How You Can Export Google Ads Data to Google Sheets and Why

Working with Google Ads may seem easy right up to the point when you need to export the data to Google Sheets. Whether your employer requires reporting on a regular basis or you need to use Google Sheets as a database to compare Google Ads stats to other marketing channels, you have to export the data to the sheets, on a daily basis.

When you’re doing the process manually, this can become quite a hassle. The alternative is exporting the data automatically with the help of a custom script. Even though Google Apps Script is not the most difficult programming language, most people, especially marketers, won’t be able to develop a script on their own.

When you’re doing the process manually, this can become quite a hassle. The alternative is exporting the data automatically with the help of a no-code ETL solution. In this article, we demonstrate this and other options to export Google Ads to Google Sheets. 

How to pull data from Google Ads to Google Sheets

There are several ways of exporting Google Ads data to Sheets. The most obvious one is to download a CSV file with information about Google Ads. Then you can upload the file to Google Sheets. 

The second option is to connect Google Ads to Google Sheets using Coupler.io. This way, you can automate data export on a schedule, for example, every day or every 15 minutes. Another handy approach to exporting Google Ads data to a spreadsheet is through Google’s native add-on.  

The third exporting solution is more sophisticated since it involves an API and a script developed in Google Apps Script or another programming language. We won’t cover it in this guide as even though Google Apps Script is not the most difficult programming language, most people, especially marketers, won’t be able to develop a script on their own.

So, let’s check out each of these options in detail.

Download a CSV report to Google Sheets

The easiest way to export your campaigns to Google Sheets is by downloading them as a CSV file. That only takes less than a minute, but the significant downside of this method is that you’re going to have to export a new report every time you need an update.

If you do need to export a CSV file, here’s what you do. Head down to your Google Ads account, open your campaigns, and find the “Download” button. It should be right above the table on the dashboard.

You do have the option to export the report you see in a .csv or .xlsx format, but you may also upload it right to Google Sheets. Choose the Google Sheets option at the bottom of the drop-down list, name the document, and you’re good to go.

You can export the other reports from Google Ads the same way. Go to the main dashboard, choose the report you want to export (Keywords, for example), and send it to your Google Drive.

Google Ads to Google Sheets for automated reporting

If you want to build a self-updating dashboard on your ad campaign performance or other ad data, the manual exporting option is a bad choice. What you need to do is automate exports of data using the Google Ads to Google Sheets integration by Coupler.io

Coupler.io is a data automation and analytics platform that provides an ETL tool for data integration and a customized consulting service to help companies make data-driven decisions. 

To export information about campaigns or other data from Google Ads automatically, sign up to Coupler.io, click Add importer, and choose the source and destination apps. In our case, these are Google Ads and Google Sheets. 

Click Proceed to configure the chosen source and destination apps.

Source

• Connect your Google account with access to Google Ads. 
• Select the data entity you want to export. The list of available options is long enough including Ads, Campaigns, User List, as well as a bunch of reports, such as Ad Performance or Campaign Performance. 
• Enter your customer ID or several IDs separated by a comma.

Optionally, you can specify your manager account ID if you are using one, the start/end dates for the data, and the conversion window for your report. Now you can proceed to the destination settings.

Destination

• Connect your Google account (since Google Sheets is your chosen destination). 
• Then select a spreadsheet and a sheet for the exported Google Ads data.

Optionally, you can specify the first cell or range for the exported data, and change the import mode from replace to append. Eventually, move to the automation section.

Schedule

To automate exports of data from Google Ads, enable Automatic data refresh and configure the desired schedule, including frequency, days of week, time zone, and preference.

Click Save and Run to launch the integration and get your Googe Ads data to Google Sheets. Here is what it may look like:

The raw data does not look fancy, right? However, you can transform it and even consolidate it with the records taken from other apps, such as Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads. As result, you can end up with such a dashboard.

This ad performance dashboard was built by data experts at Coupler.io. If you want to have a similar solution for your company or you need to cope with some other analytical tasks, check out the Coupler.io data analytics consultancy service.

Google Ads report to Google Sheets export example

Let’s take a look at the second-handiest option for exporting Google Ads to Google Sheets – using their native add-on. To install it to your Google Sheets, create a new spreadsheet, go to Add-ons > Get Add-ons and search for “Google Ads” in the pop-up window. Once you have found it, install it, and you’ll be able to use it in all Google Sheets.

The Google Ads add-on works similarly to the Google Analytics add-on that we featured in Google Analytics to Google Sheets.

To create a new report, go to Add-ons > Google Ads > Create a report. When you first create a report, this UI prompt is your only option. Click on it, and you’ll get to sort the campaigns by your preferences and generate a report.

Once that’s done, the UI shows another set of buttons — you can refresh your reports or edit the report you’re seeing in this particular document. For your recurrent reports, you’re going to have to set the schedule to avoid refreshing it.

How to export Google Ads keyword report to a sheet

When you create another report, it’s going to be created in a new sheet. Let’s create a new report to see how it works. To export your list of keywords to a Google Sheet, go to Add-ons > Google Ads, and click Create new report. Go to Select report type and choose Search keywords or Negative keywords.

The standard report will contain the status of the keyword, the ad campaign associated with it, and several other columns. If you want to add more information to the report, click on the drop-down menu in the Choose columns and choose whatever data points you want.

Once you have the report ready, you can refresh it right from the Google Sheet. To do that, go to Add-ons > Google Ads > Refresh report. You can also edit it or delete it if you want.

Export Google Ads data on a schedule

You probably don’t want to keep refreshing your monthly reports though. To automate exports, press Schedule reports when forming a new report. You can set the updates to daily, weekly, or monthly and the add-on will refresh the data automatically.

This way of scheduling reports isn’t as customizable as what you can get with paid platforms, but you do get the option to choose the day of the week for the weekly reporting.

Google Ads to templated Google Sheets reports export example

When exporting data to Google Sheets, you need a bit more than rows of numbers. You need a way to visualize data and showcase it to either your boss or your customer. The best way to do this is to create a templated document that will transform and visualize data pulled from Google Ads.

You have two ways of going about it. The first one is to use a pre-made template. These are usually made by a specialized exporting solution. For instance, here’s a template made by Supermetrics:

They have a lot more good-looking templates, but there’s a catch: these types of templates are tailored for a specific exporting tool. If you don’t use the exact export methods to fill out these templates, you’ll have a hard time remaking them to fit your needs. You will have to pay a monthly fee to use the services, but on the plus side, you’re getting an amazing template to visualize your data.

Another way you can do this is to create your own template tailored to the method of exporting that you’re using. If you use the Google Ads add-on, first you’ll need to export your report or reports to Google Sheets and then map the required data with the template. As a result, every time the exported data is refreshed, the data in the template will change as well. Let’s check this out via an example:

We created a Campaigns report with the following parameters:

The Google Ads data exported to Google Sheets looks as follows:

After that we grouped the required data and built a few charts on it as follows:

Now with every report update, the data on the dashboard will be updated automatically. This is a very basic example, but you can build more advanced solutions in Google Sheets or BI tools, such as Looker (former Data Studio), Tableau, and others. You can also contact Coupler.io data experts services who can design a dashboard tailored to your needs.

Why export Google Ads to Google Sheets or another destination?

Google Ads data provides you with insights into your users’ Acquisition => Behavior => Conversion cycle. So, you can understand how you acquire users, how they behave on your website or app, and what makes them convert. All this data is displayed on the Google Ads dashboard, and you even get recommendations on how to optimize your campaigns. 

Why would you need to export this data to Google Sheets?

Well, first of all, reporting is much more flexible with Google Sheets. You can build custom dashboards, create charts, and easily share them with the stakeholders. You can automate everything, so no manual manipulations will be needed anymore.

Second, you can use Google Sheets as a backup database and analytics dashboard for your business. Import data from other sources besides Google Ads to have everything in one place. For example, if you use Coupler.io, a data importing solution, you can pull records from Xero, Pipedrive, Shopify, and many other apps and sources. 

Besides, Coupler.io lets you pull data not only to Google Sheets but also Excel and BigQuery. For example, here is how you can export Google Ads to BigQuery and even Google Analytics to BigQuery using this tool. 

Enjoy an advanced automatic Google Ads to Google Sheets integration

Exporting Google Ads data manually or with the native add-on is a relatively hassle-free way of going about PPC analytics. If you want a more customizable option, you’ll have to export the data through a third-party app. This will not only give you a way to export anything and everything from your account but will also allow you to export data from dozens of different applications.

If you want a more customizable and automated option, you should export the data through a third-party app, such as Coupler.io. This will not only give you a way to export anything and everything from your account but will also allow you to export data from dozens of different applications. Good luck with your data!