Import cost data from Meta Ads

You can import cost data from Meta Ads to populate “Ads cost”, “Ads clicks”, and “Ads impressions” metrics for your paid Meta traffic.

Important: Meta Ads Data Import data sources created using this guide will attempt to pull at least 24 months of historical Meta Ads data into your Analytics property. If you have existing Meta cost data that would overlap, delete those prior datasets before proceeding with this feature.

Before you begin

Create both a business and an advertising account for Meta Ads and have at least Editor role in the Google Analytics property.
Make sure the following URL parameters are included in the destination URLs for your ads in Meta:
- utm_source (required)
- utm_medium (required)
- utm_campaign (optional, but highly recommended)
- utm_id (optional, but highly recommended)

Note: All of your paid Meta traffic should be tagged with a single unique value for utm_medium, and either a single unique utm_source value for all paid Meta traffic, or a single unique utm_source value for each Meta publisher platform, like Facebook or Instagram. When creating a Meta Cost Data Import configuration through this flow, the values entered for "Source" and "Medium" must exactly match these utm_source and utm_medium values. For example, if all of your Meta paid traffic is tagged with utm_source=Meta and utm_medium=paid, then you would enter "Meta" in all the "Source" fields and "paid" in the "Medium" field.

How to import cost data from Meta Ads

Step 1 of 4: Create a new data source

In Admin, under “Data collection and modification”, click Data import.

Note: The previous link opens to the last Analytics property you accessed. You can change the property using the property selector. You must be an Editor or above at the property level to successfully start the import process.
Click Create data source.
Enter a name for your data source.
Select Cost data as the data type.
Under “Upload data for import”, select Meta as the import source.
Click Next.

Step 2 of 4: Set up connection

In the “Set up connection” screen, click Connect to link Meta as your data source.
Sign in to Meta Ads by entering your Meta user credentials in the pop-up window.
Click Log in.

Step 3 of 4: Configure the data

Select the Meta “Business Center” and "Ad Account" which manages the Meta advertising data that you want to pull into your Analytics property.
Based on the Meta platform traffic you’re tagging, you can provide values for the “Facebook source”, “Instagram source”, “Audience Network source”, “Messenger source”, or “Threads source” fields. These values correspond to the utm_source parameter values included in the destination URLs of your Meta ads.
- If you’re tagging all your Meta traffic with only one utm_source value, enter that same value in the 5 Meta platform fields.
- If you’re tagging each Meta platform separately, enter the unique utm_source values for each platform in the individual fields. For example, if you’re tagging traffic for Facebook and Instagram, enter the 2 unique utm_source values in their respective “Facebook source” and "Instagram source” fields.
Provide the values for “Medium” corresponding to the utm_medium parameter values included in the destination URLs of your Meta ads.
- Note: Values added for "Facebook/Instagram/Audience Network/Messenger/Threads source" and "Medium" must align with the utm_source and utm_medium parameter values that you specified on your destination urls for Meta Ads campaigns. Learn more about locating parameters in Meta Ads.

Step 4 of 4: Review your connection and import

Review all of the fields to make sure that the fields that you want to import are included. You can modify your data source name, import schedule, and any filters that you applied.
Click Finish.
You’ll get confirmation that your data source has been created.
Click Done.

Imports can take up to 30 minutes to complete and up to 24 hours for the data to be available in reports. You can also view the values of previously created connectors via the Data Import table or its details window.

Note: After a connector is created, you won’t be able to modify configuration settings relevant to data pulling such as Ad Account, Source, and Medium. To change these parameters, you must delete the older connector and create a new one.

How to locate parameters in Meta Ads

Log in to your Meta Ads account.
For each ad, check whether utm_source and utm_medium are specified in the destination URL.

You’ll need these parameters to import cost data from your Meta Ads account.

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