Straight answers, before you book.

Because Google Ads counts conversions its own way (by click date, attribution and how your tag is set up) while Shopify counts actual paid orders.

Common causes are duplicate or missing purchase tags, revenue sent with GST in one place and without it in another, and refunds that never flow back to Google. In Setup we match your tracking to real orders and the bank, so Google optimises on numbers you can trust.

Meta credits itself for sales it influenced, including some after someone only saw an ad, so Meta and Google can both claim the same order.

Neither platform is lying; they’re each grading their own homework. We reconcile both against your store orders so budget decisions are made on one set of numbers.

For most online stores, yes: server-side tracking and the Meta Conversions API help recover purchases that browser tags miss, as long as events are deduplicated properly.

Browser tags are affected by ad blockers, consent choices and browser privacy features. Done badly, server-side tracking double-counts orders, so we check deduplication against real orders before trusting it.

GA4 is an analytics model, not a ledger, consent choices, ad blockers and session rules mean it will rarely equal your order count exactly.

GA4 is useful for trends and journeys, but your store platform and the bank are the source of truth for orders and revenue. We use GA4 alongside reconciled order data, not instead of it.

It means the revenue your ad platforms optimise on reconciles with your real orders and the money that actually lands in your account.

If Google and Meta are learning from inflated or missing numbers, every automated bid is built on the wrong signal. Matching tracking to the bank is the first thing we fix, before we scale anything.

Compare last month’s purchases in Google Ads and Meta with the orders in your store platform, large, unexplained gaps usually point to a tracking problem.

Other warning signs: conversion values that include refunds, the same order counted twice, or revenue that jumps when nothing else changed. Our free Diagnose checks this for you before we meet.

It means we count enquiries and bookings that become real conversations, appointments or sales, not every form fill, spam message or button click.

Ad platforms optimise on whatever you tell them is a conversion, so counting every form fill trains them to find more form fills. We connect your CRM, booking system or sales records so Google and Meta learn from the leads that matter.

Usually both: Google captures people already searching for what you sell, and Meta creates demand from people who don’t know your store yet.

Which one leads depends on your products, margins and how much search demand already exists. We plan both from one set of numbers so they support each other instead of competing for credit.

It means one senior team plans Shopping, Search and Meta together from one set of reconciled numbers, so budget follows real orders and ROAS.

Most stores run each channel in a silo, with each platform claiming the same sales. One engine means one plan, one report and one person accountable for orders and ROAS across both.

There’s no fixed split, it depends on your margins, products and demand, and should be set from reconciled orders and ROAS, not platform reports.

A split that looks right in each platform’s dashboard can be wrong once double-counted orders are removed. We review the split as part of the quarterly roadmap.

Break-even ROAS is the return on ad spend at which an order’s gross margin exactly covers its ad cost, one divided by your gross margin.

For example, a store with a 40% gross margin breaks even at a ROAS of 2.5; below that, each ad-driven order loses money. Knowing it tells you whether reported ROAS is actually profitable.

Automation can set bids and placements, but it optimises on whatever data you feed it. If your tracking is wrong, it scales the wrong thing faster.

Automated campaigns still need clean conversion data, a healthy product feed and sensible structure and goals. That’s where our work is: the inputs and architecture the automation depends on.

Not as a separate offer, we research how AI search features surface online stores as R&D within our search practice, and we don’t promise AI-search rankings.

What we can control today is clean product data, feeds and tracking, which matter wherever shoppers search.

Usually both: Google captures people already searching for your service, and Meta reaches people who need it but aren’t searching yet.

Which leads depends on how people find services like yours and how quickly they decide. We plan both from one set of numbers: cost per real enquiry or booking.

A flat monthly fee for Run, never a percentage of your ad spend.

Setup is a fixed scope agreed after the free Diagnose, so you know what’s included before you start. Ad spend is paid directly to Google and Meta and is separate from our fee.

Because a percentage fee rewards an agency for spending more of your money, whether or not it sells more.

A flat fee keeps our advice tied to orders and ROAS, including when the right answer is to spend less.

Yes, a 3-month minimum after Setup, then month to month.

Three months gives the rebuilt engine enough time to prove itself on orders and ROAS. After that you can stay month to month.

We don’t publish prices because scope depends on your store; you’ll get a clear flat fee after the free Diagnose, before you commit to anything.

What changes scope: how many markets and stores, catalogue size, and how much tracking needs fixing.

Your ad spend, creative production, website development, and a second market or store unless it’s scoped in.

Extra channels (LinkedIn, Microsoft Advertising, TikTok and Pinterest) can be added, and training is available separately.

Yes, a flat monthly fee, never a percentage of ad spend, with the same free Diagnose and fixed-scope Setup as the Store Revenue Engine.

Lead Engine scope is confirmed at Diagnose.

We review your tracking, product feed and Google + Meta setup, then walk you through a plain-English roadmap of what to fix first.

It’s free and there’s no obligation to continue. If the maths doesn’t hold for your store, we’ll tell you at this stage.

Setup usually takes about 4–6 weeks, depending on how much tracking and feed work your store needs.

It’s a fixed scope: tracking matched to orders and the bank, product feed fixed, one orders & ROAS report, and Google + Meta architecture rebuilt as one system.

Monthly management of Shopping, Search and Meta, a plain-English monthly report, and a quarterly roadmap.

Decisions are made on orders and ROAS, and the same senior specialists stay on your account.

Senior specialists (the same people across Google and Meta) with no junior account managers in between.

SearchExperts is founder-led, and the people you speak to are the people running your ads.

Yes. We work with stores in New Zealand and Australia, including NZ stores expanding across the Tasman.

A second market is scoped separately so tracking and reporting stay clean per market.

It isn’t for anyone looking for AI-search rankings. If you only need Google, or Meta is already handled by another agency or your in-house team, that works too: we can run Google on its own and share one set of numbers with whoever runs Meta. If you want to build your own skills, see our Training & Development page.

It’s built for online stores selling products, measured on orders and ROAS. If your business runs on leads, enquiries or bookings, the Lead Engine is the parallel path.

Tamanna “Tee” Ahuja founded SearchExperts in Auckland in 2010; she was one of Google’s first people in New Zealand.

Today the agency runs Google + Meta as one revenue engine for online stores.

Our store results include Retail I (+196% revenue, +173% ROAS lift, +9% transactions), Curtains & Blinds (+28.35% revenue, +26.42% ROAS) and Retail III/IV (5.2 ROAS).

Different stores start from different places, so these aren’t promises for your store.

Yes. For B2B, professional services and booking businesses, we run Google + Meta, plus LinkedIn where your buyers are, on qualified leads with the same tracking discipline we use for stores.

We track to real enquiries, bookings and sales, not form fills, so the platforms learn from leads that turn into revenue. Our case studies include lead-generation work in education, hospitality, travel, energy, finance and automotive, so talk to us and we’ll tell you plainly whether it’s a fit.