Question from user:
I really want to know which ads are sending converting visitors, but we have no way of establishing conversions without salesforce data.
If someone has a solution that links Salesforce data to Google Analytics as well, that would be great. It would be super useful to view the traffic patterns of converting prospects.
We looked at doing it through Pardot without much luck. It would be awesome because we could use dynamic lists. So that’s another thing I would be interested in if anyone has any ideas.
Thanks in advance for sharing your insights!
Answer from Nabil:
I see you’re looking for a robust way to link your Salesforce data to Google Ads and Google Analytics to track conversions and visitor patterns.
The most effective, modern approach involves leveraging the APIs of all these platforms, along with Google Tag Manager and a server-side solution, rather than relying solely on out-of-the-box connectors which often lack the flexibility and granularity you need.
A short summary is that the best solution to connect Salesforce and Google Ads, and also Google Analytics, for accurate conversion tracking and prospect traffic analysis is by using the Salesforce API, Account Engagement API, Google Ads API, and Google Analytics Data API, managed through Google Tag Manager and a server-side tagging platform like Stape or Google Cloud Platform.
To address your goal of seeing which ads drive conversions, a better solution involves using the native APIs to create a comprehensive, server-side tracking infrastructure.
You’d use the Salesforce API to extract conversion data, associating it with a unique ID you’ve also collected on the front end, often through a form submission.
For instance, once a lead converts to a customer in Salesforce, you use the Salesforce API to pull that event.
If you are using Pardot (now Account Engagement), the Account Engagement API can be used to capture lead activities and link them back to your Salesforce records, which is crucial for dynamic list management and understanding the pre-conversion journey.
This conversion event is then sent server-side to the Google Ads API using a server-side tagging solution like Stape or through a custom setup in Google Cloud Platform.
Sending it server-side for Google Ads Conversion Import ensures greater accuracy and circumvents many of the browser-based tracking limitations, providing the clean data you need to know which ads are working.
You would map your Salesforce conversion event to a Google Ads Standard Event like purchase or lead.
This method is much more reliable for closing the loop on conversions and is better than relying on client-side tracking, which can be easily blocked.
For connecting to Google Analytics and viewing the traffic patterns of converting prospects, you would use a similar server-side approach.
The Google Analytics Data API can be used to pull reporting data, but more relevant to your goal is sending the conversion event to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) using the Measurement Protocol, again via Stape or Google Cloud Platform, after the conversion is recorded in Salesforce.
This allows you to log the conversion and link it back to the original Google Ads click ID (GCLID) and other tracking parameters captured by Google Tag Manager on the initial visit.
GA4 events like generate_lead or purchase are ideal here.
The Google Analytics Data API is also valuable for reporting, letting you extract the granular data necessary to merge with your Salesforce records for advanced analysis outside of the GA interface, which helps in seeing the full traffic patterns of those converting prospects as you wished.
Google Tag Manager (GTM) is central to this because it manages the front-end data collection (like the GCLID and user IDs) and is used to deploy the server-side tagging container (Stape or Google Cloud Platform).
GTM acts as the control layer, ensuring that the necessary identifiers are captured and consistently available for the server-side process, where the real work of linking the APIs happens.
This complex but superior method provides a full, reliable, and privacy-compliant loop, solving your problem of not being able to establish conversions without Salesforce data and giving you the traffic insights you need.
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