You open Google Ads and it says 16 conversions. You open the CRM for the same week and see 15. Meta wants credit for a few of those too. Someone in the room asks the obvious question: which number is real?
The instinct is to assume something is broken, a misfiring pixel, a bad tag. Usually nothing is broken. The three numbers disagree because the three tools are answering three different questions.
Why the three numbers never match
Each platform credits a conversion using its own attribution model, and the defaults are not the same:
- Google Ads now defaults to data-driven attribution, distributing credit across the path based on your account's own data.
- Meta defaults to a 7-day-click, 1-day-view attribution window, counting a conversion if someone clicked in the last seven days or viewed the ad in the last one.
- Your CRM logs first-touch: HubSpot's Original Traffic Source property records the first known source that brought the contact in.
Same lead, three models, three totals. Chase all three and you lose a day reconciling spreadsheets that were never designed to agree.
Pick one source of truth
The fix isn't a better spreadsheet. It's a decision: pick one number and make everything answer to it. We use the CRM's first-touch record: in HubSpot, the Original Traffic Source property. It logs the first known source that brought the contact in, and once the contact exists it rarely changes.
One distinction worth keeping straight: the Original Traffic Source property is a single, first-touch label, not the same thing as HubSpot's multi-touch attribution reporting, which is a separate tool that spreads revenue credit across every interaction in the journey. For reconciling ad platforms against a single count of record, the first-touch property is what you want.
Why the CRM, and why first-touch
The platforms each want credit for the sale, so they grade their own homework. The CRM doesn't care who wins. It just records where the relationship actually started.
So when Google reports 16 and the CRM shows 15 for the same period, we take 15. That doesn't make the platform number useless, it means something different. The platform number tells you the ad is working. The CRM number tells you the business is. Use the first to judge a campaign; use the second to judge the account.
The takeaways
- Google, Meta, and your CRM count the same conversion with different attribution models, so the totals rarely match.
- None of them is wrong. They answer different questions.
- Pick one source of truth: the CRM's first-touch original-source field.
- Use platform numbers to judge the ad; use the CRM number to judge the business.
Common questions
Why do Google, Meta, and my CRM show different conversion numbers?
Because each tool uses a different attribution model. Google Ads defaults to data-driven attribution, Meta defaults to a 7-day-click, 1-day-view window, and a CRM like HubSpot logs first-touch through its Original Traffic Source property. The same lead gets counted three different ways, so the totals rarely match.
What is HubSpot's Original Traffic Source property?
Original Traffic Source (formerly Original Source) is HubSpot's first-touch property: it records the first known web source through which a contact reached you. HubSpot sets it automatically and it rarely changes once the contact exists, though it can update when earlier visits are matched and users can edit it by hand. It is separate from HubSpot's multi-touch attribution reporting, which spreads revenue credit across the whole journey.
Which conversion number should I trust?
Pick one source of truth and reconcile to it. We use the CRM's first-touch number (HubSpot's Original Traffic Source) as the count of record. Platform numbers still tell you whether an ad is working; the CRM number tells you whether the business is.