How to connect Google Ads, read only.
That Other Dashboard reads your Google Ads spend and results so it can put them next to your real Shopify sales. You don't log in to Google through the app or share a password. Instead you add our reports address to your Google Ads account as a Read only user, the same way you would add a freelancer, and tell the app which account to read.
Connecting Google Ads is part of That Other Dashboard's paid plans, which start with a 14 day free trial. You need to be an admin on the Google Ads account to add a user.
1. Add our reports address to Google Ads
- Sign in to Google Ads and open the account that runs your ads.
- Click Admin (the cog in the left hand menu), then Access and security.
- On the Users tab, press the blue + button.
- Paste this address (tap it to select it all):reports@that-other-dashboard
.iam.gserviceaccount.com - Choose Read only as the access level, then send the invitation.
Read only is all That Other Dashboard needs, and all it should ever have. It can see your reports but can't change a campaign, a budget or your billing. The address belongs to a Google service account that only That Other Dashboard can sign in as, so there is no password anyone could guess or reuse.
2. Find your customer ID
Your customer ID is the 10 digit number Google Ads shows at the top of the screen, next to your account name, written like 123-456-7890. You can paste it with or without the dashes.
If you look after more than one account, make sure it is the ID of the account that actually spends money, not a manager account above it. Manager accounts have no figures of their own, and the app will tell you so if you paste one.
3. Paste it into That Other Dashboard
- Open That Other Dashboard in your Shopify admin and scroll to the Data sources panel.
- Press Connect next to Google Ads.
- Paste your customer ID into the box and press Save.
The app checks it can see the account, then reads your recent history in the background. Your spend, MER, cost per order and every ad fill in on the dashboard within a few minutes. After that the figures refresh in the background whenever you open the dashboard, at most once an hour.
If an agency runs your Google Ads
Agencies usually manage clients from a manager account. In that case the agency can add our reports address to its manager account instead, with Read only access, and you paste the customer ID of your own account (the one under the manager). The first time it reads, That Other Dashboard finds its way through the manager account and remembers the route.
Adding the address to your own account works just as well and keeps it under your control. Either is fine; you only need one.
What That Other Dashboard reads
- Daily totals: spend, impressions, clicks, conversions and conversion value for the whole account, across every campaign type.
- Every ad: the same figures for each ad. Performance Max has no single ads, so it shows each asset group under its campaign instead. Search ads usually have no name of their own, so they show their first two headlines.
- The account's details: its name, currency and time zone.
It never writes to Google Ads. If you disconnect Google Ads in That Other Dashboard, every figure it read from Google is deleted. To stop it reading at any time, remove the reports address in Access and security.
Two things worth knowing when you compare figures with Google Ads itself. Google reports days in the account's own time zone, which can differ from your store's. And Google's Conversions column counts every action marked as primary, so if you have add to cart or sign up actions set as primary, the purchase count will be too high. For most online shops, Purchase should be the only primary conversion.
If it doesn't connect
- "We can't see Google Ads account ... yet." Check the address was added to that account (or the manager above it) and is listed as Read only. Google can take a few minutes to pass a new user on, so wait five minutes and press Save again.
- "That doesn't look like a Google Ads customer ID." It needs all 10 digits. Copy it from the top of Google Ads rather than typing it.
- "... is a manager account." Paste the ID of the account that runs your ads instead.
- Google Ads shows Reconnect. Someone has removed the reports address from the account. Add it again with Read only access, then press Reconnect.
Common questions
Is it safe to add a user to my Google Ads?
Yes, as long as you choose Read only. A Read only user can see reports but can't change campaigns, budgets, users or billing. You can remove it at any time in Admin, then Access and security.
Do I have to give you my Google password?
No. You add our reports address as a user on your account, so there is nothing to log in with and no password changes hands.
Why does Google Ads show different numbers from Shopify?
Google counts the conversions it credits to its ads, on the day of the click, using its own attribution. Shopify counts every order. That is why That Other Dashboard puts both side by side and works out MER from your Shopify sales. Our guide to MER against ROAS explains the gap.