How to Enable Google Ad Services

Thinking about using Google Ads to attract new customers? You're in the right place. Setting up your account is the first step, but the real power comes from connecting it to other services that show you what happens after someone clicks your ad. This guide will walk you through enabling the core Google Ads services and linking them to your analytics for a complete, accurate picture of your marketing performance.

First, What Are We Talking About?

“Google Ad Services” isn't one single thing, it’s a network of tools that work together. At its core is Google Ads, the platform where you build and run advertising campaigns. These can be ads that appear in Google search results, banner ads on websites, video ads on YouTube, or product listings in Google Shopping.

Enabling these services correctly means setting up campaigns, but more importantly, it means putting the right tracking in place. Without proper tracking, you're just measuring clicks - not sales, leads, or sign-ups. By connecting Google Ads to tools like Google Analytics, you can track the entire customer journey, from the first ad they see to the final purchase they make on your website. This is how you understand your return on investment (ROI) and make smart decisions about your ad spend.

Step 1: Get Your Google Ads Account Ready

Before you can link anything, you need a Google Ads account. Getting this set up is straightforward and takes just a few minutes.

Create Your Account in Expert Mode

When you start setting up your account, Google will try to guide you through its simplified “Smart Campaign” flow. While this seems helpful, it significantly limits your control. We recommend switching to "Expert Mode" right away.

Go to ads.google.com and click "Start now."
Sign in with your Google account. If you use Google Analytics or Google Business Profile, use the same account to keep things simple.
On the first few screens where it asks about your advertising goal, look for a small link at the bottom that says "Switch to Expert Mode." Click it. This gives you access to all campaign types and features.
Even in Expert Mode, it will ask you to create a campaign. Don't worry about getting it perfect just yet. You can either follow the prompts or look for an option to "Create an account without a campaign."
Finally, you'll be asked to confirm your business information, including your country, time zone, and currency. Enter your billing information to activate the account. You won't be charged until your ads start running.

Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll have access to the main Google Ads dashboard. Now, we can move on to the most important part: connecting your data.

Step 2: Link Google Ads with Google Analytics 4

This is the single most important integration you will perform. Linking Ads and Analytics lets you see how visitors who click your ads behave on your website. Did they make a purchase? Fill out a form? How long did they stay? Without this link, you're flying blind, spending money on clicks without knowing if they lead to actual business results.

Linking the two allows you to:

View Google Ads campaign data directly within your GA4 reports.
Import conversions from GA4 into Google Ads to optimize your campaigns.
Build powerful remarketing lists in GA4 to use in Google Ads campaigns (e.g., targeting users who abandoned their carts).

You can initiate the link from either platform. Here’s how to do it from Google Ads, which is often easier.

How to Link Accounts from Google Ads

In your Google Ads dashboard, click on "Tools & Settings" (the wrench icon) in the top menu.
Under the "Setup" column, select "Linked accounts."
You'll see a list of Google products. Find "Google Analytics & Firebase" and click the "Details" button.
A list of GA4 properties associated with your Google account will appear. Find the property for your website and, under the "Actions" column, click "Link."
A side panel will appear. Make sure to turn on two critical settings:
- Import Google Analytics audiences after linking: This allows you to use audience lists created in GA4 (like "visitors who spent more than 3 minutes on the site") for your ad campaigns.
- Enable auto-tagging: This is non-negotiable. Auto-tagging automatically adds a unique ID (the gclid parameter) to the end of your ad's URL. This is how GA4 recognizes the traffic came from a specific Google Ads campaign, ad group, and keyword. Without it, your reporting will be incomplete and inaccurate.
Click "Link," and you're all set. It can take up to 24 hours for the data to begin syncing between the two platforms.

Step 3: Enable Conversion Tracking

Now that your accounts are linked, it's time to tell Google Ads what success looks like. This is done through conversion tracking. A "conversion" is any valuable action a user takes on your website: a purchase, a lead form submission, a newsletter signup, or even just a key page view.

By tracking conversions, you allow Google's AI to optimize your campaigns. Instead of just trying to get the most clicks for your budget, it will actively try to find people who are most likely to complete the actions that matter to your business.

Since you've already linked Google Analytics, the best and most consistent way to track conversions is by importing them directly from GA4.

Importing Conversions From Google Analytics 4

This method ensures that both platforms are using the same definition of a conversion, keeping your data consistent.

First, Mark Events as Conversions in GA4

In your GA4 property, go to Admin (the gear icon at the bottom left).
In the "Data Display" column, click on Events. Here you'll see a list of all events being tracked on your site (e.g., page_view, view_item, add_to_cart).
Find the event you want to count as a conversion, like purchase or generate_lead. Turn on the toggle switch in the "Mark as conversion" column.

Now, this event will show up in your main conversion reports in GA4, and it's eligible to be imported into Google Ads.

Next, Import the Conversion into Google Ads

Click "Tools & Settings" in the top menu.
Under the "Measurement" column, select "Conversions."
Click the "+ New conversion action" button.
Select the "Import" option.
Choose "Google Analytics 4 properties," and then select "Web."
You'll see a list of the GA4 conversion events you just enabled. Check the box next to the ones you want to import (e.g., purchase).
Click "Import and continue."

Your conversion action is now set up in Google Ads. When you create new campaigns, you can tell Google to optimize for that specific conversion, ensuring your budget is spent getting you more of what matters most.

Step 4: Connect Other Relevant Services

Beyond Google Analytics, you can empower your ad account by connecting it to other platforms. The ones that matter depend on your business model.

For E-commerce: Google Merchant Center

If you sell physical products, Google Merchant Center (GMC) is essential. This is where you upload your product catalog - including names, prices, images, and inventory. By linking GMC with Google Ads, you can run powerful Shopping ads and Performance Max campaigns that showcase your products directly in search results.

You can link these accounts from the "Linked accounts" section in Google Ads, similar to how you linked GA4. You’ll be prompted to request the link, which you'll then need to approve in your Merchant Center account.

For Video Content Marketers: Your YouTube Channel

If you're using video ads on YouTube, linking your channel gives you more capabilities. It allows you to build remarketing lists based on user interactions, such as who watched certain videos, subscribed to your channel, or liked your content. This lets you serve targeted follow-up ads to an already-engaged audience.

For Local Businesses: Google Business Profile

If you have a physical location like a store or a restaurant, link your Google Business Profile. This enables "location assets" (formerly extensions), which can show your address, phone number, and hours directly in your search ads. It also powers Local campaigns designed to drive foot traffic to your storefront.

Final Thoughts

Setting up Google Ad services is more than clicking a button to launch a campaign. It’s about building an interconnected system where your ad platform and your analytics tools speak the same language. By linking Google Ads to GA4 and correctly defining your conversions, you move from guesswork to a data-driven strategy, allowing you to confidently invest in campaigns that deliver real results.

Once everything is connected and data is flowing, the next challenge is making sense of it all. Constantly jumping between your Google Analytics tab, your Google Ads dashboard, and your e-commerce platform just to put together a full picture of performance is time-consuming. We built Graphed to solve this exact problem. By connecting your tools to us one time, you can instantly build reports and get answers using plain English. Simply ask, "Compare my ad spend versus revenue on Google ads" or "What's my click-through rate and cost per conversion this month?" and get a live, automated dashboard in seconds, freeing you up to focus on strategy, not spreadsheets.