How to troubleshoot Google Ads sync issues

Google Ads sync issues fall into a handful of buckets. This checklist runs through them in order so you can get from “something’s off” to a working sync in fifteen minutes.

Before you start

Have these tabs open:

• SourceLoop’s Google Ads card at Setup -> Ad Platforms -> Google Ads
• Google Ads at Tools -> Conversions (for verifying conversion actions)
• Google Ads at Tools -> API Center (for checking API quota usage)
• SourceLoop’s Activation -> Conversion sync page, for each sync’s status and recent sends

Step 1: Check the connection status

1. Open Setup -> Ad Platforms -> Google Ads in SourceLoop.
2. Look at the card:
   • Active with recent Last sync → healthy
   • Active with stale Last sync (>24 hours) → Insights sync stuck
   • Token expired → reconnect needed
   • Disconnected → run the Connect flow

Step 2: For ‘Token expired’ / ‘Disconnected’

1. Click Reconnect.
2. Sign in to Google with a user that has Standard access or higher on the Google Ads account.
3. Authorise the adwords scope.
4. Pick the same Google Ads account in the picker.
5. The card flips to Active.

If reconnect fails immediately:

• “User not authorized” → the Google user doesn’t have Standard+ access on the Google Ads account. Switch to a user that does.
• “Invalid customer ID” → rare; happens if the Google Ads account was renamed or transferred. Email [email protected] with the Customer ID.

Step 3: For ‘conversions not showing in Google Ads’

This is the most common case. Walk through these checks:

1. Open Activation -> Conversion sync in SourceLoop. Each sync shows a status:
   • Sending or Ready: working
   • Needs setup: something is missing, usually the conversion action. Open the sync and pick one under Send as.
   • Reconnect: the Google connection needs approving again (see Step 2)
   • Failing: Google is rejecting sends. Open the sync to see the error.
   • Paused: switch it back on from the syncs table
2. Open the sync and look at Recent sends. Each person is listed with what Google matched on and whether it was:
   • Sent: Google has it. Allow a few hours for it to appear in Google Ads.
   • Waiting for an email or click: the person has no Google click and no email or phone yet, so there’s nothing for Google to match.
   • Too old to send: the click is older than Google accepts for that conversion action.
   • Failed: Google rejected it. The error is shown on the row.

Common errors and fixes:

• Conversion action not found → the action was removed or changed in Google Ads. Open the sync and pick the action again under Send as.
• Conversion precedes click → the conversion time is before the click. Usually clears up on the next send.
• Conversion too old → outside the conversion action’s click-through window, up to 90 days. Nothing to fix.

Step 4: For ‘most sends are waiting for a click’

If most recent sends are waiting for an email or click, Google clicks aren’t being captured. Two checks:

1. Tracking code placement. Make sure the SourceLoop tracking code is on every page that receives Google Ads traffic, especially landing pages. The click ID arrives on the landing page, not the checkout page.
2. Auto-tagging. Click one of your ads and check the destination URL for a gclid= parameter. If it’s missing, turn on auto-tagging in Google Ads under Admin -> Account settings.

Once clicks are captured, new conversions go out with them. When SourceLoop also has the person’s email or phone, it sends them hashed so Google can match people whose click was lost.

Step 5: For ‘developer token approval required’

This means your Google Ads account’s API operations exceeded SourceLoop’s Basic Developer Token tier limit. Rare for most accounts, but possible for very large advertisers.

1. Note the error shown on the sync in Activation -> Conversion sync.
2. Email [email protected] with the subject “Developer token upgrade” and your Customer ID.
3. We submit a Standard Tier upgrade request to Google with our use case; approval usually takes 5-7 business days.
4. During the wait, SourceLoop continues to push conversions for accounts under the Basic tier limit; only the over-limit account is affected.

Step 6: For ‘Insights data not updating’

If campaign / ad group / ad spend and impressions look stale in SourceLoop:

1. Check the last sync timestamp on the Google Ads card. Insights sync is daily at 05:00 UTC. Within 24 hours is normal.
2. Check Google Ads quota. At Google Ads -> Tools -> API Center, look at the daily API operation count. If you’re near the quota, other tools are consuming it; investigate which.

How to disconnect or reset

If you want to start again:

• Hard reset (disconnect entirely): see Disconnect Google Ads from SourceLoop.

When to email support

If you’ve worked through the checklist and conversions still aren’t pushing correctly, email [email protected] with:

• The Google Ads card’s current status
• Two or three error messages from the sync’s Recent sends (verbatim)
• Your Google Ads Customer ID (visible on the Google Ads card)
• The name of the sync and the conversion action it sends to

We respond within one business day.