The quarterly business review is upon us. We pull reports from Google Analytics 4, Search Console, Google Ads, and customer relationship management, and we find that none of them match. In fact, despite being connected to the same campaign and focus, they are quite different.
This is work done, data collected, and reported back to us from multiple platforms that are tracking for the same campaign, same time period, and yet giving us different numbers.
This isn’t a new issue, but in my experience, it’s becoming a bigger issue.
Privacy changes, continued attribution modeling challenges, platform silos, and even ways that they allow us to customize or configure for conversions contribute to the problem. And I’ve made it this far in writing this article before mentioning AI and LLM traffic that adds another layer of ambiguity.
The issue isn’t simply bad data. It is the fact that search data is coming from different systems that have different purposes. Those different purposes result in different tracking and collection methods, creating a maze or puzzle for us to try to piece together, often with pieces that don’t fit.
With this problem comes a business risk. Conflicting data can slow decision-making or create distractions from the most important decisions at hand, sending teams down detailed paths (and distractions) trying to make the data work and questioning it.
Sometimes, when metrics don’t align, this can signal a deeper issue in an over-reliance on channel-specific key performance indicators, a lack of shared definitions of success by stakeholders, and can create tension.
When SEO says traffic is up, paid search shows conversions are down, and the CRM pipeline data shows things are flat, we can get off into the territory of trying to figure out which one is right and where the gap is. Trying to “fix” the numbers until they match, though, is often the wrong reaction, as our approach should be rooted in understanding what each set of data is actually telling us to guide our strategies and decisions.
There are many factors that we can incorporate into our understanding, working with conflicting data, and even the acceptance of a problem that we can’t change, but must navigate.
Understand And Accept That Platforms Measure Different Things
Different platforms measure different things. Yes, they might sound the same, or be named the same thing in a report or as a KPI, but in many cases, they are tracked and measured in a fundamentally different way.
For example:
- GA4: Measures sessions, events, and modeled behavior, with own tag and collection method.
- Google Ads: Measures ad interactions and own platform measured and attributed conversions, with own tag and collection method.
- Search Console: Provides impressions, click data, and other anonymous and aggregated data, not directly tracked or sourced, the way that data is collected by GA4.
- CRM: Typically tracks actual visitors who have been identified and through opportunities, leads, and to/through revenue.
The differences in metrics, as well as collection methods, inherently will always result in different numbers and data points, which may or may not seem close to telling the same story.
Identify Common Causes Of Data Discrepancies
Beyond the basic metrics and KPIs, we want to go deeper and map out how performance looks overall. That means we have to get into attribution models. Those can be as simple as first touch, last click, or some other data-driven formula.
However, there might be obvious tracking gaps where forms, calls, or offline conversions occur that our systems can’t pick up. Plus, privacy changes related to consent mode, cookies that aren’t able to be leveraged, time lags (does anyone else have 50 tabs open for 100 days at a time like me?), and even cross-device search behavior.
Again, many of these are not new, but they seem to be amplified, and we can forget about them when looking at data without challenging assumptions or seeking what might be a gap or not collected.
My team has recently been in a fight against bots and spam, and we have been testing and navigating site-wide validation tools, which can create gaps in capturing referral headers or strip UTM parameters as well if not implemented properly.
Define Sources Of Truth And Hierarchy
With all the tech, tools, collection methods, and overall sources, we can have information overload and a whole host of conflicting sources that we’re working to understand and reconcile differences within.
I contend that not all data is equal when it comes to answering performance questions.
Example data that we’re seeking and key sources:
- Revenue & Pipeline: CRM.
- Leads: CRM, and/or trusted, validated platform conversion metrics.
- On-Site Behavior: GA4.
- Search Visibility: Search Console.
- Ad Performance: Google Ads, other native ad platforms.
A shift in thinking might be that we have to stop trying to make one platform answer every question. The perfectionist in me struggles with having to say that, but it is the reality of the data source and attribution world we live in.
Align Metrics To Business Outcomes
I know that many marketing leaders, teams, and agencies inherit metrics and historical performance data. It isn’t always easy to reconfigure KPIs, make quick changes, or to be able to start tracking and reporting on things differently.
Marketing may be accountable for channels and platforms, while sales (and/or other functions) are looking at things further downstream, like leads, pipeline, and ultimately revenue.
When it comes to search marketing, and where we’re going with being found as well in LLMs, centering more on the connection between search marketing and business outcomes (not channels) is important. This isn’t a new concept, but one that warrants focus and investment as it won’t get less important over the coming months and years. This is a priority area to put marketing leadership focus.
Create Consistent Definitions Across Roles & Teams
With different definitions, collection methods, platforms, and data sources different roles and teams look at, by default, we likely are speaking some of the same language, but with very different definitions.
It is hard enough to manage the data; it can be impossible to move forward when it comes to how data is used and interpreted for different purposes.
What is a “conversion”? What counts as a “qualified lead”? How is “revenue” tracked? What is the source of truth for how a lead “source” is defined?
Definitions are often a bigger driver of misalignment than the data itself.
Use Trends When Exact Matches Are Not Realistic
Assuming you have accepted the truth that we can’t make all the data sources perfectly match, we can still find meaning in the data we’re looking at.
That comes in what we see in terms of trends. Are things trending across sources and data points in the same direction? Are there spikes or drops that we see consistently across platforms and sources?
Comparing and contrasting anomalies, finding trends, and understanding them can help us identify where data doesn’t match and where the level of precision doesn’t have to be perfect as we look for consistency, direction, and the outcome of what happened.
Close The Gap Between Marketing And CRM
I still sometimes get looked at a little funny when working with the CRM administrator or decision maker who sits outside of marketing, when asking about non-digital marketing leads, data, and offline sources.
I advocate that, even if we’re just focused on digital or search marketing, we push for offline conversion imports, CRM feedback that is specific to the campaigns and channels/platforms that we’re focused on, and respective lead quality scoring.
We need to understand the business side of the data connected to our efforts in digital marketing and search. The better integrated the data, the more feedback we get, and the more collaboration of sources, the more impactful our efforts can be.
Educate Stakeholders On Why Data Won’t Match
In working with other C-suite leaders, executives, or stakeholders, you might find that they are used to a world of accounting, financial metrics, and more consistent data and absolutes. The fact that marketing data sources don’t match could be a big concern for them.
Keeping that in mind, it will serve you well to educate stakeholders and to prioritize their focus on what matters, the things we’ve unpacked already in this article.
It can derail a meeting fast when the numbers don’t match, don’t make sense, or create confusion. When the numbers can’t help connect the dots, they often create new questions, erode confidence, and take the conversation away from the overall business alignment and impact of the marketing efforts.
Develop The Performance Narrative, Not Just Dashboards
We naturally live in a world of dashboards with performance marketing, digital marketing, and search. We have the ability to track so much and have it all at our fingertips, sourcing from all of the various places we track and measure the impact of our work.
While it may be clear to you, looking at a complex dashboard, what the takeaways are, it will be confusing, distracting, and possibly misleading for everyone else.
Reporting shouldn’t just show numbers as it should explain what is happening, why, and what to do next. In your role in marketing leadership and subject matter expertise, your ability to shift from being a reporter of data to an interpreter of broader performance connected to strategy and business outcomes is a noble calling.
In Summary
Data conflicts and disagreements aren’t a flaw or evidence of an error (although you need to regularly audit to make sure you trust the collection and don’t have gaps). It is a reality of digital and search marketing.
When our varying roles, teams, and stakeholders understand this, we can shift our focus to the importance of mapping to business outcomes and leveraging our data for decisions, versus being distracted by the nuances of things that we can’t ultimately exact match and reconcile.
Our goal isn’t to make the numbers match. It is to be able to make informed and confident decisions to drive business outcomes and success.
More Resources:
- Beyond SEO: Why Search Data Is Powerful Market Intelligence Data
- How To Write SEO Reports That Get Attention From Your CMO
- How To Create A Marketing Measurement Plan For Accurate Data & Strategic Alignment
Featured Image: Accogliente Design/Shutterstock
