Import cost data from Pinterest Ads

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

Important: Pinterest Ads Data Import data sources created using this guide will attempt to pull at least 24 months of historical Pinterest Ads data into your Analytics property. If your API does not support 24 months of historical data, the maximum time frame allowed will be extracted. Using this feature alongside previously uploaded manual cost import datasets can lead to duplicated data and inaccurate reports, as Analytics does not attempt to deduplicate information between these 2 methods. If you have existing Pinterest 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 Pinterest 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 Pinterest:
- utm_source (required)
- utm_medium (required)
- utm_campaign (optional, but highly recommended)
- utm_id (optional, but highly recommended)

Note: All of your paid Pinterest traffic should be tagged with a single unique value for utm_source and a single unique value for utm_medium. When creating a Pinterest Cost Data Import configuration through this flow, the values entered for "Campaign Source" and "Campaign Medium" must exactly match these utm_source and utm_medium values. For example, if all of your Pinterest paid traffic is tagged with utm_source=Pinterest and utm_medium=paid, then you would enter "Pinterest" in the "Campaign source" field and "paid" in the "Campaign medium" field.

How to import cost data from Pinterest 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 Pinterest as the import source.
Click Next.

Step 2 of 4: Set up connection

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

Step 3 of 4: Configure the data

Select the Pinterest “Ad account”, which manages the Pinterest advertising data that you intend to pull into your Analytics property.
Provide “Source” and “Medium” values corresponding to the utm_source and utm_medium parameter values included in the destination URLs of your Pinterest ads. Learn more about how to locate parameters in Pinterest Ads.
- Note: Values added for "Campaign source" and "Campaign medium" must align with the utm_source and utm_medium parameter values that you specified on your destination URLs for Pinterest Ads campaigns.
Click Next. Fields will be automatically mapped for you in the next step.

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: Once 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 Pinterest Ads

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

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

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