How can publishers benefit from connecting Google Ad Manager (GAM) and Google Analytics 4(GA4)?

Nowadays, there are plenty of tools that help Publishers to analyze their site performance and user experience. Considering that the value of quality content is increasing day by day, Google Analytics, which provides detailed information about site content and user behavior, comes to a very important position. At this point, we can say that connecting Google Analytics and the Google Ad Manager platform where publishers manage ad serving and monetization has many benefits. However, to make this connection, it is necessary to have both GAM 360 and GA 360 platforms. 

Many medium and small-volume publishers do not have a GA 360 account. However, publishers can still make GAM connections to their GA4-enabled accounts without having a GA360 account and take advantage of this feature in a more limited way. So, how can publishers make this connection?

Prerequisites

It is necessary to meet a few prerequisites to connect GAM and GA4.

*Firstly, your GA account must have separate GA4 property.

* The user must have admin access to the GAM account.

*The user needs to have at least editor access on GA4.

* Google tags must be served on the site.

Apart from these, to see app data;

*Firebase SDK must be added to the app.

*App must be added to Firebase.

How to Integrate?

GAM and GA4 integration are quite easy after the prerequisites we mentioned in the previous section are met. 

You should enable this feature on GAM by following the steps below;

        Admin >Global Settings>Network Settings>Report Settings>        Google Analytics 4 property reports in Ad Manager reporting>Click “Confirm”

After activation, it should appear as follows.

Now it’s time to connect accounts. You can link your chosen account by following the steps below.
Admin>Linked Accounts> Google Analytics 4 property links>Click “New property link”

When you follow the order above, you can see the accounts for which your GAM email address is authorized and select the account you want to connect. If you’re not able to see the account, you should check that you have admin access in GAM and editor access or a higher access role in GA4.

Dipnot: Be aware that anyone with reporting access in GA4 can access this linked data.

Dipnot2: GAM and GA4 connection are ordinarily free but additional charges may apply. Therefore it is useful to check your contract.

Use Cases & Benefits

After the connection, when users follow the GA4 Reports>Life Cycle>Monetization>Publisher ads tabs, they will be able to run reports for their websites according to the following metrics and dimensions and see them graphically.

Dimensions Metrics
Ad Unit Publisher ad impressions
Page path and screen class Publisher ad clicks
Ad Format Total ad revenue
Ad Source Ad unit exposure

Publishers will be able to access very valuable metric and dimension data about monetization without being overwhelmed with detailed reports. In this way, publishers will be able to easily determine their strategies to increase revenue and take action without wasting time.

Page Path: 

You can see how much income you have earned from which pages by using this dimension. In this way, you can find out which category, style, and format content brings more, and you can create your content planning strategy accordingly.

Ad Unit:

Publishers will be able to see how many impressions and clicks their ad units have received and how much revenue they have earned from these ad units. In this way, they will be able to identify better-performing ad units and make their placements and their page layouts accordingly.

Ad Source: 

You can see how much income you have earned from which ad network and compare performance. Thanks to this dimension.  But you should not forget that many different factors affect performance.

Ad Format:

Publishers can determine which ad formats are efficient and use more of these types of ads on their pages. On the contrary, they can remove underperforming formats from their pages. In this way, they can achieve a significant increase in overall page performance.