Hashing Data First-Party Data to Upload to Google Ads

Hashing first-party data is important in protecting user privacy when uploading data to Google Customer Match. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to hash first-party data inside Microsoft Excel and get ready to upload it to Google Customer Match.

Here is the link to the Google Official Template

Step 1: Prepare Your First-Party Data Before you begin hashing your data, you need to prepare it in a format that can be easily hashed. Here are some tips to help you prepare your data:

• Make sure your data is clean and well-organized. Remove any duplicate entries or rows with missing information.
• Create a new column next to the data you want to hash.
• Make sure your data is in a format that can be hashed. This means that it should be text-based and not contain any special characters.

Step 2: Hash Your Data To hash your data in Excel, you can use the built-in function called “SHA-256”. This function will create a hash value for each row of data.

• In the new column you created, type “=SHA256(cell)” where “cell” is the cell that contains the data you want to hash. For example, if your data is in column A and your first row of data is in row 2, the formula would be “=SHA256(A2)”.
• Drag the formula down to apply it to all the rows of data.

Step 3: Copy Your Hashed Data After you have hashed all the rows of data, you need to copy the hashed data into a new worksheet.

• Select the new column containing the hashed data.
• Right-click and select “Copy” or press “Ctrl+C”.
• Create a new worksheet and right-click on cell A1 and select “Paste” or press “Ctrl+V”.

Step 4: Save Your Hashed Data Once you have copied your hashed data to a new worksheet, save it as a CSV file.

• Click on “File” and select “Save As”.
• Choose “CSV (Comma delimited)” as the file format.
• Name your file and select the location where you want to save it.

Step 5: Upload Your Hashed Data to Google Customer Match Now that you have your hashed data saved as a CSV file, you can upload it to Google Customer Match.

• Log in to your Google Ads account.
• Under the section labelled ‘Shared library’ click Audience manager.
• Select Segments from the page menu on the left.
• Click the plus button  to create a new segment.
• Select Customer list from the drop-down menu.
• 
• Choose a name for your new segment.
• Select Data type.
  
• Upload your CSV file containing the hashed data.
• Map the columns in your file to the corresponding fields.
• Click “Create” to finish uploading your hashed data.

Congratulations—you are on your way to becoming a PPC Specialist! You have successfully hashed your first-party data and uploaded it to Google Customer Match while protecting user privacy.