zone, market, and legal-entity scope before comparing values.
- Connected Google Ads account with spend and conversion reporting for the stated window.
- Connected Merchant Center account with offer diagnostics for the same market and product scope.
- Connected GA4 property with comparable acquisition and event reporting.
- Keep provider-specific definitions visible and use an identity or product mapping only where it is established for this workspace.

## Important limits

- Google-reported conversion value is platform attribution, not incremental revenue or a deduplicated business total.
- Offer diagnostics do not prove a store-product or campaign relationship unless that mapping is established.
- GA4 events and attribution do not automatically establish a paid order, payment, or campaign relationship.

## Illustrative example

### Google Ads + Google Merchant Center + Google Analytics 4 review

Previous: 1–28 January. Current: 29 January–25 February. Both periods contain 28 days. Monetary values use USD and all timestamps use UTC. Merchant Center counts are two dated snapshots, not period totals. Eligibility fell from 1,240 to 1,010 offers. Inspect disapproval reasons and affected products before deciding whether this explains the delivery change.

*About this example: Synthetic data · illustrative analysis · Hendrik only acts with the permissions you give it.*

- reported conversion value (USD, 28 days) (Google Ads): 88,000 USD → 105,000 USD
- reported purchase events (count, 28 days) (Google Analytics 4): 1,420 → 1,230
- Google Ads spend (USD, consecutive 28-day periods) (Google Ads): 21,000 USD → 26,000 USD
- GA4 paid sessions (configured channel group, consecutive 28-day periods) (Google Analytics 4): 16,800 → 15,300
- Eligible offers · same account, country and Shopping destination; period-end snapshots (Google Merchant Center): 1,240 · 28 Jan → 1,010 · 25 Feb

### What Hendrik checks

- **Review Google Ads delivery:** Compare spend, clicks, impression share, campaign type, and conversion settings within Google Ads.
- **Read the Merchant Center snapshot:** The third integration adds catalog approval and diagnostics. Inspect disapproval reason, feed freshness, price, and availability for affected offers.
- **Use Google Analytics 4 for journey coverage:** Google Analytics 4 adds whether fewer paid visits or fewer recorded purchases appear before the store order is completed; it cannot identify a Merchant issue as the cause.
- **Separate the interventions:** Record the date of any feed repair separately from bid, budget, or landing-page changes so the next comparison remains interpretable.

### What Hendrik sees

Google Ads reported higher conversion value as spend rose. GA4 reported purchase events and paid sessions fell. Merchant Center eligible offers fell.

### What to do next

Repair a confirmed Merchant Center eligibility defect before raising Shopping-related spend. Reassess the next completed period with the corrected catalog snapshot and the same Google Ads and journey measures.

**Limit:** Do not infer product-level delivery loss unless the operator verifies that affected offers were actually promoted.

## Provider documentation

- [Google Ads documentation](https://support.google.com/google-ads/)
- [Google Merchant Center documentation](https://support.google.com/merchants/)
- [Google Analytics 4 documentation](https://support.google.com/analytics/)

## Start with this stack

[Create a workspace and connect Google Ads + Google Merchant Center + Google Analytics 4](https://app.withhendrik.com/auth?mode=sign-up&acquisition_channel=marketing&return_to=%2Fonboarding%2Factivation&cta_location=integration_markdown&landing_page_id=combination-google-ads-google-merchant-center-ga4&combination=google-ads-google-merchant-center-ga4)