Google Ads has always been one of the top platforms that marketers rely on to reach their target audience and get the data collected from them. Recently, Google Ads has made it more convenient than ever by announcing their new download function which allows their reports to be downloaded directly onto Google sheets for businesses to take advantage of. Google sheets integration with Google Ads gives them the freedom and ability to move around the data as much as they want and skip out on the tedious first step of manually downloading the data at hand. However, though this has brought about a lot of added convenience, this also gives rise to a host of cons as well. If you are not familiar with the update, hang on tight as we will be exploring some of the pros and cons of the latest way to move data from Google Ads onto a spreadsheet.

Pros

There are a series of benefits that this new feature can offer, from scheduling and keeping your data organized. This saves a lot of time from a marketer’s perspective, freeing up more time to tend to other areas of work.

Scheduling

Alongside being able to easily access all of the information gathered onto a single spreadsheet, you now have the option to schedule when and how often you want your reports to be downloaded ono Google Sheets, and it can be as often as daily. The scheduling tool frees up much more time for you to spend on other productive areas to attend to, leaving the automatic upload completely up to the system to do it for you.

Organization

The ability to add reports automatically to the Reports section of Google ads allows you to directly gain access to the downloaded data through Google Sheets, Google Drive, or through the link to the sheets in the Saved Reports section of Google Ads. This provides you with the opportunity to manage all your files in one place and stay organized, especially when you can add the data to a separate folder for your clients.

Compatibility

The compatibility offered by bulk uploads allows you quick automatic adding of columns that are meant for bulk editing the reports. This is especially useful for businesses that rely heavily on the downloaded data, as it offers them the freedom of having these extra columns that will not interrupt their workflow during bulk upload periods, and give them the ability to have some of that data posted back onto Google Ads.

Download filtered data

Instead of mindlessly downloading all the data that Google Ads provide you with, and then having to go through the additional step of sorting out the data that you want to work with, Google Ads allow you to only download filtered data that you need, saving you a whole chunk of time. For example, one of the specific filters that they offer includes downloading data for campaigns that are missing the CPA target for the past week. This proves to be incredibly useful for companies who rely on automatic downloads and incorporates it as part of a broader workflow process, as the filters make it very convenient, keeping the data organized as well.

Cons

As it is the first time that data can be downloaded directly onto Google Sheets, there are definitely some shortcomings that this new feature brings.

Limited Sharing

Even though you have the ability to organize your data and categorize them into folders, there is a limited sharing option in which only people who already have permission on the Google Ads account have access to the Google Sheet. This makes it very inconvenient and troublesome to share report data with clients who do not have their own login details. This may prove to be burdensome for businesses that rely very heavily on sharing large files with clients.

However, one way to get around this limitation is to add your files to a specific folder and use the shareable link to share with anyone who you need to access the folder. This limits the number of steps that you have to take for your clients to gain access to the reports.

URLs change all the time

Despite the useful scheduling tool, you are unable to update an existing spreadsheet with new data gathered, due to the URL that is always changing. If you need this sort of function, you probably require the latest data to consistently be updated on a predefined URL, and sadly, this function is not available. An alternative that you can try is the Google Ads Add-On for Sheets that may better satisfy your needs.

A limited set of data per sheet

One of the downsides of having your data on Google Sheets is that you can only input one type of report on every Google Sheet, meaning that you cannot have multiple tabs that alternate between different reports. With this in mind, it can prove to be a hassle when you want to compare against other data belonging to different reports. If you are in need of such a function, Google Ads Add-On for Sheets may once again be a better option. It will help to reduce the number of documents that you have by including all of your data onto a single spreadsheet, which the functions of this new download capability are unable to.

Conclusion

With the latest function available on Google Ads, it can significantly reduce a lot of time and effort for some, while others may not be completely satisfied with the lack of functions that it offers. Whatever the case, it has definitely made it much more convenient for downloading data directly onto Google Sheets, instead of having to go through the tiresome manual downloading process. Though they certainly have lots to work on in terms of its functionality, many are happy to hear of the recent update, as it has undoubtedly made it a lot easier to work with the data that many companies rely on, saving up a huge amount of time to attend to other pressing issues.

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