Why Your Numbers Never AgreeMeta, Google Ads, GA4 and your shopMeta, Google Ads, GA4 and your shop

Four Tools. Four Numbers. Plain-language explainer on why Meta, Google Ads, GA4 and your own records never match, plus a one-page cheat sheet.

not an error

What you get (+1 bonus)

The ten reasons, one by one.
From attribution windows and report dates to double counting and lead-gen spam: what is happening, what it means for your orders or leads, and which gaps point to broken tracking.
Which number to trust for what.
A table that names the record for each question: your shop for orders and money, your lead list or CRM for real leads, each ad platform for comparing its own campaigns.
Two ways to check.
A five-rule like-for-like score for any comparison, and a monthly routine of 30 to 60 minutes with five numbers, three ratios, a change log and a table of likely suspects.
Where AI gets it wrong.
Why an assistant connected to Meta, Google Ads, GA4 and your shop adds the platforms together and sounds certain, plus four habits for using AI safely with marketing data.
The printable cheat sheet.
GA4, Google Ads, Meta, your shop and your lead list or CRM side by side, showing how each one counts a conversion, from attribution window to report date and time zone.
+1 bonus
An AI skill for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot
that walks the ten reasons for two numbers that disagree and says how much of the gap each one explains in your own numbers.

Free · about 15 seconds

Who it's for, and who it's not for

A shop owner at a kitchen table on a Monday morning compares a printed order list with a laptop screen, pen in hand.

Who it's for

Owners and decision makers who run Google and Meta ads and keep getting different answers to "how many sales or leads did we get?"
Online shops on Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, OpenCart, Shopware and others, and lead-gen businesses that count forms, calls and bookings. Both get equal space.
Agencies and freelancers who report these numbers to clients and want a plain-language way to explain why the platforms and the shop or lead list disagree.

Who it's not for

Analysts who already reconcile every platform against the store or CRM in a data warehouse. You'll know most of what's in it.
Anyone who wants one number that settles every question. The explainer shows which source answers which question, because no single tool, your shop included, answers them all.

What's inside

PDF · About 30 min read

Honest note

The explainer can't see your accounts or give you a target gap. Your normal comes from your own history, month by month. Every example in it is illustrative, not data from a real business, and platform facts were checked on 7 October 2026, so check the settings in your own accounts. If a ratio jumps and your change log doesn't explain it, hand it to whoever implements your tracking.

Free · about 15 seconds