Question from user:
Hi there, my team is starting a new project to sync Google Ads with Pardot. I’ve been able to set up the connector, and I see that the info surrounding my Ad campaigns is showing up in the system, however I’m hoping someone can help clarify a few things as I’ve been able to find very little documentation surrounding the specifics here (I’m new to Pardot)
- I’m able to see that in Pardot reports I am receiving visitors, but no prospects or leads, it seems like I might have missed a step in ensuring that inbound leads are properly captured. Any ideas as to where I should look?
- I’m also noting that although I can see campaigns, there is no info in the Cost / Prospect column, should the data surrounding the cost of the campaign clicks for visitors be showing up?
Answer from Nabil:
That’s a great project, and it sounds like you’re hitting the typical early hurdles with the Google Ads and Pardot (now Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) connector.
To summarize: you’re likely not seeing prospects because the connector tracks ad performance but doesn’t automatically create prospects for every ad click or visitor; that happens when a visitor converts on a Pardot form or landing page.
The missing cost data in the Cost / Prospect column is common, as the native connector often doesn’t fully sync granular cost-per-click data to the prospect record level, but rather aggregates it at the campaign level, and only when a prospect is tied to a click.
It’s completely understandable that you’re seeing visitors but no prospects or leads.
The native Google Ads connector primarily links the ad campaign to the prospect record after a conversion has already occurred and the visitor has been identified as a prospect (e.g., they filled out a Pardot form).
It provides the initial campaign tracking parameter (gclid) which is stored in a cookie.
When that visitor submits a form, Pardot converts them to a prospect and associates that prospect with the Google Ads campaign via the gclid, allowing you to report on the campaign performance for that specific prospect.
If visitors are coming to your site but not filling out a Pardot form or using another Pardot-tracked conversion method, they remain anonymous visitors and do not turn into prospects.
To capture those inbound leads, you need to ensure all your conversion points – all forms, landing pages, and potentially even specific button clicks that signify a lead – are being tracked by Pardot, usually through a Pardot form handler, a Pardot landing page, or the appropriate tracking code on your external forms that captures the gclid and associates it with the submission.
Regarding the missing data in the Cost / Prospect column, the native integration often lacks the ability to reliably pull the precise, per-click cost data from Google Ads and correctly attribute it to every individual prospect in a way that allows for granular reporting on Cost / Prospect.
The data that is synced usually focuses on aggregate campaign performance metrics that help with high-level reporting on the campaign object, not the detailed financial breakdown at the individual prospect level.
Getting accurate Cost / Prospect metrics usually requires a more sophisticated setup because it involves combining impression, click, and cost data from Google Ads with the conversion and prospect data from Account Engagement.
For a more robust and accurate solution that reliably captures every inbound lead and correctly links granular cost data, a custom approach is generally better.
This involves using the Salesforce API (which Account Engagement is built on) and the Account Engagement API, along with the Google Ads API, Google Tag Manager (GTM), and a server-side solution like Stape or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
The basic idea is that when a user clicks an ad, GTM captures the gclid and sends a server-side event to your server (Stape / GCP).
That server-side setup can then use the Account Engagement API to create or update the prospect record with the gclid and other relevant ad data upon conversion.
Crucially, the Google Ads API can be used to pull the precise cost data for those clicks.
This three-way API connection – Salesforce/Account Engagement for the lead data, Google Ads for the cost data, and your server for the data orchestration – allows you to match the exact cost of the click that generated the lead to the specific prospect record.
This setup ensures you have a more complete picture, capturing leads reliably and populating those critical Cost / Prospect fields with accurate, granular data, which is far beyond the capabilities of the native connector.
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