Google Ads issue affected a significant subset of users, now resolved

This bug impacted Google Ads conversions that use non-First/Last Click attribution models, such as Data Driven Attribution.

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Google has confirmed an issue with Google Ads that is “affecting a significant subset of users,” the company posted on the Google Ads status dashboard. Google updated the dashboard to say the issue is now resolved.

The notice. Google posted at 3:22pm ET “we’re aware of a problem with Google Ads affecting a significant subset of users. We will provide an update by Dec 22, 2021, 1:00 AM UTC detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change. The affected users are able to access Google Ads, but may not have access to the most recent data.”

What is the issue. Google wrote that the Google Ads conversions that use non-First/Last Click attribution models, such as Data Driven Attribution, may be delayed up to 24 hours.

Simon Poulton complained about this on Twitter saying “seems like there might be some conversion pipeline latency / undercounting going on with Google Ads today.”

It seems like this is just a reporting issue and hopefully Google will be able to restore that data.

Fixed. Shortly after posting this story, Google updated the status to report the issue is resolved. Google wrote “the problem with Google Ads has been resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. The affected users are able to access Google Ads, but may not have access to the most recent data.” “Conversions delayed by this incident, those making use of non-First/Last Click attribution models, are now present in Google Ads,” Google added.

Why we care. If you are noticing lagging reports, specifically around conversion data that use non-first and lack click attribution models, do not worry, this is a confirmed Google bug.

Google is working on resolving the issue and hopefully Google will be able to back fill the data.


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a technologist and a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics.

In 2019, Barry was awarded the Outstanding Community Services Award from Search Engine Land, in 2018 he was awarded the US Search Awards the "US Search Personality Of The Year," you can learn more over here and in 2023 he was listed as a top 50 most influential PPCer by Marketing O'Clock.

Barry can be followed on X here and you can learn more about Barry Schwartz over here or on his personal site.

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