Pulse Center

Your 'Check Engine' light for advertising infrastructure

The Problem: Invisible Infrastructure Failures

You can have perfect campaigns, killer creatives, and a generous budget — but if your data pipeline is broken, you're burning money without measurement.

Common silent failures include:

OAuth token expired → ClickCatalyst can't pull fresh data

GA4 link severed → Google Ads can't see conversions, so Smart Bidding goes blind

Auto-tagging disabled → Click IDs aren't being passed, breaking attribution

Conversion action deleted → Smart Bidding optimizes for nothing

The Pulse Center catches these before they cost you money. If any module shows red, pause your campaigns until it's green.

The 4 Diagnostic Modules

Module 1: Authorization (The Keys)

Checks if ClickCatalyst has valid OAuth2 tokens for Google Ads API, GA4 Data API, and BigQuery API.

Status indicators:

Green: All tokens valid, expiry is 45+ days away

Amber: Token expires in less than 14 days — click "Refresh Token"

Red: Token expired or revoked — click "Reconnect Account"

Module 2: Data Pipeline (The Flow)

Verifies that BigQuery is receiving fresh data:

Last Sync Time: When the most recent data was pulled (should be within 24 hours)

Row Count: Total rows in your BigQuery dataset (grows with each sync)

Sync Status: "Active" means data is flowing. "Initializing" means the first 90-day hydration is still in progress.

Status indicators:

Green: Data synced in last 24 hours

Amber: Last sync was 24-48 hours ago (possible API throttling)

Red: No sync in 48+ hours — pipeline is broken

Module 3: Signal Linkage (The Bridge)

Tests if Google Ads and GA4 are communicating properly:

GCLID Pass Rate: Percentage of ad clicks that successfully pass the Google Click ID to GA4 (Healthy: above 95%)

Session Match Rate: Percentage of ad clicks that become GA4 sessions (Healthy: above 85%)

Conversion Import: Whether GA4 conversions are being imported into Google Ads

Status indicators:

Green: All metrics within healthy range

Amber: Session Match Rate between 70-85% (some data loss)

Red: GCLID Pass Rate below 90% (critical linkage failure)

Module 4: Conversion Data (The Heartbeat)

Scans for active conversion tracking:

Total Conversions (30 days): How many conversions were recorded (minimum 30 needed for Smart Bidding)

Primary Action Status: Whether at least one conversion action is set to "Primary"

Conversion Lag: Median time between click and conversion (should be under 7 days for optimal Smart Bidding)

Status indicators:

Green: 30+ conversions, primary action set

Amber: 10-29 conversions (limited learning data)

Red: Fewer than 10 conversions or no primary action (Smart Bidding will fail)

Recommended Actions & Fix Buttons

Each diagnostic module has one-click fix buttons for common issues:

For Authorization Issues:

Refresh Token: Re-authorizes OAuth without disconnecting the account

Reconnect Account: Full re-authentication flow (use if token was revoked)

For Data Pipeline Issues:

Force Sync: Manually triggers an immediate data pull from Google APIs

Reset Hydration: Deletes cached data and re-pulls the last 90 days (use if data looks corrupted)

For Signal Linkage Issues:

Enable Auto-Tagging: Forces the GCLID parameter to be appended to all ad URLs via API call (fixes most GCLID Pass Rate issues)

Link GA4 to Ads: Runs the API call to re-establish the GA4 → Google Ads connection

Manual Pipeline Verification: Opens a step-by-step diagnostic checklist to verify each stage of the tracking chain manually

The Manual Pipeline Verification walks through:

Click registered in Google Ads

GCLID parameter present in landing page URL

GA4 session created

Conversion event fired

Conversion imported to Google Ads

For Conversion Issues:

Import GA4 Events: Scans GA4 for events like 'purchase' and creates corresponding conversion actions in Google Ads

Set Primary Action: Opens a modal to select which conversion action Smart Bidding should optimize for

When to Check the Pulse Center

Automated Monitoring:

The Pulse Center runs diagnostics every 6 hours. If a critical issue is detected, you'll receive an email alert.

Manual Check Required:

Before launching any new campaign

After changing GA4 settings or property configuration

If ROAS suddenly drops without campaign changes

After Google security updates (OAuth tokens sometimes get revoked)

Every Monday morning as a weekly health check habit

What 'Green Across the Board' means:

ClickCatalyst has fresh data (synced in last 24 hours). Google Ads can see GA4 conversions (Smart Bidding works). Your BigQuery dataset is growing (analytics are accurate). You can trust the dashboards and recommendations.

Understanding Alert Severity Levels

Critical (Red) — Stop Spending

These issues mean your data pipeline is broken. Campaign performance cannot be measured accurately.

Examples: OAuth token expired (no data flowing), GCLID pass rate below 90% (can't track clicks to sessions), zero conversions in 30 days (Smart Bidding is blind).

Action

Pause campaigns until the issue is resolved.

Warning (Amber) — Investigate Today

These issues indicate degraded performance. Data is flowing, but not optimally.

Examples: Token expires in less than 14 days, Session match rate between 70-85%, 10-29 conversions in 30 days (limited learning data).

Action

Schedule time to fix within 24 hours.

Healthy (Green) — All Clear

All systems operational. Data is fresh, pipelines are flowing, conversions are tracking.

Action

Keep monitoring. Check again in 24 hours or at your next weekly review.

Technical FAQ

Q: Why does the Pulse Center say 'Initializing' for several minutes?

When you first connect an account, the engine runs a Historical Hydration — pulling up to 90 days of past data from Google Ads and GA4. This takes 3-5 minutes. The status changes to 'Active' once complete.

Q: What does 'Session Match Rate: 78%' mean?

It means 22% of your ad clicks are NOT becoming GA4 sessions. Common causes: slow page load (users bounce before the analytics tag fires), redirect chains (GCLID gets stripped), or ad blockers. A healthy rate is above 85%.

Q: My OAuth token expired. Will I lose my historical data?

No. Your BigQuery dataset is separate from OAuth tokens. Click 'Reconnect Account' to refresh the token — your historical data remains intact. You'll just resume pulling fresh data going forward.

Q: Why is a Conversion Lag of 12+ days a problem?

Smart Bidding needs to see conversions within about 7 days of the click to learn effectively. If your sales cycle is 12+ days, the algorithm is optimizing on incomplete data. Solution: Add a faster proxy conversion like 'Add to Cart' or 'Lead Form Submit' as a Primary action.

Q: What's the difference between 'Force Sync' and 'Reset Hydration'?

'Force Sync' pulls today's data immediately — use if dashboards look stale. 'Reset Hydration' deletes all cached data and re-pulls the last 90 days — use if numbers look corrupted or if you changed fundamental account settings.

Q: Can I run campaigns if the Pulse Center shows amber warnings?

Yes, but you're flying with partial instruments. Amber means data is flowing but not optimally. You can spend, but fix the warnings within 24 hours to ensure accurate ROAS tracking and Smart Bidding effectiveness.

Q: How often should I manually check the Pulse Center?

The system runs auto-diagnostics every 6 hours. Manually check: (1) Every Monday morning, (2) Before launching new campaigns, (3) If ROAS suddenly drops, (4) After changing GA4 or Google Ads settings.