Google Analytics/GA4 vs. ClickMagick
GA4 is not a good choice for performance marketers. Here's why ...
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Patrick Kelly
ClickMagick Founder -
August 22, 2025
Last updated -
16 minutes
Est. read time
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Hi, I’m Patrick — the founder of ClickMagick.
Google Analytics is used by more people than any other marketing analytics product or service, because it’s free.
But is it the right choice for direct response marketers, and your business?
I’ll cut to the chase — if you’re a performance marketer or small business looking to maximize your ad budget, scale your ads, and grow your business, it’s a horrible choice.
And using GA4 for “free” will end up costing you more than you can imagine ...
Keep reading to discover how ClickMagick will solve your tracking and attribution problems once and for all, better optimize your ads, and increase ad ROI by at least 20% within the next 45 days ... or you don't pay.
Patrick Kelly, Founder
P.S. This page is for advertisers who really want to understand how Google Analytics/GA4 works.
If you're not interested in the technical details and all you really care about is better results from your ads, just grab a free trial and give ClickMagick a try. It'll make you a lot more than it costs. Guaranteed.
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GA4 Is One Big Compromise
GA4 is simply not accurate enough for direct response marketers.According to Google, GA4 “provides a next-generation approach to AI-based predictive data, privacy-first tracking, and cross-platform measurement.”
But let’s be real ...
The only reason Google created GA4 is because they're under constant pressure due to their privacy practices ...
To the point where the previous version of GA was deemed illegal in the EU.
The bottom line is that Google Analytics can no longer accurately track individual users as they make their way through your sales funnel.
Google is forced to use lots of AI, machine learning and data modeling ...
... which are all just fancy names for guessing.
And if you care at all about the results you get from your ads, accurate tracking and conversion attribution are non-negotiable.
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GA4 Is
ClickMagick reveals every detail for every click and conversion.
A Black BoxGA4 tries to tell you what’s happening on your website, but the data they provide is anonymous and extremely fragmented.
If your sales funnel includes things like nurture sequences, webinars, or sales calls, you need a solution that ties the entire customer journey together.
With GA4 you can’t see any details or verify anything ...
All they’ll tell you is that you got 4 sales today, and you have to trust them.
ClickMagick on the other hand gives you every detail about every click and every conversion, down to the customer’s name and email address.
For each and every visitor you can visually see the entire visitor journey, and all their activity is attributed all the way back to the source.
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Weak Mobile Tracking
About 28% of Internet users are on iOS — and a whopping 96% of them opt out of tracking.When iOS 14.5 came out in September of 2021, it turned the online advertising industry upside down.
ClickMagick was unaffected, but major ad networks and Google Analytics can no longer track iOS users who opt out of tracking.
iOS users make up approximiately 28% of all the people clicking your ads — and 96% of them are opting out of iOS tracking ...
... so this renders the stats in Google Analytics almost useless.
Even worse, all of this missing conversion data significantly hinders your ad network's ability to optimize your ads (more on this in a minute).
But that’s not all, there are more problems with Google Analytics ...
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Blocked GA4
Google Analytics tracking code is outright blocked by some browsers, and popular privacy plugins.
Tracking CodeThis one is pretty cut and dry — some privacy focused browsers like Brave outright block all Google Analytics tracking.
Other popular browsers like Safari, Edge and FireFox have privacy modes that are easy to enable that also completely block Google Analytics tracking ...
And then there are popular privacy plugins like uBlock for Chrome which completely blocks all Google Analytics tracking as well.
uBlock alone has over 40M users, and while no one knows exactly how many people are using apps that block Google Analytics — it's A LOT.
ClickMagick allows you to easily set up a custom tracking domain so your tracking code cannot be blocked ...
But when you're relying on Google Analytics all of this untracked traffic leads to even less accurate stats and degraded ad optimization.
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Unreliable Cross-Device Tracking
About 39% of the time, Google can't detect or track visitors properly when they switch devices.The average person owns 3 devices and constantly switches between them.
This is a big problem for GA4, because their “cross-device” tracking relies on users being logged in to Google on all their devices all the time.
But studies show that Google users are only logged in to Google about 61% of the time while using the Internet ...
Which means when your visitors switch devices, there's a roughly 40% chance Google Analytics won't track them properly.
The same thing happens when people switch to private browsing mode right before making a purchase (which they do all the time) ...
Google Analytics can no longer identify the user, so they have no idea where the sale came from.
And this leads to even less accurate stats, and even worse ad optimization.
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GA4 Conversion Attribution
With GA4 conversion attribution it’s just one problem after another.Conversion attribution in GA4 is where everything just falls apart.
First there are all the technical issues, like the fact that you need a dedicated “thank you” page for every event or sale you want to track ...
... which is often impossible to do for things like order bumps and upsells due to limitations in the other apps you use and your specific tech stack.
GA4 will also record duplicate conversions because GA4 sessions timeout after 30 minutes, and they’ll record additional conversions each time people re-enter your funnel or reload your thank you pages for any reason.
You also can’t track any phone sales or other offline conversions.
And some conversions just won’t be tracked at all due to GA4’s limited 30-90 day attribution window ...
... which also ruins tracking of repeat customers and Customer Lifetime Value.
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GA4's Data-Driven Attribution Model
GA4 guesses — ClickMagick shows you exactly what really happened.But GA4’s “data-driven” attribution modeling makes it even worse:
“Google uses modeling to estimate online conversions that can’t be observed directly. Modeling allows for accurate conversion attribution without identifying users (for example, due to user privacy, technical limitations, or when users move between devices).” From [GA4] About attribution and attribution modeling
It may be their fanciest “AI attribution” model yet, but at the end of the day it’s still just guessing and making predictions because that’s all GA4 can do.
I guess that’s better than nothing if you had no other choice ...
But ClickMagick’s attribution is 100% accurate because it’s based only on your actual clicks and conversions, with no guessing.
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GA4’s Limited Attribution Models
ClickMagick’s multi-touch attribution reveals what’s really working — top, middle and bottom of funnel.The only other attribution model that GA4 offers aside from data-driven attribution is the “last click” attribution model.
Last click is generally good at showing you what gets people to buy ...
But it doesn’t give you any insight at all into top and middle of funnel performance, so you can’t rely only on last click attribution.
And you can't scale cold traffic acquisition campaigns with last click.
In addition to last click, ClickMagick provides advanced multi-touch attribution models — like Linear, Position-Based and Time Decay ...
... which provide even deeper insights on how the different pieces of your marketing are performing, and help you scale like never before ...
Because you’ll be able to fully optimize the different steps in your funnel independently, rather than your entire funnel as a whole.
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Bad Data Destroys Ad Optimization
ClickMagick sends enhanced first-party conversion data to Google in real-time to improve ad optimization.I could go on and on but hopefully you get the picture — you can’t rely on GA4.
Growing your business with paid ads is just a matter of scaling what’s working and killing what’s not, but you can’t do that effectively with the inadequate tracking and attribution provided by GA4.
But that's only the half of it, because GA4 pushes all this bad data to Google Ads, and their AI algorithms use this bad data to optimize your ads.
And bad data means their AI ad optimization doesn't work as well ...
... which means they end up showing your ads to people who are less likely to engage with your business, and your results and ROI both suffer.
On the other hand, ClickMagick sends your enhanced, first-party conversion data to Google in real-time, with extreme precision and accuracy.
And because ClickMagick's attribution is so accurate, we can always send back the Google “click id” and the other data Google is hungry for ...
Which leads to increased “event match quality” scores, improved ad optimization and increased ad ROI. Guaranteed.
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Direct Response Stats & Reporting
ClickMagick gives you one-of-a-kind stats and reports you need to scale like a pro, all in real time.In addition to fixing all of these problems, only ClickMagick gives you the direct response stats and reports you need to truly optimize and scale.
Here's what you get with ClickMagick:
Unique clicks
Repeat clicks
Bot clicks
Cost per click
Earnings per click
Optins / CVR
Sales / CVR
Custom goals
Total customers
New customers
Repeat customers
Lead/cust. cost
Average order value
Lifetime value
Total revenue
Frontend revenue
Upsell revenue
Backend revenue
Recurring revenue
Ad cost / COGS
Refunds
Net Profit
ROAS/ROAS24
ROI
And you can see each and every one of these stats for each and every traffic source, campaign or ad you have!
ClickMagick has better and more visual reporting as well.
The UTM Performance Report identifies your best and worst performing ads.
The Conversion Velocity Report reveals how long it takes visitors to convert.
The Lifetime Value Report shows you the cost to acquire a customer, how long it takes to breakeven, and how much customers are worth over time.
And the Funnel Steps Report paints a visual picture of the different paths visitors take through your funnel, and gives you the data you need to optimize your funnel for the most profitable paths.
I could go on, but you just don’t get these kinds of actionable, direct response stats and reports from Google Analytics.
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Bot & Click Fraud Protection
Only ClickMagick's ClickShield™ protects the accuracy of your stats, and your ad budget.“Bots” are automated software programs that click your links, click your ads and waste your money, and even “opt in” to your list.
Then you’ve got competitors, and other people doing “market research” repeatedly clicking your ads ...
And even your own existing customers who search for you on Google and click your paid ad every time they want to get back to your site (happens a lot!)
Google Analytics doesn't protect you from any of this.
But ClickMagick has industry-leading bot filtering, and ClickShield™ ...
Which allows you to set up rules to define the type of click behavior that’s acceptable to your business, and block the rest.
That means more accurate stats, less wasted ad spend and increased ROAS.
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Experience & Fanatical Support
We've helped more performance marketers and small businesses fix their tracking than anyone.ClickMagick has helped over 122,000 small businesses with tracking and attribution. I'd guess we have more experience with this than anyone.
And we're pretty well-known for our amazing support.
At ClickMagick we offer live chat 18 hours a day, fast responses to tickets, and even Zoom support if you need it.
And many users have told us our support is better than anything they've ever experienced before, because ...
Our team consists of real marketers with decades of experience — not low-paid, outsourced “customer support” reps who've never run an ad.
You just can't get help like this anywhere else, and with all the recent and ongoing changes in the industry I really can't stress just how valuable this is.
It’s a simple math problem
ClickMagick wouldn’t exist if you could rely on Google Analytics for accurate tracking and conversion attribution.
All these issues with GA4 are costing you a small fortune, and the reason we’ve helped over 122,000 small businesses is simple — ClickMagick makes you a lot more than it costs. Or you don't pay.
ClickMagick TrueTracking® gives you best-in-class tracking and conversion attribution ...
Every click. Every conversion. Every journey in between. Exactly as it happened ...
You can finally optimize your marketing based on your actual results ...
And we’ll automatically send your true conversion data back to all your ad networks in real-time ...
Leveraging first-party data collected on your website or in your online store ...
Which leads to improved ad optimization, and more conversions at the lowest cost possible.
Learn more or sign up for a free trial and get started right now. You can have everything up and running in under an hour, and I guarantee you’ll be blown away by the results.
And if you have any questions, feel free to email me personally — patrick@clickmagick.com
“Sooner or later, you have to make a choice and actually learn how tracking works ... and ClickMagick is the perfect tool to
get off the ground. I had a ton of questions — because I really wanted to understand — and the support team
answered every single one with patience and clarifty. I feel like I've gone from a beginner to tracking PhD in just a few weeks.”
“I was wasting money on ads without knowing what was working, and it was frustrating watching sales go by without knowing the real
source. Then I found ClickMagick and it was a lifesaver. The setup was so simple. I've been using ClickMagick for over a year now, and
it's been a game-changer. I can't recommend ClickMagick enough.”
“It's not often that I'm blown away by a company - especially an internet marketing company. This is a company that actually
listens to it's customers, and makes constant improvements based on the actual needs of the customer.”
“ClickMagick is worth every penny. I can easily track how well my funnel and landing page are performing, and how the
offer/VSL is doing in terms of engagement and sales. There are tons of detailed reports that give powerful insights into my
campaigns and it helps me stay on top of my ROI in real time.”
“Something I really like about Clickmagick is the user interface. It is very clear and easy to navigate. And the URL
Builder makes setting up google ad campaigns a breeze. Clickmagick has made a huge difference in my business for tracking
and optimizing my profitability, ad performance and landing page success all in one cohesive dashboard.”
“I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say ClickMagick is one of our most-loved apps we've ever used at our business,
and it has really helped us to take things to the next level. You have managed to take things that drove us crazy — tracking,
split-testing, etc. — and made them easier and more effective than ever!”
“I've never experienced tech support like this anywhere. ClickMagick doesn't just respond fast, they stick with
you until your problems solved. No matter the depth of your issue, they've got you covered day or night, weekday or
weekend. They help you fix your tracking, and they do it fast to keep your business rolling.”
“I'm a new affiliate marketer, but in digital marketing for a long time. I've used MANY tracking and reporting tools,
many of which don't always meet my needs. ClickMagick is jam packed with SO many features as an all-in-one solution for
affiliate marketers, unlike anything I've seen out there. The interface is easy to use, the setup was a breeze, the
documentation and support is excellent. ClickMagick made launching my affiliate business a breeze.”
“I've used other tracking tools in the past, but often found them to be unreliable, confusing or lacking in support.
My experiences with ClickMagick have been very positive from day one. Tracking is easy to understand and set up. But if I
do hit a problem, the knowledge base usually provides the answer. If I need further help, the people on the support team
are experts and will go out of their way to solve the problem. I've found ClickMagick to be easily the best tracking
solution for Meta and YouTube campaigns.”
“ClickMagick has made running my campaigns so much easier. It's super user-friendly and takes all the guesswork
out of my tracking. I can finally see which links and traffic sources are actually converting, which helps me make
smarter decisions and boost my sales. It's been a huge time-saver and stress reducer. The support team is also next level.”
“I've been using ClickMagick for about 2 years now, and I still remember the first time support helped me solve a campaign
tracking headache within minutes — it was an absolute "aha" moment. Before using ClickMagick, I struggled to pinpoint what
was working and where things were going wrong in my campaigns. Since I switched, I'm able to track every click, optimize my campaigns
with real data, and troubleshoot fast whenever issues come up. I truly can't imagine managing my campaigns without it.”
“When I started in the online world I was basically clueless. Clickmagick has been brilliant at answering all my questions in
a timely manner, and always friendly no matter how basic my question was. I would highly recommend Clickmagick for anyone starting
out as it made the learning curve easy when I thought it would be really tough. They have every stat I need and I feel at home with
their friendly interface. The phone app is handy as well to check stats on the go. Highly recommend!”
“Before ClickMagick, tracking my campaigns felt like flying blind. ClickMagick completely changed the game for me.
Recently I scaled a direct response offer form $100 to $2,000/day profitably— and ClickMagick was a big part of
that success. I also used their A/B split testing to improve my lander CTR by 42%, which increased my ROAS significantly.”
“ClickMagick has really helped me take my business to the next level. It's incredibly easy to use, has some awesome
one-of-a-kind features, and I have received very prompt and friendly support when needed. I recommend ClickMagick to everyone.”
“I can't speak highly enough about how good and helpful ClickMagick is across the board. From the overall product, it's
usability and functionality, the mobile app, everything hits the mark. But the one thing that especially exceeds my expectations
is the support ... the team's quality of service and willingness to help is something to seriously celebrate.”
“The support is outstanding. In terms of my business, I'm delighted with the results. With ClickMagick I can now see every step a
prospect takes on their way to becoming a buyer, and I'm able to target my ad spend to the ad sets and creatives that are actually
generating buyers. And the impact of this is enourmous. I highly recommend both the platform and the outstanding support team.”
“ClickMagick completely changed the game for me as an affiliate marketer. It's like flipping on the lights in a dark room.
ClickMagick gave me total control over my campaigns and helped me cut wasted ad spend while doubling down on what drives results.
If you're serious about affiliate marketing, this tool isn't optional — it's essential.”
“I've only been doing affiliate marketing for a short time, and ClickMagick has been a game changer for helping me understand
what's actually working. The interface is super straightforward, and I was able to start tracking my campaigns with confidence right
away. It gives me the data I need to make smarter decisions without being overwhelmed. Definitely one of the best tools I've used so far.”
“I'm a big fan of ClickMagick. Flat monthly rate not based on revenue, you don't have to hop on a sales call and I found the event
match quality for the Conversions API to be great. I have it configured for a GHL funnel with order bumps, upsells and downsells. It's been
great for optimizing our pixel with accurate attribution and helping us create more winning ads. The dashboard and reports are also easy to
to use.”
“I've used other attribution tools including some quite expensive ones (Hyros). ClickMagick not only does it better and cheaper,
but their support is phenomenal and they genuinely care about getting my tracking right. Highly recommended!”
“ClickMagick has genuinely been one of the most reliable platforms I've used. The stats and reports give me exactly what I
need to optimize performance. Clear, real-time data that actually helps you improve results. They are consistently on top of
updates. It's a platform I truly trust, backed by a team that clearly knows what they're doing.”
“I would say this is the one tool that's irreplaceable in my business. It gives me a great overview of what's working and
what's not working. The support is top notch. If you have an issue you'll hear back sometimes within minutes, always very quickly,
and always with an accurate and useful answer. I highly recommend it.”
“I absolutely love the platform. And ClickMagick's support is amazing and the turnaround times are usually within a few hours,
even on weekends and around holidays. They don't just reply with a message, they reply with video recording and screen walkthroughs
just to make sure I know what they're talking about. I can't say enough. I absolutely love ClickMagick.”
“ClickMagick is an exceptional tool for tracking Google Ads campaigns. The platform has not only streamlined my tracking
process but has also provided invaluable insights that have helped optimize my marketing efforts.”
“After generating millions of dollars online, I've seen what works and what doesn't. And for a very long time I struggled
with the techie stuff that usually comes with tracking ... But I can confidently say ClickMagick is by far the most accurate, fun
and simple way to track your clicks — with all the advanced features you'll ever need. This is a MUST HAVE tool.”
“ClickMagick is an absolute game-changer for my business. Before using it, tracking my campaigns felt like throwing spaghetti
at the wall — I had no idea which ones were actually driving results. Now I can make data-driven decisions with confidence.
No more guesswork, no more wasted ad spend. Even though I'm not tech-savvy, setting it up was surprisingly easy.”
“The customer support have gone above and beyond for me. Just in terms of helping me set everything up. They go in to so
much detail, they really know their stuff, and can help to simplify tracking and attribution - which as we all know can be
quite a daunting task. The ClickMagick team obviously really care about their customers.”
“Since I started my business back in 2016, ClickMagick has hands down been my most valued resource. Being able to pinpoint
which ads are generating conversions has helped reduce advertising costs and optimize different sales campaigns to help keep my
business thriving. I couldn't imagine running my business without ClickMagick.”
“I have found ClickMagick to be an invaluable tool in building my business online. If you're not using ClickMagick you
definitely should because it will really help you scale your business, and it's the most affordable solution of its kind.”
“The feature I love most is the real-time tracking — this is a game-changer because it allows me to quickly spot
underperforming campaigns and landing pages and make adjustments on the fly. Another huge benefit is the purchase data integration
with Facebook and YouTube, which helps to optimize my campaigns faster and increase my ROI significantly.”
“I've used lots of different tracking tools in the past, and nothing compares to ClickMagick. It's got an extremely easy to
use interface. Everything is laid out right there in front of you with just a few clicks. With ClickMagick, tracking is just 100
times easier and more efficient.”
“ClickMagick has been a game changer for me. Before using it, I was basically guessing what traffic was actually converting.
With ClickMagick, everythings clear. I can see exactly what's working, where the moneys coming from, and what needs to get cut.
I wouldn't have been able to scale winning offers on Meta Ads properly without solid tracking from ClickMagick. Really appreciate
what you guys have built.”
“Previously I depended on ad platform data, and it seemed they were more interested in just taking my money without giving
me accurate data. ClickMagick gives me the accurate data I need to consistently improve my advertising. Since using ClickMagick
I can rapidly eliminate losing ads and scale the winners. It also helps me analyze email campaigns.”
“The set up and integrations with your data sources is straightforward. The different reports makes data analysis really simple
and clear. With just a few clicks, I can see what is performing well and what is dead wood. I have not only saved lots of time but
also made better and well-informed decisions with my campaigns. The monthly investment in ClickMagick is well worth it.”
“Let me tell you this is an awesome tracking app. ClickMagick is one-of-a-kind because not only does it track everything,
very accurately, but it also gives you lots of extra tools that no other tracking software has out there. I definitely recommend it,
and I'm going to be using it for a long, long time.”
“Switching to ClickMagick is one of the best decisions I've made for my business. Running Meta ads is so much easier now.
I can actually see what's working in real time, and scale winning campaigns way faster now. It's been a total game-changer.
I'd highly recommend ClickMagick to anyone running paid traffic.”
“ClickMagick is hands down the best tracking software I've ever used. It's incredibly accurate, easy to use and packed with
powerful features ... has been a game changer. And the customer support is top notch.”
“I always thought, when I create my own company, I'm going to make sure the support is spot on, because there's nothing worse
than bad support. ClickMagick's team must live in the support desk because you always get a competent answer, you don't have to keep
going back and forth, and you get help fast every single time.”
“ClickMagick is awesome — not only does it faithfully track all my important stats and enable me to make sound business
decisions, it is also simple to use. Any time I need a question answered I receive a comprehensive and rapid response. You can be
totally confident you are going to be taken care of, and I really appreciate this as it has made my journey so much smoother.”
“ClickMagick is awesome. Their support is top notch too as they actually do listen to your feedback, and they are constantly
adding new features on a monthly basis. All in all, highly recommended for newbies AND advanced users.”
“ClickMagick is by far the best ad tracker on the market. The creators of the software are constantly taking
suggestions and implementing upgrades. It was super easy to switch from my old tracking software to ClickMagick.
This is a great product and I recommend it to anyone looking for a tracking solution.”
“I've been using ClickMagick for years to track my ads. I've made some mistakes which I couldn't figure out
myself, and customer service always helps the same day and does that diligently with links to specific articles or
short, personalized videos. I like the setup of the data, and I appreciate all the stats and reports.”
“ClickMagick tracks every click with unparalleled accuracy, filters out bad traffic, and optimizes conversions effortlessly. The
ability to track every user's journey across multiple channels has been a game-changer for my ad spend efficiency.”
“I'm beyond grateful to be using ClickMagick. It's exactly what I had been looking for. What really separates
ClickMagick from the other services is the great level of feedback that is accepted. I've suggested several features
and they've implemented them quickly. Do your business a favor and sign up. Like... now.”
“I absolutely love ClickMagick. I'm a full-time affiliate marketer and I use ClickMagick to track all my campaigns. No
other platform can track as precisely as ClickMagick. Moreover, their support team is world-class. I've never experienced
such dedicated and helpful support with other tools. Thanks so much!”
“ClickMagick is an awesome tracking service that helps you to track your ads and focus on where your most profitable clicks are coming
from. This has been a game-changer for me, and the support is awesome as well. I would recommend ClickMagick to any serious marketer who is
wanting to take their online business to the next level. This is the real deal.”
“ClickMagick provides me with the data I need to make informed decisions and truly understand what's working in my campaigns. Plus, it's
split-testing capabilities are incredibly user-friendly and effective, allowing me to optimize with ease to gain the greatest ROI
possible. I can't recommend it enough.”