New GA4 integration for Webstore breaks Google Ads tracking

[David Emelianov]

We run Google Search Ads for our Chrome Extension. The GA account for our Webstore page is linked to our Google Ads account, so we are able to track exactly how much we're paying per install. This means we can optimize our Google Search ads to maximize installs.

Our ads have been running for about a year with this setup, and everything has been working perfectly.

With the new move to GA4, we discovered that this functionality is no longer supported. It seems that the GA4 instance is controlled by Google and we do not get admin access to it. This means that we are unable to link the new Google Analytics property to our Google Ads account.

This effectively means that you can no longer run optimized Google Ads campaigns for your Chrome Extension. You can optimize for clicks, but not for installs. 

Frankly, this is making us reconsider investing additional resources into Chrome Extension development going forward. It's hard to build a business on this platform if core advertising features are removed without explanation.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

If anyone has any solutions or workarounds, please let me know!

[Uladzimir Yankovich]

This is definitely a real problem. We also faced this.

It would be cool if Google revised the integration model and we were the owners of our analytics again.

In addition to the problem described by the author, there is also a second one - I cannot give access to the counter to team members. Now I have to give everyone the username and password from the Google account. I think this is a huge security hole.

Now about the workaround - drive traffic to your landing page, and after installing the extension, open the welcome page on the same domain with the same analytics counter. Actually, this is a good solution. All of our experiments show that funneling through our site is more effective than sending traffic directly to a Chrome store page.

But I hope no one uses this argument to fix problems with counters 🤣

[David Emelianov]

Brilliant workaround! Thanks for the tip. We will probably do this in the meantime. 

From our own tests, pointing ads directly to our Chrome Webstore page converts better than our landing page. So I really hope that Google fixes this so that we can have flexibility on how we set up our ads. 

+1 for the problem with counters! 

[Travel Arrow]

+1 on this. We also are unable to see realtime traffic with the new analytics which we were able to do in UA under behavior > site content. 

[Chris Zalcman]

> drive traffic to your landing page

Just keep in mind that according to Google Ads policies it is forbidden to advertise free desktop software (such as .exe, .dmg, zipped files, extensions, plug-ins, add-ons, desktop applications) that can run on desktop computers, laptops, or notebooks and do not require payment information to download; free trials; freeware; shareware; freemium software; demos that offer downloadable content)

https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6368711?hl=en

To do this you must include the name of the specific software (extension) being advertised and lead to the authoritative online distribution source for the software  - Chrome Web Store, or, after violation you will have to prove that your site is a home for your extension!!!

Cons: Goog lowers income for itself and others, there are a lot of such examples, this is what happens when the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.

[David Emelianov]

Really frustrated to see that this has not yet been addressed. We have invested a significant amount of time building our business on the Chrome Webstore, and having these basic attribution features deprecated with no warning is disappointing to say the least.

We have tried implementing Uladzimir's proposed solution to "drive traffic to your landing page, and after installing the extension, open the welcome page on the same domain with the same analytics counter".

Google flagged us for a violation (as Chris predicted) but we were able to provide that our site is a home for the extension.

However, the issue remains. After the user installs the extension and we open our "welcome page" on the same domain, Google Analytics registers the traffic but does not attribute it to Google Ads. It seems that directing the user to that page from our extension causes the click attribution to be lost.

So ultimately we are still unable to optimize our Google Ad campaigns on installs, which is a huge hit to our marketing efforts.

Can we at least get an acknowledgement from the Webstore team about this issue? 

[Oliver Dunk]

Hi David,

I see that you've reached out through a number of different channels but I wanted to reply here so that others can benefit from the conversation.

We've definitely heard your feedback and appreciate that being able to link your Google Analytics property with Google Ads can be a useful way to track conversions.

While that isn't possible at the moment, it is possible to add utm tracking parameters to any links and see these in the install events which are reported. I'm hopeful that in a number of cases that is enough.

I did reach out to you recently to ask about any limitations to that approach (do you use automatic campaign optimisation for example?) but I didn't hear back. If you are able to share any more context around that, I would definitely be interested, and it would be helpful anecdotal data to pass on to the team :)

Thanks,

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB

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[David Emelianov]

Hi Oliver, thanks for the reply!

For us, the primary business value of tracking install conversions through Google Analytics is so that we can link the data to Google Ads in order to automatically optimize our ad campaigns. This is a huge driver of our ad performance and frankly without it our google marketing campaigns aren’t sustainable. 

I must have missed your email - sorry about that! Will reply to you directly as well 👍

I believe what I outlined above qualifies as “automatic campaign optimization”, but please let me know if you are referring to something else. 

Could you elaborate on how we could leverage utm parameters for our use case? As far as I can tell, viewing the install attribution is possible today. The issue is our inability to link that data to other platforms (such as Google Ads)

Thanks,

David 

[Oliver Dunk]

Hey David,

Could you elaborate on how we could leverage utm parameters for our use case? As far as I can tell, viewing the install attribution is possible today. The issue is our inability to link that data to other platforms (such as Google Ads)

As you noted, you can use UTM parameters to see the attribution (e.g how many installs did you get from a specific ad). I just wanted to make sure you were aware of that. You're right that it isn't currently possible to link with other platforms. The team has definitely heard the feedback though.

I'll reply to your other email shortly :)

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB

[David Emelianov]

Hi Oliver, wanted to circle back here on the UTM parameter tracking issue.

We are seeing vastly different numbers from our Webstore Google Analytics dashboard vs what Google Ads is reporting. 

For example, we are running a Google Ad which points directly to our Webstore page with a UTM Campaign param set. The ad gets hundreds of clicks per day (all from Desktop devices), but our Webstore Google Analytics page is only showing 4 or 5 unique users visiting our Webstore page during the same time period.

Is there a known data discrepancy issue here, or are we doing something wrong? Happy to share screenshots or numbers if needed. 

PS: Really bummed to see that linking our Webstore Google Analytics account to our Google Ads account is still not supported. In the 6 months since this change was made (without any warning or explanation whatsoever), our ability to run effective Google Ad campaigns for our Chrome Extension business has completely cratered and our inbound traffic has been cut in half. Definitely something to consider if you're planning on building a business around Chrome Extensions in the future.

[Oliver Dunk]

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing - that definitely seems unexpected.

If there are any screenshots you are comfortable sharing (ideally in the mailing list, but privately is ok too) that would be great.

Also to confirm, has the ad been running for more than a week or so? In my experience Google Analytics data can definitely be delayed so anything more recent than a few days can be very patchy when it comes to representing all of the analytics that were gathered.

Thanks,

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB

[Jordan Gaston]

Hi Oliver,

This change has quite literally cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars.  We still have not received a straight answer about why this decision was made and what the benefits are.   Can you please tell us why developers are no longer able to own the analytics accounts connected to the WebStore?  If you don't know what will it take to find out?   Who do we need to talk to?

[Oliver Dunk]

Hi Jordan,

Unfortunately I don't think there's anything more I could share that would be the answer you are looking for.

I've shared your feedback with the team several times but ultimately this was a decision made as part of the migration to Google Analytics 4.

I definitely want to help you with the tracking issue David mentioned so please do share more details there when you're able to.

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB