Analytics / Spy

Four numbers for one month in Google Ads: served cost, billed cost, the Cost column and the bank charge. A 40-minute routine and what to demand in reporting.

Seven reasons Looker Studio drifts from the Google Ads UI, a three-layer dashboard build, calculated fields, Extract Data limits and a 12-point checklist.

Rows vanish, demographics come back blank, last year’s cohorts refuse to build. Here is how GA4 thresholds and retention hide paid traffic data — and how to get the numbers back.

The full list of Google Ads segments, the 12 breakdowns that most often reverse a conclusion, why columns fill with dashes, and the September 2026 changes.

How to load non-Google ad spend into GA4: required fields, join keys, limits, platform connectors and the tagging mistakes that quietly destroy match rate.

Raw events instead of GA4 aggregates: export types, the one-million-event ceiling, the schema that matters and six working queries for paid traffic analysis.

Why Google Ads and GA4 never report the same conversions: nine causes ranked by contribution, the normal range, a diagnostic order and a worked example.

On September 22, 2026 Shopify stores were auto-enrolled in checkout inside AI Mode. Orders arrive, GA4 stays silent. Here is the mechanics and the measurement fix.

Google Ads is down to two attribution models in 2026. Here is what changed, why your bidding trains on it, and how to stop comparing incomparable periods.

Google now reports how many conversions your first-party data setup recovers. Here is what that number really counts and how to verify it against your own CRM.

A practical guide to Meridian MMM in 2026: the data a model needs, how to calibrate it with experiments, what QFC changes — and when MMM is the wrong tool.

Looker Studio is Data Studio again, location fields stopped working in May, and the Google Ads connector gained profit metrics. Here is what to fix and how.