[All Plans] If your ad spend in Power My Analytics matches your ad platform but conversions or revenue on older dates come up short, your ad platform has most likely credited those conversions after the dates were last synced. Here's how it happens, how to confirm it, and how to bring the missing amounts in yourself with a backfill.

What's Happening

Ad platforms credit each conversion to the date of the click (or other interaction) that led to it, not the date the purchase or lead actually happened. If someone clicks your ad today and buys two weeks from now, the platform adds that sale to today's date, two weeks after the fact. Platforms keep doing this for as long as your conversion window allows, commonly 30 days and up to 90 days on some platforms.

Power My Analytics stores your data in its warehouse and keeps it current with a daily Data Sync. Each Data Sync re-reads your recent dates to pick up changes like these; by default, that's about the past week. Once a date is older than that, the Data Sync stops revisiting it, so a conversion the platform credits to that date later won't reach your reports until you backfill the date.

Spend works differently, because spend is recorded on the day it happens. That's why the difference only runs in one direction: spend matches, while conversions and revenue are lower in Power My Analytics.

An Example

• March 3: Someone clicks your ad. Your spend for March 3 is recorded.
• Through about March 10: Each daily Data Sync re-reads March 3. No conversion has been credited yet.
• March 15: The customer buys for $500, and your ad platform credits the $500 to March 3, the date of the click.
• The result: Your ad platform shows $500 of revenue on March 3, while Power My Analytics shows $0, because March 3 is no longer being re-read. A backfill that covers March 3 brings the $500 in.

Recent dates catch up on their own. If a date from the past few days is a little behind your ad platform, the next Data Sync picks up the change. Amounts only go missing for dates that are older than the period your Data Sync re-reads.

Platforms That Adjust Automatically

• Google Ads: Power My Analytics reads the click-through conversion window on your Google Ads conversion actions and re-reads your conversion reports (Insights, Ad Group Insights, Campaign Insights, Keywords, and Search) as far back as the longest one. If your longest window is 90 days, those reports are re-read for the past 90 days every day, so late conversions are captured automatically. If you lengthen a conversion window in Google Ads, run one backfill covering the newly included dates.
• Other ad platforms, including Microsoft Advertising: If conversions or revenue on older dates are lower than in your ad platform while spend matches, use the steps below to backfill those dates. If your customers often convert more than a week after clicking, set up a recurring backfill.

Does This Affect You?

This article applies when all of the following are true:

1. Spend matches. Spend for the same account and date range is the same in your ad platform and in your report.
2. Conversions or revenue are lower on older dates. The difference shows up on dates more than about a week old, while recent dates match or catch up.
3. The missing amounts aren't anywhere else. They don't appear on a different date or campaign in your report; they're simply absent.
4. Refreshing your report doesn't change it.

If spend is also different, or the missing amounts show up somewhere else in your report, submit a ticket so our support team can take a look.

Compare both sides at the same time. Your ad platform's numbers for recent dates are still changing too, so a month that ended last week can keep growing in your ad platform for several more weeks.

How to Bring In the Missing Conversions

1. In your hub, go to Sources.
2. Find the ad platform's data source and open the Actions menu (the three-dot icon).
3. Select Backfill data range, then choose a range that reaches back past the oldest date that's short: 31 Days, 3 Months, 6 Months, 1 Year, or Custom to enter specific dates.
4. Wait for the backfill to finish, then refresh your report and compare again.

To backfill one account instead of every account under the data source, click the number under Synced Accounts to open the data source's accounts, open that account's Actions menu, and select Backfill data range.

When the backfill completes, the selected dates pick up your ad platform's current figures, and the missing conversions and revenue appear on their original click dates. Other dates aren't affected.

Keep Your Numbers Complete Going Forward

For platforms that don't adjust automatically, repeat the backfill on a regular schedule. Choose a range at least as long as your conversion window plus the time between backfills:

With a range this long, every date is re-read at least once after its conversion window has closed, so late conversions are always picked up.

Reporting on a finished month? Wait until your conversion window has passed, then run a backfill that covers the month before you share final numbers. For example, with a 30-day conversion window, January's conversions can keep arriving until early March, so run a 3 Months backfill after that and before you finalize January.

Good to Know

• Reports that include only today's date request data live from your ad platform, so they always show its latest figures.
• The initial backfill when you first connect a data source is separate from the daily Data Sync. It loads your history once (13 months by default for most connectors, and 24 months for some, such as Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising), and the daily Data Sync keeps recent dates current from then on.
• How far back you can backfill depends on the platform. Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising both allow up to 2 years.
• For long date ranges, backfilling 3 months at a time gives the best results.
• Nothing is wrong with your connection, and you don't need to reconnect your data source.

Related Articles

• Manage and Configure Data Sources
• How Data Sources Work with Power My Analytics
• Google Ads Data Connector User Guide
• Microsoft Ads Data Connector User Guide
• Understanding Data Delays
• What Time Does My Data Refresh?