Previously, if you wanted to know how well your channels are going, you’d rely on the Acquisition > Traffic and Acquisition or User reports.
These help you to understand what traffic is coming to your website.
However, if you’re spending your hard-earned dollars to get people to the destination, what’s missing is your return on the effort you put in. That’s how much you paid to get them there.
Good news, you no longer will need to worry about manually importing cost-based data for Meta ads, TikTok, Pinterest, Snap and Reddit.
Google Analytics has introduced a beta feature that lets you connect these platforms without fussing over creating and importing manual spreadsheets.
Previously called ‘Cost Data Import’, they have renamed the tool ‘Campaign Data Import’ on November 19 2025.
You’ll be able to import:
So you’ll be able to see how well your channels perform, not just by traffic numbers, but also how much it costs you to drive traffic to your website.
You’ll then be able to see how traffic links to your key events (conversions), such as form completions or eCommerce purchases.
As the most common platforms for ads outside Google Ads are Facebook and Instagram, we’ll focus on them, but keep in mind that other channels offer this too, and the steps below are similar to those channels.
You’ll need to ensure your ads use a consistent tracking URL so Google Analytics can tell the difference between paid ads and organic (non-paid) social posts.
The best way to do that is to use the Google URL builder, a free tool that lets you set up your source or medium names.
For example, if I were running an ad on Facebook, I could ensure the medium (channel) is paid_social or something similar in the URL. And for source, keep it simple, e.g. facebook.
If you’ve not used UTM tracking before, check out my tracking URL guide. And add the final URL to your ads.
It’s also a good idea to include a campaign name in the URL so you can compare campaigns in your data. For example, black_friday_sale to review your previous peak season campaigns and their level of performance.
Google also suggests adding the Meta Campaign ID to the utm ID, but this is currently only for filtering purposes, as it does not appear in the steps GA4 provides. Overall, unless you’re an advanced user, I’d not say it’s needed.
The cost data will only import based on the rules you set for source and medium in the tracked URL. So if you haven’t got this done yet, you’ll need to make sure you apply this to future ads so the data comes in.
You won’t be able to go back in time to change the URLs, as the traffic would have already come through without this information.
Watch: How to connect GA4 to your Meta Business Suite
Go to the Admin menu (the gear icon in the bottom-left corner).
Then, under ‘Data collection and modification’, look for ‘Data import’.
If you’re an advanced user and previously imported your cost data, you may want to remove the old data to avoid duplicates.
Select the ‘Create Data Source’ option.
Name the data source, e.g. Facebook Ads.
Leave the option on as ‘Campaign data’ for your data type.
And scroll down to find the Import source dropdown.
Choose the channel in the dropdown, e.g. Meta (Beta).
Then select the ‘Connect’ button on the top right-hand side.
Now, you’ll get a pop-up to verify that you own the account.
If you manage more than one Meta ad account, you’ll see the accounts you have access to and can select the relevant one.
After that, you’ll see the Business Suite name and be able to choose from a drop-down of Ad account IDs. You can check back on Meta Business Suite if you’re unsure which account it is.
Now, for each channel, you need to set the source that you’ll use with your ads.
For example, Instagram would be instagram.
And then you need to add the medium (channel).
This should be paid_social or something similar.
If you use “social” only, this can confuse your organic social data.
Make sure that whatever you choose, you write this down, as you’ll need to apply the source and medium correctly in the URL of your ads for the data to import.
You can add a filter (advanced use only).
And can also change the schedule.
The default daily method should suit most.
When done reviewing, click the ‘Finish’ button.
You can go back to the Data import section in 24 hours to see if the data was processed correctly.
This will only work if the parameters are correct and the ad data is there.
In Reports > Acquisition, you’ll find the Non-Google Ad cost report.
This will tell you what your channels are bringing in, and you will be able to compare your ad costs with those you imported data for.
If you can’t find the report, you can add it again using the Library feature.
This update makes life easier for marketers and business owners wanting real-time, cross-platform ad performance in GA4 with minimal manual effort.
If you’d like to add cost data from a channel that isn’t available in Beta, you can follow the manual process.
For platforms without auto-import integrations (like LinkedIn or Outbrain), or if you prefer manual control, follow these steps:
Urchin Tracking Module = UTM (Google URL Builder).
There’s a daily limit of 120 per GA4 Property.
The limits are higher if you are using the enterprise-paid version of GA4, known as 360.
| Data type | Daily limit size | Data source limit per GA4 property |
| Campaign data | 1GB | 120 (part of the full daily limit) |
| Item data | 1GB | 5 |
| Custom event data | 1GB | 5 |
| User data by user ID | 1GB | 10 |
| User data by client ID | 1GB | 10 |
| Events | 1GB | 10 |
Adding cost and campaign data to your Google Analytics 4 helps you gain a deeper understanding of how your channels are performing and which are delivering a more substantial return on ad spend.
Making decisions based on cost and campaign data can help drive greater performance in channels already working well and shift budgets to more efficient areas.
In addition, the data can be viewed in the ‘Advertising’ section (main menu).
To ensure you’re making the most of cost data and the campaign import, you need to set up events to track key actions on your website.
Check out our GA4 event packages to get this sorted.
