Are my ad platforms telling me the truth?
Google says your ads generated $38,000. Meta says $29,000. Your books show $52,000 total revenue. Somebody is lying. Here's how to find out who and by how much.
The short answer
No, they are not. Not exactly. Every ad platform has an incentive to take credit for as many conversions as possible. Google, Meta, TikTok, and every other platform use attribution models that favor their own ads. The only way to know the truth is to compare their claims against your actual revenue in your accounting software.
Why every ad platform overcounts, and how it costs you money
Ad platforms are not trying to scam you. But their attribution models are designed to show their ads in the best possible light. Google Ads uses a last-click attribution model by default, which means if a customer clicked a Google ad before purchasing, Google takes full credit for that sale, even if the customer already knew about you from a Facebook ad they saw three days earlier.
Meta does the same thing in reverse. Their default attribution window includes anyone who viewed (not even clicked) a Meta ad in the past 7 days and then purchased. If 1,000 people saw your Facebook ad and 50 of them happened to buy from you later that week, Meta claims all 50 sales, even if most of them would have bought anyway.
The result: if you add up what every platform claims it generated, the total is often 30-60% higher than your actual revenue. You are making budget decisions based on numbers that do not add up.
How ad platforms inflate their numbers (the three main tricks)
- View-through attribution. Meta counts a conversion if someone merely sawyour ad and purchased within 1 day (or up to 7 days for view-through, 28 days for click-through). The person may have found you through Google search, a friend's recommendation, or an email. But Meta still claims the sale.
- Last-click cannibalization. Google Ads takes full credit for any purchase where the last click before buying was a Google ad. This includes branded search campaigns where someone typed your exact company name into Google. They were already going to buy. The ad just happened to be in the way.
- Cross-platform double counting. Both Google and Meta (and TikTok, and LinkedIn) can claim the same sale. There is no deduplication across platforms. A customer who saw a Meta ad and then clicked a Google ad generates a claimed conversion on both platforms.
How to verify your ad platform numbers against your real revenue (7 steps)
- 1Pull claimed revenue from Google Ads
In Google Ads, go to Campaigns. Click Columns → Modify columns and add Conv. value (Conversion value). Set the date range to the month. Note the total conversion value at the bottom of the table.
- 2Pull claimed revenue from Meta Ads Manager
In Meta Ads Manager, go to Campaigns. Switch to Customize Columns and add Purchase Conversion Value. Set the same date range. Note the total.
- 3Repeat for other platforms
For each ad platform you use, find the equivalent of “conversion value” or “revenue attributed.” Note the total.
- 4Add up all platform-claimed revenue
Put all the numbers in a spreadsheet and sum them. This is what your ad platforms collectively claim they generated for your business.
- 5Pull actual revenue from your accounting software
In QuickBooks, go to Reports → Profit and Lossfor the same month. Note Total Income. In Xero, go to Accounting → Reports → Profit and Loss and note Total Revenue.
- 6Compare the two numbers
Platform-claimed revenue vs. actual revenue. If platforms claim $67,000 and your books show $52,000, the platforms are overclaiming by $15,000 (about 29%). That is the inflation gap.
- 7Calculate each platform's share of the overcount
Divide each platform's claimed revenue by the total claimed revenue, then multiply by your actual revenue. This gives you a rough estimate of what each platform likely contributed. Compare this adjusted number to what they claimed to see which platform inflates the most.
How to cross-reference ad platform claims with your books
Beyond the basic revenue comparison, here are additional checks:
- Check conversion count vs. actual orders. Google says your ads drove 340 conversions. How many actual orders did you process? Check your payment processor or invoicing system. If total orders were 280, 60 of those conversions were phantom.
- Look at branded search specifically. Pull your Google Ads branded search campaign separately. These conversions are the most likely to be overcounted because customers searching your name already intended to buy.
- Run the same check 3 months in a row. One month could be noisy. Three months of data shows you a reliable pattern. If platforms consistently overclaim by 30-40%, that ratio becomes a useful adjustment factor for ongoing budget decisions.
What it takes to fact-check your ad platforms every month
The full verification process takes 30 to 45 minutes. You need to log into every ad platform, pull conversion value data, log into your accounting software, pull revenue, and do the comparison math.
This is on top of the time you already spend reviewing campaigns. It is extra work that most businesses skip entirely, which means they keep making budget decisions based on inflated numbers.
Total time: 30-45 minutes per month. Requires data from every ad platform plus your P&L. Most businesses never do this, and most agencies do not volunteer to do it either.
Or let Bottomline fact-check your ad platforms for you
Bottomline connects to your ad platforms and your accounting software. Every month, it compares what each platform claims against what actually showed up in your books and shows you the gap.
No manual comparison. No guessing. Every month, you see exactly how much each platform is inflating its numbers, so you can make budget decisions based on reality instead of marketing spin.