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Which platform should I trust when GA4, Facebook, and Google Ads all show different numbers?

ga4 facebook google ads different numbers which analytics to trust attribution platforms mismatch woocommerce source of truth cross-platform attribution

Quick Answer

Your WooCommerce order database is the only unbiased source of truth. GA4 is your most conservative cross-channel view. Facebook Ads Manager reports Facebook's self-attributed efficiency. Google Ads reports its own click-to-conversion influence. Use all three together — none replaces the others, and none will ever fully match.

Full Answer

All three are simultaneously correct and incomplete. Facebook reports 26% higher conversions on average than analytics tools due to modeled view-through attribution (Varos, 2024). Google Ads over-attributes by 15–20% when Enhanced Conversions modeling activates. GA4 underreports paid conversions by 18–35% when cookies are blocked. The framework: use your WooCommerce order count as ground truth, then measure each platform's self-reported number to calculate a tracking gap per platform. A critical hidden issue: GA4 data-driven attribution requires 400+ monthly conversions to activate — most WooCommerce SMBs never hit that threshold, so GA4 silently falls back to last-click with no warning. Server-side tracking ensures all platforms receive the same event data; discrepancies then become attribution methodology differences, not unexplained data gaps.

Sources

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Cherry Tree by Seresa - https://seresa.io/seed/ad-performance-data-gaps/which-analytics-platform-to-trust