Connect Google Ads and GA4

Google Ads and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) are two separate connectors in nod. They use different Google OAuth clients, so connecting one does not connect the other. This guide covers both.

tl;dr

• Both connectors live at Settings → Data sources, under Advertising (Google Ads) and Analytics (GA4).
• Both connect by OAuth only — there's no paste-key option for either.
• Google Ads gives you spend and campaign performance; GA4 gives you read-only web analytics (sessions, users, revenue as GA4 measures it).
• Connecting or reconnecting either one requires the workspace Admin role.
• Google Ads campaign data syncs once a day; expect a short delay before numbers appear.

1. Connect Google Ads

Go to Settings → Data sources and find the Google Ads card, under Advertising. The card reads "Connect Google Ads to pick an account."

Click Connect and complete the Google OAuth flow. Once nod. has access, the card expands into an account picker: "Connected. Pick the Google Ads account nod. should read." Select the customer account you want nod. to report on.

2. Connect GA4

Find the Google Analytics 4 card, under Analytics. It uses its own OAuth client, separate from Google Ads, so you'll authorize it independently even if you've already connected Google Ads.

After OAuth completes, pick the GA4 property in the card. GA4 is read-only in nod. — it feeds analytics data in, nothing flows back to Google Analytics.

What each connector gives you

Google Ads brings in campaign performance and spend from the account you selected, synced once a day.

GA4 brings in web analytics: sessions, users, key events, and GA4's own on-site revenue figure. Treat GA4 revenue as a separate number from your Shopify revenue — GA4 measures what happened on your site, not what Shopify recorded as an order. The two will disagree, and that's expected, not a bug.

What happens next

Google Ads campaign data refreshes once a day via a scheduled sync — it's a daily snapshot, not real-time. If you connect mid-day, expect the first full sync to land the following day.

GA4 is read live when you view reporting or ask the nod. agent for analytics, rather than on a fixed daily job.

Even with both connected, Google Ads can show as connected but not yet reporting. This happens for one of two reasons: the developer token needed to read your account hasn't been set up on nod.'s side, or you haven't picked a customer account in the card yet. Either way, treat empty Google Ads data as "not ready," not as zero spend or zero performance.

Common pitfalls

Card shows "Reconnect" instead of "Connected." Google's OAuth access has expired or been revoked on Google's side. Click Reconnect and complete the OAuth flow again, then confirm the right account is still selected in the card.

Only an Admin can connect, disconnect, or reconnect. If you're a Member on the workspace, you'll see "Only workspace admins can connect data sources." Ask a workspace Admin to complete the connection; once connected, everyone on the workspace can see the status.

Google Ads is connected but shows no data. Check that you've selected a customer account in the card. If you have and data is still empty, the account may not be fully set up on nod.'s side yet — this isn't something you can fix from the card; contact support.

GA4 revenue doesn't match Shopify or your attribution numbers. That's expected — see Why your numbers differ from Meta, Shopify, and GA4. GA4 is one more read of the same activity, not a source of truth to reconcile everything else against.

For adding UTM parameters so Google Ads clicks carry attribution data into nod., see Add nod. URL parameters to your ads.