Google Analytics Unique Users — Difference Between Google Ads Clicks and Google Analytics Users

Have you ever thought that you kept of clicking the same ad and visit the same landing page every time? Google Analytics Unique Visitors is the number of unduplicated (counted only once) visitors to your website over the course of a specified time period.

For Example, if you browse to an advertisement regarding some sale while sitting in the office and browse it again when you get back to home. The overall users to that page is 2, but the unique user count is 1. That’s why Google Analytics Unique Users is a great metric to analyze the number.

Now, are you confused about “Clicks” on Google Ads and “Users” on Google Analytics? There are certain discrepancies in measuring clicks and users, but the wonderful thing about the shift to the internet is this:

“The beauty of online marketing is you can measure everything.”

This adage has been held high by many web agencies and digital employees for many years now, but we should keep in mind that when we measure with advanced tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads, it isn’t always straightforward.

Both Google Analytics and Google Ads are under the wider umbrella of Google but they work differently. This can cause many Account Managers to get frustrated or even question their core beliefs, especially when the two services disagree with each other. In this blog, we’re going to explore the main differences between these two tools and give you the insights you need to understand both.

1. What is a User in Google Analytics?

In Google Analytics, the metric “Users” is defined as “the total number of users for the requested time period”. Unless you have engaged the Google Analytics User-ID feature, a user is technically a unique Google Analytics Client ID, which anonymously identifies a browser instance. Users are being further categorized in 2 categories:

• New Users: New users are users who have never been to your website. When someone views your website, Google’s tracking snippet looks for a tracking cookie on their device. If the cookie is not present, Google creates one and considers this a ‘new’ user.
• Returning Users: Returning users have visited your site before. If Google tracking snippets find the cookie, Google considers this a ‘returning’ user and starts a new session.

Which metrics to be considered:

To measure users or unique users to your Google Ads. Focus on the metrics “Users” in you Google Analytics.

How to Measure Users in Google Analytics:

In order for Google Analytics to determine which traffic belongs to which user, a unique identifier associated with each user is sent with each hit. This identifier can be a single, first-party cookie named _ga that stores a Google Analytics client ID, or you can use the User-ID feature in conjunction with the client ID to more accurately identify users across all the devices they use to access your site or app.

So if you have 2 different browsers makes installed on a device, and visit the same website from both browsers your activity will be reported as 2 distinct Users in that website’s Audience Overview report. Users in the Audience Overview report includes both new (first-time) and returning Users.

2. What is an Ad Click?

Ad clicks is the total number of clicks on your ads. Whenever someone clicks on one of your ads, this will be recorded in your Google Ads account. This is then added to the total for that week. More clicks are usually a good sign, as it means more people are visiting your website from the ad.

How to Measure Clicks in Google Ads?

In Google Ads, marketers can measure the success of their ad campaigns by monitoring key metrics like clicks and click-through rate (CTR). The latter is a ratio that tells us the percentage of viewers that clicked on the ad. It’s calculated by this formula:

Number of clicks that your ad receives / Number of times your ad is shown

The shorter version is:

Clicks ÷ impressions = CTR.

For example, if your ad receives 15 clicks and had 100 impressions, then your CTR would be 15%.

3. The Differences between Clicks and Users:

It’s easy to assume that a click and a user are essentially one and the same thing. After all, when a user clicks on your ad, then users to your site it is being counted as one user.

However, there are some key differences to be aware of with these two metrics.

Clicks:

• This metric indicates the number of times users clicked on your ad.
• It’s possible for a visitor to click on the same ad several times, which results in several clicks being recorded in Google Ads.
• A user can visit a site by clicking on an ad for the first time, but thereafter, they may visit via a bookmark URL.
• Google Ads tracks genuine clicks and filters out any invalid clicks that are generated within.

Users:

• This metric indicates the number of unique sessions associated with each site visitor.
• A user made by a unique visitor is recorded only once in a single session in Google Analytics.
• If users come from ad clicks and bookmarks on different sessions, it can result in Google Analytics recording several users that seemingly result from a single click.
• Google Analytics tracks user and then displays all data without any filtering.

4. 3 Major Discrepancies in Measuring Clicks and Users

For the most part, the data in Google Ads and Google Analytics is considered consistent. That being said, there are a few circumstances in which the data can differ.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind.

• Clicks and Users are Different Metrics:

Google Ads tracks Clicks, while Google Analytics tracks Users. If a user clicks your ad twice in a 30-minute period without closing the browser, this will be registered by Google Analytics as one user. It doesn’t matter if the user left your site and returned ten minutes later. It’s quite common for people to click an ad, view the site briefly, and then click the back button to return to the search results. Shortly after, they may click your ad a second time. In this case, Google Ads registers two clicks, but Google Analytics registers just one user.

• Google Ads Filters Invalid Clicks But Google Analytics Shows All Data

While it seems like Google Analytics is picky about what it registers, the reports in Analytics actually show everything. Conversely, Google Ads filter clicks out of your reports. This is to get rid of invalid clicks or instances where people were repeatedly clicking on an ad to skew your cost-per-click (CPC) or click-through rate (CTR) metrics. Thankfully, you won’t be charged for these clicks, and Google Ads will filter them out so your report focuses on genuine actions.

• Conversion Rate Dissimilarity:

In Google Analytics, the conversion rate is the percentage of users that convert on at least one of the Goals you have defined for that view. This differs from the conversion rate in Google Ads, which refers to the percentage of clicks that result in a conversion. This is defined by the Google Ads Conversion Tracking code.

Wrap Up:

When you study the data in Google Ads and Google Analytics, it’s easy to be confused, especially if you notice a discrepancy between the number of clicks on your ads and the number of users to your site. Now that you understand what these two metrics are all about, and how they differ, you can perform a much better analysis. But many people still want to know the answer to the big question:

Just how many people were so engaged by your ad that they clicked on it to visit your website?

You can visit the PPCexpo website to run our Clicks Performance Report, which will give you insights on this influential metric.

Clicks are refereed to Google Ads when users interact with your ads and users are associated with your landing page when after clicking on the ad user visit the website. Users are measured in Google Analytics whereas clicks are measured in Google Ads reports.