Four Urgent Bugs That Weren't Bugs
An app advertiser sent four issues marked urgent, asking for an immediate fix. Before drafting a reply, I checked each against current documentation. None was a platform bug, and that changed the reply from “we’ll escalate” to “here’s what to change.”
1. Combined audience won’t attach to an app engagement campaign
App engagement campaigns only accept app-user segments. A combined audience that includes any web-based segment won’t attach.
2. YouTube viewer audience can’t be created
Linking the YouTube channel is necessary but not enough. The link needs permission for data segments, and the segment needs to reach a minimum number of viewers before it can be used in campaigns.
3. GA4 shows hundreds of thousands of users; Google Ads shows zero
Some gap is normal, because Google Ads only counts the remarketable portion. A flat zero usually means one of:
- Google Signals is off
- Ads personalisation is disabled on the GA4–Ads link
- Consent mode is sending the ad-related consent signals as denied
4. “Greater than” audience condition never populates
“Greater than” works on numeric values like event counts. Applied to a text field, nothing can match. GA4 audiences also fill going forward from creation, so new ones always start near zero.
The lesson
“Urgent platform bug” is usually a configuration question. Diagnosing first means the client gets a fix the same day instead of waiting on a support ticket that would be closed as working as intended.
Thresholds and setting names change. Check current Google Ads and GA4 help docs before applying.